Mass Effect New Origins V2
by erttheking
Summary: On the dawn of the 27th century, the UNSC discovers a Mass Relay, and unlock its power. What follows not only includes making contact with new species and making new friends, but making new enemies as well, and the entire galaxy will shake.
1. Relay

Chapter 1

Relay

Author's Note: Well were we go, shot number two at this story. You'll probably notice that the timeline is mainly unchanged; well I didn't really have a problem with the timeline so I left it alone, with a few exceptions. All right let's get this show on the road.

March 3, 2553 The Human Covenant war is declared over, and the UNSC begins to rebuild, although the Great Schism rages on.

March 8, 2553 UNSC finish contact with military bases around Earth and the surviving Inner colonies, revealing that the casualties from the war were not as high as once thought, although still staggering. Billions died in the war, but it was confirmed that the majority of the Inner Colonies were not glassed, and many left completely untouched, as apparently they were "skipped" when Covenant found Earth before them. 168 planets are confirmed to have survived the war and Humanity's population stands at 96 billion, where it was once 175 billion before the war.

October 16, 2555 The surviving SPARTAN IIIs are dismissed from their position, although practically all of them rejoin the UNSC afterwards anyway. It is worth noting that due to the instability of the SPARTAN augmentations, SPARTAN IIIs age much more slowly, and thus appear younger than they are. With the current Human life expectancy at 156, it is uncertain how long they will live, although scientists guess that it will exceed 200 easily.

January 17, 2556 Covenant Separatists bring an end to the Great Schism, due to so many Loyalist planets being glassed that they were unable to continue the war. The San 'Shyuum becoming extinct due to the battle of Delta Halo, and the lack of Jiralhanae tactical knowledge contributed to their downfall. A line is drawn between the territories of both Sangheili and Jiralhanae space, either ship crossing into the territory of another will be considered an act of war by both sides. The Jiralhanae, after forming the Jiralhanae Empire, develop a policy of isolationism and cease contact with the rest of the galaxy.

January 28, 2558 The Sangheili, Unggoy, Mgalekgolo, and Huragok unite under the Sangeili's leadership forming the Republic of Sovereign Nations commonly referred to as the RSN. The RSN are technically allied with the UNSC, but due to hatred that was spawned by the war, tensions between them are cold at best, despite the best work of negotiators on both sides, and the RSN contributing resources and new technology towards the UNSC, causing massive technological jumps. Also the Sangheili resume their old roles as technological researchers as well as warriors.

December 12, 2561. The RSN discovers a Forerunner relic, that contained data the disproved the Covenant religion, which was still practiced by the RSN. It would be the first of many discoveries that caused the RSN to slowly drift away from said religion. What followed was Sangheili scholars resurrecting a dead religion from before the time of the Covenant, leading to the RSN worshiping a deity known as Staliu. As a gesture of friendship, the RSN allowed UNSC research teams into the relic site. It is a well know fact that despite tensions, the RSN and the UNSC still run joint research operations. This has resulted in both factions gaining new technologies, for example the UNSC can now develop shields on their soldiers and ships, while the RSN are capable of developing their own Smart A.I.'s.

September 15, 2566. Admiral Hood creates the Hood protocol. The Hood protocol states that if the Flood or a Halo is encountered, they are to be destroyed by any means necessary. Also the UNSC has publicly dismissed the Flood and Halo as mere rumors in an attempt to prevent a panic, although the rumors continue to spread, with many believing them although the details are, thankfully, sketchy.

November 5, 2571. Eden Prime is colonized, bringing the UNSC's total number of colonized planets up to 200. Eden Prime was colonized to provide agricultural support to other colonies, basically a new Harvest.

August 9, 2576. Terraforming of many glassed colonies, which had been going on nonstop since the war's end, begins to show results, scientists hope that in a matter of years they will be habitable again.

January 16, 2588. The terraforming of Harvest is completed, with tests confirming that the soil is just as fertile as before the war. This knowledge causes a population boom on the planet as plantations begin to dot the planet's surface once again.

October, 30 2592. Reach is completely de-glassed and colonization begins on it again. It will be awhile before it becomes the power house that is was before the Human-Covenant war, but the UNSC are simply glad to have it back. It is worth noting that the UNSC has temporarily halted searching for new colonies, stating that the main reason the Outer Colonies fell so quickly was they were underdeveloped and the UNSC fleet was spread too thinly. The UNSC is now focusing on developing its existing colonies. On a side note, a damaged SPARTAN helmet was found near the remains of the Aszod shipyard, although no body was found. The remains of Emile-A239 were found and buried.

March, 9, 2596. Admiral Hood passes away in his sleep. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions attend his funeral. Several Sangheili were reported to have attended.

January, 1 2600. ({CLASSIFIED}) A freak slipspace accident caused a UNSC ship to drop out into a completely uncharted territory. The crew of the ship ({CLASSIFIED)} reported seeing a large metallic object floating in space. Captain ({CLASSIFIED}) remarked "I have never seen anything like it." An expedition fleet will be sent to the coordinates ({CLASSIFIED}) to analyze the object. The common theory is that it is some sort of Forerunner relic.

January, 11 2600. Present day.

"What the Hell is that thing?" Captain John Richards almost chuckled at his question, considering that he had asked himself that question at least a dozen times now. His ship, the destroyer _Arizona, _had been assigned to guard several research ships that were analyzing a strange artifact in space that had been discovered ten days ago.

His destroyer, along with all other UNSC ships, was much more advanced than the ships of the Human-Covenant War. The MAC guns had more or less remained the same in terms of reloading an recharge rate, but the yield had been increased, and while it still fell short of what Super MACs were capable off, they were still stronger than Human-Covenant war ones. Archer missiles had been upgraded into missiles with a plasma warhead that delivered several times the yield of the original Archer.

The weapons were not the only thing that had been upgraded on UNSC ships. Shields had been installed on UNSC ships that matched the ones the RSN used. Also the Slipspace drives of all UNSC ships had been upgraded with the upgraded model of the RSN, which could traverse an average of a thousand light years per day.

The _Arizona_ and the research ships had been floating in the middle of empty space for a week now, the top Forerunner researchers working around the clock, studying the relic. Despite this, and the use of three Smart A.I.'s, they had made rather limited progress. This had caused many of the researchers to believe that the artifact was not of Forerunner design, but of another alien race.

Richards stood up from his chair on the bridge, which was now located in the center of the ship, and looked at the viewscreen at the front of the ship, which was displaying the alien relic. "Well whoever built it certainly builds big," Richards said, mostly to himself.

He wasn't joking, the relic made a RSN Assault Carrier pale in comparison. Whatever it was, the main section was spherical with a hollow center. It also had two "arms" that extended out to the side.

"Recon-3 to _Arizona_," a voice said crackled over Richards' COM earpiece.

"_Arizona_ here, what's your status Recon-3?" Richards asked.

"Richards, I think we might have made a breakthrough," Recon-3 said in an excited voice. "The A.I.'s finally made their way into the relic's systems. It looks like the relic's power systems haven't even been activated yet. I recommend that you buckle your seat-belts, we're going to turn it on."

"All right," Richards said "Go for it." Richards glanced around at the bridge crew. "Brace yourself everyone, the research teams is about to power up the..." but Richards was cut off as a small vibration rocked the ship. Turning to face the viewscreen again, Richards saw that the center of the sphere was now glowing with blue energy, as two rings spun around it.

"All right," said Recon-3 "It looks that the energy in the sphere is Dark Energy. Nothing we haven't seen before, but nothing we've ever seen in a usable form. We're going to try to get a closer look." As he spoke, one of the research ships began to move forward, alongside the relic. Without warning, the Dark Energy seemed to extend from the sphere, and wrap itself around the research ship. The research ship was suddenly propelled forward at unrealistic speeds, out of scanner range and sight.

"What the hell just happened!" Richards shouted.

"I don't know sir," Recon-3 replied. In the following ten minutes, Recon-3 ran scans of the relic in an attempt to discover what it had done to the research ship. Just as the ship was about to be declared MIA, it suddenly reappeared next to the relic.

"Recon-2 to Recon-3 and _Arizona_," an ecstatic voice said over the COM lines. "The relic just propelled us across lightyears across space to an identical relic, it's clearly part of some sort of high speed transportation network."

Richards felt his jaw drop as he heard Recon-3 speak up. "Captain I think we should return to the nearest UNSC planet, command is going to want to hear this."

January, 15, 2600. The _Arizona_ and the research ships return to friendly territory to report the discoveries that were made about the mysterious relic. More scientific expeditions are currently being planned.

Author's Note: Well let's hope that this story works out better. By the way, I will be adding on characters that weren't in the original. Not OCs though (With the exception of a couple I came up with but never got a chance to put in) No, I'll be putting in ME2 characters. I've yet to decide who exactly, but I've already decided on how to bring in, Oh,oh,oh almost gave it away there, sorry wait and find out.


	2. Shots Fired

Chapter 2

Shots Fired

Author's Note: One of the things that bugged me to no end in the original was how I constantly used Mass Effect planets while only vaguely mentioning Halo planets, therefore do not expect the events in this story to take place on the same planets as they did in the game. For example, as you see by the end of the chapter, the First Contact War will take place at a different location.

By the way, I beta read another Mass Effect/Halo crossover, written by MJOLNIR117, and he used an interesting idea. Since the events of this story take place 500 years later than they did in the game, Council technology would be much more advanced. Therefore I am going to be beefing up their warships so that I can have a battle where it doesn't take 10 Turian ships to destroy 1 Human one. If there is a problem with that, I am sorry but I am not going to change it. All right, let's go, once again the timeline was mostly unchanged.

February 1, 2600. The RSN conducts its own experiments with the relic, acquiring similar results to that of the UNSC research team. The UNSC has decided not to colonize any new planets due to security reasons, and being content with its current 226 planets. The RSN, on the other hand, is more than eager to colonize new planets that are now within reach, allowing Unggoy more breeding grounds and Mgalekgolo more alloys to digest.

June 27, 2600. Following the discovery of the relics, several other relics are discovered, although they are much smaller than the ones that serve as transportation. They are being transported back to Earth for research, although hopes are not high for technological advancements.

April 16, 2601. Disaster strikes. While transporting several of the alien relics, a Pelican malfunctions and crashes in Singapore. The strange substance that was contained in the relics leaked out, releasing unknown amounts of dark energy. The long term effects of this disaster can only be guessed at.

October 26, 2602. A UNSC expedition ship makes an amazing discovery. The _Santa Maria _was exploring uncharted space when it stumbled upon a habitable planet. While a habitable planet is normally not a groundbreaking find, it was discovered that this planet was exposed to next to no radiation. As a direct result of this the local wildlife is, for lack of a better word, "retarded" as it experiences next to no evolution. It is suspected that if non-native plants were placed on the planet, local plants would be easily overrun. Do to the uniqueness of this planet, the UNSC bends its policy of not colonizing new worlds to colonize this one and several colony ships are dispatched. Due to the similarity between this planet and the one described in the famous novel _Starship Troopers_ by Robert A. Heinlein, the planet is named Sanctuary.

September, 1, 2604. Gene therapy/augmentation evolves to the point where they can be used cheaply and painlessly at the civilian level. This new technology should be able to cure genetic disorders, such as Down Syndrome, Hemophilia, Sickle-Cell disease, and allergic reactions. NOTE: While civilian level gene rewrites are relatively harmless and cheap, SPARTAN grade augmentations remain expensive and risky, these levels only decrease slightly.

November 9, 2605. Several odd occurrences were reported, originated from Singapore. Several children have been displaying telekinetic abilities. Although they are minor as best, they have sent researchers scurrying, looking for answers. It is worth noting that all of the children that have displayed ability so far were fetuses at the time of the Singapore Pelican crash of 2601. It is possible that the dark energy that they were exposed to is responsible for this strange occurrence.

March 5, 2606 General Williams is transferred to Harvest and is given control of the ground forces located there. Due to the fact that Harvest is rather isolated when compared to the rest of UNSC space, large portions of the UNSC military have been deployed to the planet, including several battalions of Marines and ODSTs, and a fleet of warships.

February 18, 2608. Another one of the alien relics that serve as part of an intergalactic transport network was discovered near Harvest. Several of the farming corporations on Harvest starting using the relic to export their crops, but the UNSC is worried that the relay could be used by the Jiralhanae to launch an attack on Harvest.

June 16, 2608. Present day, high orbit over Harvest.

Vice-Admiral Elizabeth Hall let out a small yawn as she sat in her chair on the bridge of the destroyer _Peacekeeper._ She was second in command of the HDF (Harvest Defense Fleet) which was under the command of Admiral Edward Larson. All in all the HDF was made up of 14 frigates, 8 destroyers, 5 carriers and the Admiral's Marathon-class cruiser the _Pearl Harbor_. They were in high orbit over the inhabited area of Harvest. While the planet was more populated than it was at the beginning of the Human-Covenant war, the population was still tightly clustered, allowing for it to easily be guarded by a fleet.

"Three months of this," Elizabeth muttered underneath her breath and brushed a strand of her brown hair out of her eyes. She had spent a quarter of a year stationed as part of the HDF, and it was taking a bit of a toll on her. She knew better than to wish for something other than peace, so she did not complain about the lack of combat. "Still it wouldn't hurt to have a change of scenery; I'm getting tired of either sleeping in space or on a planet as hot as Harvest. Maybe I should request for a transfer to the RDF (Reach Defense Fleet)." Elizabeth smiled "Yeah, like they'll just let a Vice-Admiral walk off whenever she felt like it."

"Three cargo ships just left the system Ma'am; they're bound for Sigma Octanus IV." Lieutenant Peterson, who was sitting at a terminal, said. Elizabeth repressed a groan. One of her least favorite parts of being the Vice-Admiral of the HDF was that she had to be informed of all traffic in the system. This protocol was a result of Insurrectionists stealing freighters and ramming them into warships back in the 26th century. Elizabeth personally thought that it was pointless, as the UNSC had learned from their mistakes and passed lighter laws in the colonies to prevent another Insurrection, as it was the totalitarianism of the Outer Colonies that started it in the first place.

"The five cargo ships from Earth are still late Ma'am," Peterson said. "Weird, they should've gotten here by now, I mean they were supposed to take the alien relic." Elizabeth rolled her eyes. It was probably just a malfunction with a Slipspace drive that threw them off a light-year or two, even with the updated drive that still happened from time to time.

"What the?" the Peterson said, looking at his terminal. "Ma'am, a cluster of ships just entered the system; they're heading towards the planet, directly in our direction."

"Run a check on their cargo and where they intend to deliver it," Elizabeth said in a bored voice.

"They're not Human ships," Peterson said.

Elizabeth's ears perked up as she straightened herself in her chair. "Very well," she said "Open communication channels and ask them what the RSN are doing at Harvest."

"They're not RSN either," the Peterson said in a slightly shocked voice "Their designs don't match any ship that we've ever seen, Hell they didn't even use Slipspace. Admiral I think that we've just made first contact with another race."

"They always come to Harvest don't they?" Elizabeth said in a half sarcastic voice.

"Admiral Larson is transmitting a transmission on all frequencies," Peterson said as a dry voice crackled over the COM lines.

"This is Admiral Edward Larson of the United Nations Space Command, the military and scientific branch of the United Earth Governments. We are a race known as Humanity. We do not want any conflict with other races. If you could respond to this message than we would be able to get to know each other better. I imagine that there is much we can learn from each other."

"The message is being run through translators and sent to the alien ship," Peterson said as he looked at his terminal. "Hopefully they get the message."

Elizabeth nodded as she looked at the viewscreen. There were only five alien ships; three looked like frigates while the other two looked like destroyers. They were slightly shorter than their UNSC counterparts by around a hundred meters or two, but that didn't make them any less of a threat.

"They're maintaining a steady course towards the Admiral's flagship, closing fast," Peterson said. "They've yet to respond to his transmission."

"Why would they plot an intercept course and not respond?" Elizabeth said in a confused voice. "Unless..." a look of dread broke across the Vice-Admiral's face. "Oh God, spin up the MAC guns now!" Everyone on the bridge jumped and looked at Elizabeth with surprise on their face. "NOW!" she roared "Don't you see? They're about to fire on the Admiral's flagship!" No sooner had she spoken than all five of the alien ships opened fire on the _Pearl Harbor_. High speed projectiles from the alien ships all slammed into the cruiser's shields.

"The _Pearl Harbor_'s shields are down!" Peterson shouted in a panicked voice. Elizabeth couldn't blame him, Marathon-class cruisers had the strongest shields in the UNSC Navy and they had just been torn to shreds. "Each of the alien ships just fired a missile at the _Pearl Harbor_!" Peterson shouted. "They...God help us all, either the sensors are broken or those missiles are giving off a field that is distorting space and time!"

"Space and time?" Elizabeth thought helplessly as she looked at the viewscreen. "There's no way that the _Pearl Harbor_ will..." but before she could finish her thought, the missiles struck the cruiser. They tore through the ship's armor like it was sheet metal as the Pearl Harbor exploded in a ball of fire. Elizabeth looked on in horror as the flames of the cruiser expelled outwards in a sphere, before they quickly dissipated.

"FRY THOSE SONS OF BITCHS!" Elizabeth roared "Fire the MAC guns at the closest destroyer!" Both of the _Peacekeeper_'s MAC guns fired their load at the nearest alien destroyer. The first one impacted on the alien ship's shields, which barely held. The second round tore through the shields and the ship, as it exploded in a ball of fire.

"Other destroyer!" Elizabeth shouted "Every last Archer that we have!" Two salvos of the warheads were launched at the destroyer, it's were shields torn apart under the strain as the hull was badly burned by plasma radiation, the ship barely survived the barrage.

Two nearby UNSC frigates fired their MACs at the alien frigates, which blasted through the shields without any trouble at all. The both frigates fired a salvo of Archer missiles at the remaining frigate, whose shields buckled under the fire as the ship was destroyed. The damaged destroyer, seeing that it was outmatched, activated some sort of FTL drive and exited the system.

"No," said a soft and innocent voice. Elizabeth looked at the origin of the voice, and saw that a small golden hologram of a woman dressed like a Roman Empress, who was on her knees in sorrow, had appeared on her armrest. "Admiral Larson," she said sadly, "He's dead."

"Who are you?" Elizabeth asked, recognizing the hologram to be the avatar of a Smart A.I..

"Sarah," the woman replied, getting to her feet. "I am...was...the Smart A.I. of the_ Pearl Harbor_. When he realized that his ship was about to be destroyed, Admiral Larson ordered me to jump to your ship. I took several scans of the alien ships, their weapons, and their communications, and he wanted me to make sure that you got it."

"You and the Admiral were close weren't you?" Elizabeth asked softly.

Sarah nodded. "He was...very kind to me," she said "Everyone on that ship was. The least I can do is honor their death by giving you the data. The shields that the alien ships used were not like ours, they only block matter while ours block everything. That is why the radiation of the Archer missiles caused so much damage to the hull; it would have been less if normal shields had been used.

"The primary weapon of the aliens is similar to a MAC gun, although it has a slightly faster fire rate although its yield is not as high. When I average out the fire rate of the alien weapon with the amount of kinetic energy it delivered, overall the MAC is 36% more effective than the alien's rail gun."

"That's good to hear," Elizabeth said. "At least if we run into them again we'll have superior firepower."

"That is the last thing," Sarah said. "The surviving alien ship is heading towards the relic that serves as near instantaneous travel, it is also where the battle-group came from." Sarah let out a sad sigh. "Since the freighters from Earth have yet to arrive, I can only assume that they were destroyed by the aliens. What is more, the aliens were severely outnumbered, which is why they lost so badly. I can only assume that they will return, with a much larger fleet."

"Damn it," Elizabeth swore. "Sarah, send everything you learned about the aliens to the UNSC back on Earth, we're at war."

Sarah nodded "Yes Admiral." Elizabeth blinked as she looked at Sarah. "Yes," the A.I. said simply "With Parson's death, you have been promoted to take his place as commander of the HDF. I hope you are ready for it."

"So do I," muttered Elizabeth.

Author's Note: As the First Contact war heats up, Admiral Elizabeth is given command, and her leadership abilities will be tested. All right, I'm not going to post another chapter until after I finish another chapter of Fighter for a Purpose, so be patient and as always tell me what you think.


	3. War

Chapter 3

War

Author's Note: I told you that I wasn't going to abandon this story didn't I? FYI I went back to the first two chapters and changed a couple of things around, mostly minor but you may want to reread them just to make sure that you're up to date.

UPDATE: I've been doing some thinking, and you know those rail guns that I put in guns? Let's just forget that ever happened, I cut them out of the story, I deleted all lines related to them, the UNSC just use plain old boring, yet reliable gunpowder and shell guns, alright?

Elizabeth rubbed her eyes as she reached for the coffee on the arm of her chair. It had been 24 hours since the alien attack on Harvest and she had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep. She was extremely paranoid that the aliens would launch a second strike while she was asleep, and was determined that that did not happen.

"Elizabeth," said a quiet voice. Elizabeth looked to the side and saw Sarah looking at her shyly. "Do...do you think that you should get some rest?"

"Can't afford to," Elizabeth said. "Aliens could show up at any time, and besides I can still command just fine."

"Elizabeth," Sarah said softly. "Should the aliens arrive while you are asleep, I could simply wake you and you could return to your post. There would be no danger to the fleet as most likely it would take time for the enemy ships to close in, as they cannot predict our exact coordinates. Also the HDF is scattered above the colonized portion of Harvest, making the odds that the aliens would specifically attack this ship extremely low. Should they attack any other ship in the fleet, I am sure that the Captain of that vessel will be more than capable to fending them off. Even if they were to bypass us and reach the planet, every last Army trooper, Marine and ODST is on full alert, Warthogs and Scorpions are patrolling the settlements, air support is on standby, and General Williams as already evacuated civilians to emergency bunkers. All in all I think you sleeping for a few hours will do very little to harm our cause."

"Never get in an argument with a Smart A.I.," Elizabeth said, smiling slightly "You'll always lose." Sarah was right, the UNSC was on full alert and ready for anything, every last UNSC planet had been informed of the alien attacks and were preparing themselves for a possible attack. In addition to mobilizing their forces, the UNSC had contacted the RSN, who had promised to provide aid as soon as it was available. "All right, if it'll make you feel more comfortable I'll get some sleep." As she spoke, Elizabeth stood up and made to exit the bridge.

"ADMIRAL!" Peterson shouted at the top of his lungs "We've got multiple contacts, the aliens are back, and this time they have an entire fleet!"

"Forget the sleep thing Sarah," Elizabeth said, as she sat down firmly, facing the viewscreen. "What are we up against Peterson, how many ships are there and what class?"

"Quite a few warships Ma'm," Peterson replied. "Looks like seventeen of them are frigates, eleven are destroyers and seven are carriers."

"That all?" Elizabeth asked.

"No Ma'm," Peterson said. "There's one ship that's a lot bigger than the rest. It's around 2.5 km in length and if I were to classify it, I would have to call it a dreadnought. It's probably their flagship as well."

"Well," Elizabeth said through grit teeth "We've got our work cut out for us, don't we?"

"Elizabeth," Sarah said "The carriers are launching dropships, bound for the planet's surface. They seem to be taking a path that will cause them to stay out of range of our turrets."

"Looks like they aren't stupid," Elizabeth muttered. "Contact our carriers, tell them to deploy all Longswords and Sabers. Their orders are to intercept and destroy as many dropships as possible. Contact General Williams too, tell him he's gonna have company."

XXXXX

Corporal Damon Winters grimaced nervously as he tightened his grip on the turret that he was manning. He was in a Warthog that was patrolling the perimeter of one of Harvest's cities, New Gladsheim. The Warthog was being driven by Sergeant Mack Norman with Lance Corporal Crystal Reed in the passenger's seat, a sniper rifle in her arms.

All three of them wore the up to date, bright green Marine armor. Their armor offered full body protection, as it was made out of sturdy alloys that didn't easily break. The helmet had a see-through visor that acted as an HUD, increasing the performance of any soldier in combat. To top it off, the armor had been equipped with shield generators, giving additional protection and the average soldier a better chance of surviving in a firefight.

They had gotten the word not too long ago that they were to patrol New Gladsheim, and they had found out why. Aliens had made contact, and they weren't friendly.

"Crazy isn't it?" Damon said, as the Warthog sped across the soil of Harvest "It's like First Contact all over again."

"I know," Crystal said in a worried voice "I wonder how far this will go?"

"I don't know to what level this will escalate Crystal," Mack said strongly "But I do know this. I've got no hate for the RSN, but we are not going to lose another planet to aliens. We're going to stand our ground."

Mack looked like he was about to say more, but his COM unit began to beep. "This is General Williams to all UNSC planet-side forces," a deep voice said over the COM lines. "I have received word from Admiral Hall that the aliens have returned with a full invasion fleet. They have deployed dropships, and while the orbital fighters are doing all that they can to eliminate them before they can reach the planet, it is clear that soon we will have enemy forces on Harvest. All forces are authorized to engage at will. Good luck, Williams out."

"You guys hear that?" Mack asked, looking at Crystal and Damon. They both nodded. "Ok, watch each other's backs and don't drop your guard. Damon, shoot anything that isn't ours, Crystal, get whatever Damon misses. Most importantly be careful."

Damon tightened his grip on the turret and Crystal brought her sniper rifle up to eye level. Damon had served with Mack and Crystal for some time now and had come to view them as family and not just fellow Marines. As a result, they tended to look out for each other and care about each other a little more than the average fire-team did.

"Funny," Crystal said bitterly "A week ago all I had to worry about was the divorce."

Damon frowned. Crystal and her husband had recently gone through a rather bad divorce. Crystal had said that she wasn't overly surprised; she and her husband had been drifting apart for years. Still, the whole thing made Damon's blood boil. Crystal had had odd sleeping tendencies recently, waking up at 4 A.M. for an hour, only to sleep until 5 P.M.. Damon was sure that the divorce was the reason for it, and it made him want to end the life of Crystal's ex slowly and painfully.

"We've got contacts!" Mack shouted. Damon glanced up. Sure enough, dropships were making their way downward, heading for New Gladsheim. They were rather odd looking, being rather jagged around the edges and made out of a light silver metal. They also had a rather thin center that clearly housed the cockpit, and a wing on either side and a tail to the back. There seemed to be some sort of cannon at the front of the dropships that looked like it was a very heavily caliber, at least heavy enough to destroy lightly armored vehicles. Damon also managed to spot what looked like missiles on the underside of each wing.

'Reminds me of a Praying Mantis,' Damon thought, taking note of the oddly thin dropships.

"Light them up Damon!" Mack shouted.

Mack swerved the Warthog and began to drive towards the city, where the dropships were also heading. As one of the dropships flew over the top of a nearby hospital, a hatch at the bottom opened and several humanoid figures in grayish armor jumped out, carrying rifles.

Damon squeezed down on the trigger of the turret, causing it to burst to life. Bullet's slammed into the underbelly of the dropship, and it veered away from the hospital out of the way of the fire. Spotting the Warthog, the main gun on the dropship opened fire, its shots raking the ground as Mack swerved, attempting to avoid the shots. The dropship flew after the Warthog, its main gun blazing, several shots slamming into the side of the Warthog.

"Damon get this thing off of us!" Mack shouted.

"I'm working on it!" Damon shouted, as he fired the Warthog's turret at the dropship, "This thing is as agile as hell!"

It was true; the dropship was constantly swaying to and fro, making it hard for Damon to get a bead on it. Despite its evasive maneuvering however, the aircraft was taking fire, as Damon still managed to hit it was isolated bursts of bullets, causing the dropship to smoke. As the dropship closed on the Warthog, it fired one of its missiles. Mack jerked the wheel to the right, causing the Warthog to turn sharply and narrowly avoid the missile.

"If we don't take that thing down soon it's going to tear us apart!" Mack shouted, as more bullets hit the Warthog, which was beginning to groan under the strain, its engine beginning to smoke.

"Hold on!" Crystal shouted.

She aimed her sniper rifle at the dropship, lining up a shot and firing. The bullet slammed into one of the missiles under the left wing, which detonated, blowing the wing off of the dropship. The de-winged ship spun wildly before slamming into the ground, exploding.

Mack pressed down on the brakes, causing the beaten Warthog to screech to a halt. "Glad that's over," he muttered staring at the smoking remains of the dropship. "Damon, Crystal, You two all right?"

"Yeah," Damon said "We're fine. Nice shot Crystal," he added warmly.

"No problem," Crystal said a grin flashing across her face.

"To anyone that can hear me," a voice suddenly said over the COM lines "This is Lieutenant Alexander Simms, me and my forces engaged hostile forces inside of New Gladsheim before sustaining heavy casualties and were forced to retreat. We were making headway against the aliens when half of my platoon was wiped out by two of them. The aliens that killed my men weren't average soldiers; they operated on a near SPARTAN level in terms of skill. What's more, they had some sort of…there's no other word for it, powers. Some sort of purple aura seemed to surround them and they seemed to use it as a weapon, one of my men-AW SHIT IT'S THEM!" Gunfire roared over the COM lines as Simms' shouts could be heard "FALL BACK FALL BACK- GET TO THE RALLY-" but before he should finish, there was a loud explosion, and the COM lines went silent.

Mack, Crystal and Damon all stared at each other. "Mystical powers?" Damon asked in a disbelieving voice "What the Hell are we fighting?"

"We'll have to figure that out later," Mack said. "Those dropships deployed hostile forces all over the city. We've got to get in there and push them out." Mack floored the acceleration and began to drive towards the city.

XXXXX

"FIRE!" Elizabeth shouted. Both of the _Peacekeeper_'s MAC guns fired and tore through the shields of one of the alien destroyers, obliterating it. Elizabeth grit her teeth as a projectile from one of the alien frigates slammed into the back of the _Peacekeeper_.

"Shields at 32%!" Peterson shouted from his seat "Admiral, one of the alien ships fired one of their missiles at us!"

"Maximum power to engines!" Elizabeth roared "DIVE!" The _Peacekeeper_ turned at a 90 degree angle, heading downwards engines blazing. The alien missile narrowly missed the _Peacekeeper _as it dove. "Turn and fire Archers!"

The _Peacekeeper _spun at a 180 degree angle, facing the alien frigate, firing both salvos of its Archers at the frigate. The missiles impacted on the shields and burned through the hull, causing the ship to decompress.

"Sarah, status on the rest of the battle," Elizabeth said, looking at the A.I.

"We have lost 5 frigates 3 destroyers and 2 carriers," Sarah replied. "The aliens have lost 7 frigates 4 destroyers and 3 carriers, but we are being overwhelmed. Their dreadnought is extremely powerful and blowing our ships to oblivion. The battle could easily end in victory for either us or them; it is impossible to...Elizabeth I am picking up a series of slipspace ruptures."

"What!" Elizabeth shouted, looking at Sarah. "Who is it?"

"Admiral," Peterson said "The incoming ships are broadcasting a message on all frequencies and running it through translators."

As Peterson spoke, a calm yet powerful voice spoke over the COM lines. "This is Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum of the Republic of Sovereign Nations to all unknown vessels. You have trespassed on the territory of our ally the United Nations Space Command and spilt the blood of their soldiers. Your deeds will not go unpunished; you will feel the wrath of our fleets and armies. Pray now to whatever being you call God."

Author's Note: The First Contact war is heating up, RSN and UNSC vs the Turians. Damon, Crystal and Mack are moving into the city and there are reports of extremely mysterious and deadly Turians. I think that I'll be able to focus more on the story when Fighting for a Purpose is over.


	4. Demons

Chapter 4

Demons

Author's Note: I'm going to try and alternate back and forth between this story and Tribal Wars, hoping that it'll work out for the best. All right here we go. Also check the previous chapter, I made a change.

"Am I hallucinating?" Damon asked as he stared up at the sky. Several RSN corvettes had entered low orbit and were deploying OIPs and Phantoms throughout the city.

"No you're not," Crystal said as he stared at the corvettes. "The RSN came to help us...I take back everything I've ever said about them."

"You and half of the UNSC," Mack said from his seat, as he took a sharp turn on the street he was driving on. "Keep your eyes peeled you two, the transmission from Lieutenant Simms came from around here. Those mystical aliens could be right around the corner." As Mack spoke, several OIPs dove behind several nearby buildings and gave off a loud crash as they hit the ground.

"At least we've got backup," Damon said, looking at where the OIPs and left his line of sight.

"Quite," Mack said softly raising one of his hands. "You hear that?" Damon and Crystal strained their ears. The sounds of gunfire reached their ears, along with the sounds of shouting. "Hold on!" he shouted as he floored the acceleration.

The Warthog skidded around a corner to find half a dozen Marines that were taking cover behind a destroyed Warthog in the middle of a firefight with a squad of aliens.

"Light them up Damon!" Mack roared, as the Warthog's turret burst to life. The bullets tore through the shields of the aliens as they collapsed underneath the barrage of projectiles.

Mack slammed on the brakes, and the Warthog screeched to a stop by the Marines. "Thanks for the assist," one of the Marines said, as he walked towards the Warthog.

"You Lieutenant Simms?" Mack asked. Simms nodded. "Heard you on the COM," Mack said "What's this about magical aliens?"

"No idea," Simms said, "There were two of them, and they seemed to use a purple aura as a tool. One of them threw a ball of it at one of my men, and half of him was completely vaporized. Not to mention they were throwing shit with their minds. Anyway," he said, glancing at his men "Most of my platoon didn't survive that, and we just got away when those guys showed up." As he spoke, he gestured to the aliens that Damon had killed.

"You have any idea that's going on in the rest of the city?" Mack asked.

"We've established choke points all over the city, and the aliens are landing everywhere, trying to take control. From what I've heard, it's mainly firefights all over every square inch of the city, and reports are coming in too fast for me to keep up. God knows how General Williams is handling this whole thing. We need to end this thing now, otherwise..." Simms voice slowly faded away as a look of horror stretched across his face. "Oh fuck," he whispered.

Before anyone could say anything, a ball of purple light slammed into his face, and his head just simply disappeared as the rest of his body fell to the ground. Everyone's head snapped to look in the direction of the ball's origin. Two of the aliens were standing at the end of the street a bright purple aura surrounding them.

Almost in perfect unison, the Marines that had been under Simms' command raised their weapons and opened fire at the aliens. As if they knew what was going to happen before it did, the aliens dove and rolled out of the way, both of them taking collapsible rifles off of their backs. Raising their rifles, they opened fire on the squad of Marines. The shields of three of the Marines collapsed as the projectiles from the alien's weapons pierced the armor of the Marines, killing them.

Mack slammed on the acceleration as one of the aliens threw some sort of disk at the surviving two Marines, which exploded in between them and killed both of them. The Warthog sped forward towards the aliens, Mack clearly intending on ramming them. Once again, the aliens dove and rolled out of the way, each one heading in a different direction. Damon brought the turret around and fired at the alien that had rolled to the right. The alien threw up its arms, and a purple barrier appeared around it, hugging its skin like personal shielding. The bullets from the turret slammed into the barrier, which seemed to thin under the strain, but held.

Mack jerked the wheel to the left and the Warthog spun in that direction, barley avoiding another purple ball of light that one of the aliens had thrown at the jeep. Aiming her rifle at the alien that was now in front of the Warthog, Crystal fired three shots at it, aiming for its head. Like the other alien, this one conjured up some sort of barrier to protect itself when it saw Crystal aiming her rifle. Crystal's shots slammed into the alien's barrier, which was weakened by the first two and was completely destroyed by the third. The alien shouted out something into a COM piece in a language that no Human had ever heard before as he threw another ball at the Warthog, which hit its forward right tire.

The Warthog flipped over and began to roll towards the alien, which barely avoided the rolling piece of metal. As the vehicle came to an upside down halt, the nearby alien raised its rifle and began to cautiously walk towards the wreck, the other alien making its way towards the same location. Mack let out a groan as he extracted himself from the driver's seat, barely registering that a trickle of blood was making its way down his cheek and that his shields had collapsed in the crash.

Upon seeing the approaching alien, he hastily grabbed the shotgun on his back and pointed it at the alien, firing off a blast. The pellets hit the alien's personal shielding, which waned but held. The alien growled as it gathered more light in its hand and threw it at Mack, hitting him directly in the chest. Mack was surprised when, instead of his chest disappearing, he suddenly began to float upwards, as if gravity had stopped affecting him. Underneath the helmet it was wearing, the alien smiled as it raised its rifle, lining up a shot with Mack's head.

While this was happening, Damon was crawling out of the wreckage with a look of agony on his face. He attempted to stand up, but let out a hiss of pain as he fell to his knees. Glancing at his right leg, he saw that a rather large piece of shrapnel had pierced it in the crash. Seeing a flash of purple light out of the corner of his eye, Damon turned to see Mack floating helplessly in the air, one of the aliens pointing its gun at him. Without thinking, Damon grabbed his assault rifle, aimed at the alien and opened fire.

The alien's already weakened shields collapsed underneath the fire from Damon's rifle. The alien let out a growl, forgetting all about Mack as it spun on the spot, throwing a ball of light at Damon. Instinctively, Damon raised his rifle in front of his face, causing the ball to hit it instead of him. The middle part of the rifle simply disappeared, leaving Damon with a useless piece of metal in each hand. Undaunted, the alien raised its rifle and opened fire on the Marine. Damon, whose shields had also collapsed when the Warthog had been flipped, dove behind the remains of the vehicle. As the bullets, or at least Damon thought that they were bullets, from the aliens weapon slammed into the remains of the Warthog, Damon saw Crystal lying on the ground, barely conscious.

"Sorry Crystal," he muttered, as he reached towards Crystal's back and grabbed her sniper rifle, "I need to borrow this."

Damon clutched the sniper rifle tightly as the sound of the alien's rifle stopped. Hoping that the silence meant that the rifle needed to be reloaded, Damon aimed the sniper rifle over the top of the Warthog, trying to line up a shot. The alien spotted him as it aimed its rifle, it not being empty as Damon had hoped. Both of them pulled their triggers at the same time.

A burst of three shots flew from the alien's gun, as a single bullet was fired from Damon's rifle, both of them hitting their targets. Damon let out a roar of pain as the bullets slammed into his chest, forcing him onto his back. The alien was less fortunate though, the bullet Damon had fired pierced its throat. For the briefest of seconds, the alien wondered how it was possible that it had lost to such an inferior opponent. As these thoughts ran through its head, the alien fell face first on the ground, dead.

Whatever force that had been holding Mack off of the ground broke, and he fell, landing with a dull thud. As he got to his feet, he heard two noises, the distinct hum as his shields finished recharging around him, and a roar of rage from the remaining alien as it aiming its rifle at him.

"Shit," Mack swore as he scrambled behind the Warthog, the alien's shots skimming the top of his helmet.

Mack cursed silently as he saw Damon clutching his bleeding chest and Crystal stirring on the ground.

"Oh, my damn head," Crystal muttered as she raised herself to a crouching position.

Her eyes widened as she saw Damon bleeding, but remained silent, not wanting the alien to hear her. As far as it knew, she had died in the crash.

"Here," Mack whispered, as he produced a can of biofoam from his backpack and handed it to Crystal. "Make sure he doesn't bleed to death, I think those shots pierced his lungs. While you were out, Damon managed to kill one of those mystical freaks, but the other one is still alive, and from the sounds of it, pissed off."

As Mack spoke, Crystal inserted the canister's needle into his wound and injected the biofoam into it. Damon let out a sigh of relief, probably because he wasn't having trouble breathing anymore.

"Here's the plan," Mack said quietly as Crystal gently pried her sniper rifle out of Damon's hands and began to load fresh rounds into it. "We need to take turns taking shots at the surviving alien and wear its shields down. The second it looks like a light show is about to start, put your head down, don't take any risks. If just one of us screws up here, than chances are we're all..." Mack's voice broke off as a low humming noise filled the air. He looked up and feeling of dread filled his stomach. Two of the alien dropships were now hovering over the remaining alien.

The loading bay to one of the dropships opened and an alien appeared there. The alien shouted something at the alien on the ground, making gestures towards the dropship, while the other alien shouted back at the first one.

"What are they yelling about?" Crystal asked quietly, as both she and Mack peeked over the Warthog at scene that was playing out before them.

"I don't know," Mack muttered. "I think they want him to get on board, no idea why though."

As he spoke, the alien on the ground pointed to the dead alien, and then at their position, shouting loudly as it did so. After a few seconds, the dropship whose door was still closed, turned and began to make its way to Mack and Crystal's position.

"Shit, we're in trouble," Mack hissed. "I think that fucker just told his buddies to fry us." He glanced at Crystal "You think that you can take this one out the same way you took the other one?"

"With it zeroing in on my position with the intention to tear me to shreds?" Crystal asked grimly. "Probably not, but there's no way in Hell I'm going to die without trying," she said with extreme vigor, raising her sniper rifle, ready to take a shot at any second. The dropship slowly, almost cautiously, moved towards them, Mack and Crystal waiting with unbearable silence, weapons clenched tightly.

Then, without warning, three balls of pink plasma slammed into the side of the dropship, which began to spiral violently. Mack and Crystal watched in horror as the dropship began to descend rapidly, right towards them. Both of them grabbed one of Damon's arms, and dragged him out of the way just in time as the dropship hit the ground, exploding in a ball of fire and knocking both Mack and Crystal off of their feet, their ears ringing.

The alien glanced towards the source of the balls of plasma, and saw a bright purple Phantom heading in their direction. Growling softly, the alien turned to face the remaining dropship, which was now hovering three feet off of the ground, the alien onboard shouting loudly, and walked into it, the door shutting behind him. Not waiting for the door to be completely closed, the dropship took off, heading upwards at an incredible pace, until it was out of sight.

As it did, the Phantom landed by the remains of the destroyed dropship, a Sangheili in bright gold armor and two more in red stepped out. A black misty substance was leaking from the destroyed dropship and was quickly spreading throughout the area.

"HEY!" a voice rang through the mist "We've got a wounded man here!" Crystal and Mack appeared through the mist, each of them supporting Damon.

"Are you Lieutenant Alexander Simms?" the golden clad Sangheili asked in a soft voice.

Mack blinked as he looked the Sangheili up and down. 'Soft voice, slender figure, eyes more slanted, there's no doubting it, this Sangheili is a she.' "No," he said, speaking aloud "Simms is KIA."

"I am sorry," the Sangheili said sincerely. "I am Shipmistress Isonia 'Cirate, I heard the Lieutenant being attacked over the communication lines and decided to help. Tell me, what fate befell the mysterious aliens that attacked him?"

"One of them got away," Mack said bitterly "But Damon here killed the other one."

"Really?" Isonia asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"It was dumb luck," Damon said weakly, looking at Isonia. "His shields were already weakened and I nearly got killed in the process."

"An Unggoy that nearly dies killing a Mgalekgolo, has still killed a Mgalekgolo," Isonia said, chuckling softly. "You are quite the Demon Slayer. Now then, it is best that we leave this area and return to my ship, we have no idea what this mist is, it could be toxic, not to mention you comrade can receive treatment."

"But Shipmistress," Crystal said "The city is still under attack, can't you take Damon so that Mack and I can remain here and fight?"

"I admire your dedication to your duty," Isonia said "But you need not worry, since our arrival all hostile forces have begun to evacuate, as their fleet has been taking heavily losses. No doubt they fear that their fleet will be destroyed before they can escape and they will become stranded on this planet. Now then, it is imperative that we are checked for abnormalities in our health, for all we know this mist is killing us as we speak." Crystal glanced at Mack, who nodded. All of them boarded the Phantom as its doors closing behind them and it took off, heading for the stars.

Authors Note: Wow it's been awhile since I updated this story. I'm going to do my best to keep this story going, in the meantime, tell me what you think. Also, I was looking over a couple of reviews for the last version and I will be putting in several things that I left out the first time around. One more thing MERRY CHRISTMAS!


	5. Strategy

Chapter 5

Strategy

Authors Note: Sorry that this has taken awhile, but I've really been slacking off over Christmas I doubt any of you will really blame me that much for it. Been playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (Which is awesome) and Dead Money for Fallout New Vegas. You know how most of the Fallout 3 DLCs were just about adding loot and a couple of quests? Dead Money has an **AMAZING** storyline and characters; I would highly recommend it to anyone with New Vegas. Be warned it can be rather terrifying, I on several occasions felt bursts of paranoia. That fucking sound that the ghost people make 'Shudder'. Well, here you go, the next chapter.

"They're running for it," Hall said as she slumped into her chair on the bridge of the Peacekeeper.

Since the arrival of the RSN, the aliens' dreadnought and the majority of their frigates and destroyers had been eliminated. The handful of surviving ships, after picking up a handful of dropships that had evacuated from the planet's surface, had activated their FTL drives and abandoned the system.

"We held Harvest, good," Hall muttered to herself.

"I must say," Sarah said, her avatar glowing on Hall's armrest "You perform very well under pressure."

Hall smirked "You just trying to compliment me or did you have something else to tell me?

"Actually yes," Sarah said. "During the battle I was able to hack into the computers of the alien starships and download and translate the data that they had recorded."

"Really?" Hall asked, "What did you find out?"

"Quite a bit actually," Sarah said, frowning slightly. "Apparently these aliens aren't used to cyber warfare; I was able to break through their firewalls with ease. I was able to acquire a file called the Codex, which is apparently a standard issue file that can be found quite easily in the aliens' society and is more or less an encyclopedia."

"What did you get from the Codex?" Hall asked.

"I think we have everything we need to know right here," Sarah said. "First of all, the name of the aliens that we encountered is Turian, and from what I learned here, apparently they put emphasis on military discipline. They also…well this is interesting."

"What is it?" Hall asked.

"Apparently the Turians are part of a collective of aliens underneath the jurisdiction of a government body called the Council," Sarah said in an interested voice. "In fact it looks like the Turians serve as the main military force of the Council."

"Wait, a collective of aliens?" Hall asked in a horrorstruck voice, thoughts of another Covenant running through her head.

As if Sarah could read Hall's mind, she spoke in a comforting voice. "It doesn't look like that Elizabeth," she said softly "I can't find anything about the Council here that suggests that they conquer every species that they meet. Apparently the main ruling species of the Council are the Turians and two other races, one called Asari and the other Salarian. In addition to their own kind, the Council rules over several other species, the Volus, the Hanar, the Elcor, the Batarians and the Drell." Sarah frowned. "The entry on species stops here, I think that there might have been more in them but the data was corrupted."

"Is there anything else?" Hall asked.

"Hold on," Sarah said, a faint glowing in her eyes. "Let me see...history, mercenary organizations, trade routes…" Sarah paused "Star charts."

"Pardon?" Hall asked.

"Star charts," Sarah repeated. "I've got detailed maps of the Council's territory right here, including targets of high value...and a possible explanation for why the Turians attacked us."

"Does the Council forcibly annex any new species that they find?" Hall asked.

"Not exactly," Sarah said "You know those strange artifacts that we found eight years ago?" Hall nodded. "Apparently they're called Mass Relays, they were built by an ancient race of aliens called the Protheans and the Council uses them as their main method of travel. 2500 years ago, the Council activated a dormant relay and made contact with an insectoid species called the Rachni. They were hostile to the Council and a three century long war followed the contact before the Council succeeded in wiping the Rachni out. Afterwards, the Council outlawed the activation of any inactive relays for fear that another species like the Rachni would be released onto the galaxy."

Sarah looked at Hall "From what I can draw from that, the Turians destroyed the freighters at the nearby relay upon seeing them using it. The freighters probably initiated the Cole Protocol, so the Turians probably had to scout out the nearest star system to find more of us. Since the Turians are the main military species of the Council, they're probably used to enforcing laws. I'm guessing that they thought what they saw, was an idiotic species playing with the relay and... this whole mess happened."

Hall let out a sigh as she rubbed her eyes in a weary manner. "So everyone that died here is because the Turians got trigger happy?" Hall groaned. "What do you suggest that we do Sarah? Should we try to explain to the Council that there's no way that we could have known their laws, or should we launch a counter attack against them?"

"Those seem to be our two main decisions," Sarah said grimly. "I believe that we should confer with Fleetmaster 'Vadum and see what he believes that should be about this situation."

Hall nodded. "Good idea, establish COM lines with him," Hall said, relaxing into her chair as Sarah connected her COM unit to the RSN Battle-Net. "Fleetmaster 'Vadum," Hall said into her COM unit "I am Admiral Elizabeth Hall, commander of the Harvest Defense Fleet. On behalf of the UNSC I would like to thank the RSN for what they have done here."

"Your thanks is not required Admiral," Rtas replied "We made a promise to protect your species if you were ever threatened, today we upheld that promise. If we had done anything less, than we would not be worthy of the armor that we wear."

"Still, I appreciate it, and I imagine countless people will want to thank you," Hall said gratefully. "We won the battle today thanks to your help. But we still have many hardships ahead of us Fleetmaster, the aliens that attacked us, the Turians, are part of a larger organization of aliens. We must respond to what they have done here."

"What do you propose?" Rtas asked.

XXXXX

"Are you certain?" Isonia asked as a Sangheili doctor waved a scanner over her body.

"Without a doubt," the doctor said as he lowered the instrument "Whatever that mist was, it has left no negative effects on your bodies."

Isonia, Mack and Crystal were all standing in the medical bay of Isonia's corvette, the _Hidden Blade_. Damon was lying on one of the beds, hooked up to life support. The doctor had given him stem cell grafts, estimating that he would recover in a week.

"You are medically stable, but I wish to run more tests on her." As the doctor spoke, he gestured towards Crystal.

"Me?" Crystal said in a surprised voice "Why?"

"I merely wish to check that the mist did not affect your young one," the doctor said simply.

"WHAT?" Crystal shouted, causing Mack to jump violently and Damon to turn his head towards her so quickly he nearly got whiplash. "Are you telling me that…that…that…"

"You are with child," the doctor said simply.

Crystal stared dumbly at the wall. "How did this happen?" she whispered in a barely audible voice.

"Do you wish for me to explain the dynamics of reproduction?" the doctor asked in a confused voice, cocking his head slightly.

"She doesn't mean it like that!" Mack shouted in an exasperated voice "She's just in shock!"

"Ah," the doctor said, clarity breaking across his face. "Well, as I said before, I wish to run some additional tests to make sure that your child was not affected by the mist."

"Um," Crystal said, clearly flustered, "Sure, go ahead." The doctor stepped forward and waved his scanner over Crystal's stomach. "Can you tell what its gender is?" she asked nervously.

"Just a moment," the doctor said as he continued to wave his scanner over Crystal's belly. He pulled the scanner back and looked at the screen on the front. "From the preliminary scans, it appears that the child is male."

"Is he healthy?" Crystal asked, clearly worried.

"Interesting," the doctor said, looking at his scanner. "The child appears to be perfectly healthy, however I am detecting higher than average brain activity from him."

"What does that mean?" Crystal asked, looking hopelessly confused.

"To be perfectly honest, I am not quite sure," the doctor said honestly. "The mist that you encountered is most likely the cause for the spike in neural activity. While I cannot determine exactly what effects it will have on your child, if there are any at all. You can take comfort however, my scans show that it will have no negative effects on your child's health."

"Oh thank god," Crystal said as she backed into one of the infirmary's many beds and sat down on it.

"What do you plan on doing?" Damon asked as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"I don't know," Crystal answered honestly. "I can't be a Marine if I'm pregnant." She smiled grimly "I have to retire and find a new job, one that's less straining. Things will get tough but I'll get through them."

Isonia let out a chuckle. "Well said," she said heartily. "It is a shame that you will not be able to participate in any future battles, but I will make sure to compensate for the fact that you are not there."

XXXXX

"Are you sure that this is the best course of action that we are capable of taking?" Rtas asked. He and Hall were standing on the bridge of the _Peacekeeper_, Rtas having decided that it would better if they were to speak in person.

Hall nodded. "I do Fleetmaster, I am not eager to start a war if we can easily avoid it."

"An interesting choice of strategy," Rtas said "Issuing an ultimatum is not something we have ever attempted, at least not this early into a conflict. How exactly do you plan to go about this?"

"I've been looking through the Codex," Sarah said, her avatar still glowing on Hall's armrest. "I've found a location known as the Citadel; it seems to be the home of the Council and the center of their government and economics."

"The Council's _High Charity_," Rtas said.

"More or less," Sarah said. "I've also found details about the Citadel's defensive fleet, including the number of ships and their classifications."

"This is what I suggest," Hall said, looking from Sarah to Rtas. "A joint UNSC and RSN fleet could lay siege to the Citadel, a fleet that outnumbers the defensive fleet of the Citadel 3 to 1. We could issue our ultimatum, explaining the situation and request for a peaceful situation to this whole situation, and reparations for damage that the Turians caused."

"What if they refuse?" Rtas asked.

A grim look covered Hall's face as she looked at Rtas. "Then we open fire on the Citadel and cripple the Council. Afterwards we strike every major military instillation that they have throughout the Milky Way, until they either surrender or are completely incapable of continuing to fight."

Rtas sighed. "It appears that your plan is the best one that we have. From what I've seen our ships are more technologically advanced than the Council's. This fleet that I am commanding is merely a patrol fleet that I was inspecting; it lacked any of the RSN's heavy warships and flagships. From what I've seen of your fleet, it is also very light compared to what the UNSC is capable of. We should be capable of defeating this Council in military combat; however we may suffer heavy losses. The Council rules significantly more species that we do; as a result they could easily command more soldiers than we do. This war could very well be a long and bloody one unless we strike fast and hard."

"So, do we have an agreement?" Hall asked.

"We do," Rtas said. "I will contact the Arbiter and ask for his permission to carry out this plan, I have little doubt that he will agree. You should also contact the UEG senate and convey our plan to them. We should wait no longer than two weeks to organize an assault fleet and end this conflict as soon as possible, before even more difficulties arise from it."

Hall frowned, as it didn't sound like Rtas was talking about the Council when he said more difficulties. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"If all of our forces are dedicated to fighting the Council," Rtas replied darkly "How do you think the Jiralhanae will respond to it?"

For decades, the Jiralhanae Empire had remained silent, no ships had exited its borders since the end of the Great Schism. Many assumed that the Jiralhanae were waiting behind their lines, plotting their revenge for their defeat in the Human-Covenant War and the planets they had lost to the Sangheili. There had been scattered rumors that the Jiralhanae had colonized new worlds in order to bolster their forces, but the majority of the UNSC and RSN believed that the Jiralhanae were still embroiled in civil war due to the power vacuum that the of the extinction of the San 'Shyuum had caused, but it was clear that Rtas was not willing to take that chance.

"Even if they have no central government at all," Rtas continued "their common hatred of the UNSC and RSN may be enough to unite them and cause them to strike while we are busy dealing with the Council.

Hall nodded "I understand."

"Good," Rtas said "Steel yourself Admiral, what lies ahead may be one of the most difficult challenges our kinds have ever faced."

Author's Note: Well, the battle lines are drawn and the armies are lining up. The clouds of war are gathering. Well I hope that you enjoyed that chapter please tell me what you think.


	6. Standoff

Chapter 6

Standoff

Author's Note: I just watched Tron Legacy today, and completely ignore whatever the critics tell you, it is an **AWESOME** movie. The effects are awesome, the fight scenes are killer. and the songs are to die for. All right, here you go.

Hall let out a nervous sigh as she sat in her chair on the bridge of the Peacekeeper, twiddling her thumbs. It had been fourteen days since the second Turian attack on Harvest, and since then both the UNSC and RSN had mobilized their forces.

A massive fleet of ships, both UNSC and RSN, were in slipspace, heading for the location known as the Citadel. The joint fleet was 700 ships strong and was comprised of some of the heaviest ships that both factions possessed. Marathon-class cruisers dotted the mass, as well as the up to date Halcyon-class.

After the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC had needed to rebuild their fleets, so they had recommissioned many Halcyon class cruisers. The ship had been the laughing stock of the UNSC back then, so it had been re-modified. The new Halcyon-class cruisers were now frontline warships second only to the Marathon-class cruiser, boasting two MAC guns and dozens of Archer pods, capable of firing three at a time. The new shields and alloys used for defenses made the ship a damage sponge, rather like the Marathon-class.

The RSN had not neglected to bring their own powerhouses to the fright either. They had brought dozens of Assault Carriers, ships that were 5 km long and sported dozens of plasma torpedo launchers. But without a doubt, the true terror of the RSN portion of the fleet was the half a dozen Supercarriers that they had brought. They were a staggering 27 km long and each one possessed enough firepower to rival that of a small fleet.

A fleet of this magnitude had never been seen by either faction, the closest one being the fleet stationed at the space station _Unyielding Hierophant _in the Human-Covenant War, and it had been destroyed in Operation: FIRST STRIKE.

The fleet had almost arrived at the Citadel, where its true potential would be seen. Hall wasn't even going to pretend that she wasn't nervous. If things didn't go well, this could very well be the beginning of a war that would tear the galaxy in two.

Hall had been given command of all UNSC forces, based on the fact that she was the only Admiral that had any experience fighting the Turians. She had been given a very large responsibility, and she could practically feel her nerves eating at the inside of her stomach.

"Five minutes Elizabeth," Sarah said from her position on Hall's armrest.

"I know," Hall said in a strangled voice. "Open a fleet wide transmission."

Sarah nodded as Hall's COM unit beeped. "The line's open Elizabeth."

"All United Nations Space Command forces, this is Admiral Elizabeth Hall. This moment may very well change the history of both our race, and that of the Republic of Sovereign Nations. Because of this, it is imperative that all of you follow your orders to the letter and with extreme precession. As you know, upon arrival the fleet will divide into various divisions, each one being spread out to surround the Citadel, with the main force guarding the Mass Relay located there in order to prevent any ships using it to call for reinforcements. We also plan to use all Smart A.I.'s that we have with us to jam all of the Council's long range communications, and should a battle start, short range communications."

"If it comes to war, the Citadel will be unable to receive any addition forces to help repel us. Remember that I will first attempt to negotiate with the Council, so do not fire on any Council ships until I give the order or they fire on you first." Hall let out a sigh, "You all have your orders, carry them out to the best of your ability, Godspeed."

"Admiral," came Rtas' voice over the COM lines "My brothers and sisters are ready to either make peace or rain fire, I am trusting the starting negotiations to you, my people are not skilled at stopping a fight before it starts with words of peace, we normally do it with either threats or acts of violence. Should the Council agree to a ceasefire, then we will send a representative to board the Citadel to join yours."

"Very well," Hall said, "Fleetmaster, whatever happens, I would like to thank the RSN for everything that they've done for us."

"Your thanks are not required Admiral," Rtas said "It is an honor to fight alongside your kind once again." Hall smiled to herself as Rtas disconnected the COM line.

"We're dropping out of slipspace," Sarah said.

"Alright," Hall said, gripping her armrests with a determined look on her face. "It's do or die time, Sarah get ready to help the other A.I.'s jam their communications. Here we go," she whispered as the fleet exited slipspace.

As it did, Hall got a good look at the Citadel that she had heard so much about. It was comprised of five arms that extended out from a ring where they were all connected.

'That's it? _High Charity _was ten times as big,' Hall thought privately, not paying that much attention to the station.

What really caught Hall's attention, was the fleet that was orbiting the station. Approximately 250 ships of various classes were guarding the Citadel. Their main flagship seemed to be an odd looking dreadnought with a bright blue center that was approximately 3 km in length.

'That's a lot bigger than the dreadnought at Harvest,' Hall thought, as her eyes quickly skimmed through the rest of the fleet. 'Odd, there are a couple of other dreadnoughts here, but none of them are that big, must be a special class.'

"The other A.I.'s and I are jamming them Elizabeth, they're not squawking anytime soon," Sarah said. "I'm picking up ship to ship COM chatter; they're all trying to contact their commander for orders. From what I can see, they weren't expecting us to find this location, they're in complete disarray."

"That may be for the best," Hall said "Sarah, open a COM line to all Council ships and run it through the translators."

Sarah nodded as she glowed more brightly for a couple of seconds. "It's open, from here on out it's all up to you Elizabeth."

"This is Admiral Elizabeth Hall of the United Nations Space Command, the military, scientific and colonization branch of the United Earth Government to the Council." Hall said in a determined voice. "Fifteen days ago, we were attacked by a species underneath your jurisdiction, the Turians. Our ally, the Republic of Sovereign Nations, came to our assistance and together we drove them back. We do not know if you ordered the Turians to attack us, or if they did so of their own accord. We do not want any further conflict, and would much rather prefer a peaceful solution to this whole situation, but should you slap away the hand of peace, we will not hesitate to open fire."

Hall swallowed as she sat in her chair, waiting for a response. "Admiral Elizabeth Hall," came a voice that sounded female and strangely Human over the COM lines. "This is Councilor Tevos, the Asari representative on the Council. Allow me to personally apologize for the rash actions of the Turians, several of their captains were overenthusiastic in enforcing our laws and attacked you as a result."

Hall bit back a sigh of relief as she spoke into her COM unit. "Councilor, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear those words."

"I can imagine," Tevos replied "If you and the Republic of Sovereign Nations could send representatives to board the Citadel, we could become better aquatinted. I am transmitting the location of the Council's chamber to you as we speak. I am looking forward to seeing you soon."

Hall let out a sigh as she slumped into her chair, there would be no war here today. "Who do you plan on sending Elizabeth?" Sarah asked.

"Myself," Hall said, with an obvious tone in her voice. "Mind joining me?" she asked.

Sarah smiled. "Not at all," she replied as Hall held out her hand. Sarah touched it and disappeared into Hall's neural implant. "Let's do this," Sarah said, her voice resonating in Hall's COM unit.

XXXXX

"Hey Mack, I have a question," Damon said as he and Mack sat in the bay of a Pelican along with a dozen other Marines. "If we're going to the Citadel to negotiate, why are you bringing a freaking rocket launcher?"

Mack grinned as heaved the heavy weapon over his shoulder. "Admiral Hall told us to be prepared for anything, and since we're a man down with Crystal staying back on Harvest, I need to compensate for the reduction of the firepower that we have. If you want, you can think of it as a present for my promotion."

"Fair enough, Lieutenant," Damon said humorously as he slid a clip into the battle rifle that he had taken from the armory to replace his destroyed assault rifle.

Since Crystal had been discovered to be pregnant, she had been pulled from active duty and would most likely retire from the Marines soon. In fact the only reason Damon and Mack had were heading to the Citadel was that they, along with the other Marines and ODSTs from Harvest that were among the fleet, had experience fighting the Turians. Mack had also been promoted to Lieutenant and Damon to Sergeant, with Mack now commanding the platoon that sat in the Pelican, Damon being his second in command.

"We're landing!" the pilot shouted from the cockpit "I have orders to drop you guys off and return to the fleet. Admiral Hall's Pelican should arrive in a couple of minutes; you're to follow her orders when she does."

"Got it!" Mack shouted as the bay door to the Pelican opened.

All of the Marines stood up from where they sat and jumped out of the Pelican, landing firmly on their feet. As the Pelican turned and flew away, the Damon and Mack looked around and saw that they were standing on what looking like a dock.

"Glad to see that you made it Lieutenant, you as well Demon Slayer."

Damon and Mack turned to see Isonia standing among several Lances of RSN troopers. Among were forces were many Sangheili SpecOp operatives, SpecOp Unggoy operatives wielding fuel rods and even a Mgalekgolo pair.

"Shipmistress," Mack said in a surprised voice "What are you doing here? I thought Fleetmaster 'Vadum would come here."

Isonia chuckled "That is what I thought would happen as well, but apparently Rtas is not one for negotiations, as he sent me in his place. I am glad to see that your wounds have healed Demon Slayer."

Damon gave a grim smile, "How long are you going to keep calling me that?" he asked.

"I have no intentions of calling you anything else," Isonia said slyly. "You have earned that name; it is something you should wear with pride, not distain. If I may ask, do you intend on acting as ambassador Lieutenant?"

"No, we're just the advance guard" Mack said. "Ah, here we go," he said as he looked past Isonia. Everyone turned to see another Pelican approaching the docks, passing through the barrier that kept it pressurized. The Pelican hovered over the docks, its bay door opening as Hall exited it, four ODSTs accompanying her.

"I trust that you are the RSN representative?" Hall asked, looking at Isonia.

Isonia nodded. "I am Shipmistress Isonia 'Cirate, and you?"

"Admiral Elizabeth Hall," the Admiral said. "Shall we go? The Council is waiting for us." Isonia nodded and both groups walked towards the far end of the docks where there was a door leading deeper into the Citadel.

They made their way through into what appeared to be a market place, which was full of stunned looking aliens of various sizes and colors, apparently the UNSC and RSN had arrived in the middle of the workday.

"This place is just like _High Charity_," Damon muttered to Mack. "Not only is it a centerpiece of government, it's also a major place of culture and economics."

Mack nodded "I see what you mean, if we had gone ahead and destroyed this place; we could have easily killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions of civilians. If we had gone to war with the Council after that, the gloves would be off and they would bombard civilian and military targets alike."

Hall said nothing as they made their way towards a series of elevators, which would take them upwards to where the Council was waiting.

Author's Note: Hmm, I'm in a bad mood. I was stupid enough to get into a flame war with a feminazi over youtube who is under the impression that all men care about is sex, and even those who actually care about women can easily lose sight of that just so they can merely have sex, so yeah I'm angry. Aw well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. At the request of one of my reviewers, I'm probably going to write a chapter for Tribal Wars next, have a happy New Year.


	7. Negotiations

Chapter 7

Negotiations

Author's Note: This chapter will mainly deal with the negotiations between the UNSC, RSN and the Council. Please take note that now that my vacation is over I won't be able to update as often, but I will when I can. Also, I have been listening to reviewers from the last couple of chapters and the last version and I will bear them in mind as I write this chapter. Also, who may already know this, but in Mass Effect, a very few people actually speak English, what you hear is actually being converted into English by translators, just so you know, when a Council species member is talking, even among themselves, they are actually speaking their own language, it's just more convenient for me to not have to bold or italicize the words. All right, here you go.-

Within the confines of the Presidium, at the very top of the Citadel Tower, Councilor Tevos sighed as she read off of a datapad. "These reports cannot possibly be right!" said an angry voice to her right. She craned her neck to see the Turian Councilor, Valern, reading from a datapad as well. "How could species that we have never met have amassed a fleet of such proportions? The sheer size of those vessels, how can they build ships of such mass? 27 kilometers, how is it even possible to create a ship of that magnitude?"

"This is rather interesting," came the voice of the third councilor, the Salarian Councilor, Mesu. "According to scans from the Destiny Ascension the ships of these factions, the UNSC and RSN, do not use standard Mass Effect drives. In fact, the Destiny Ascension picked up no traces of Element Zero on any of their ships."

"That's impossible," Valern said dismissively, anger still present in his voice. "Mass Effect technology is the only method for space travel that the Council has encountered in thousands of years."

"It isn't technically impossible," Mesu said, turning to face Valern. "The UNSC and RSN could have had their homeworlds in systems that were devoid of Mass Relays, and any Prothean technology, forcing them to develop their own means of faster than light travel. They would also have had to develop other technologies to operate without Mass Effect technology. Weapons, conventional transport, in reality their technology could easily be different from ours in every possible way."

"Yes," Valern snarled, "the same could be said of their ideology. We have absolutely no idea what we are dealing with, for all we know, they are luring us into a false sense of security before they blow us to oblivion."

Tevos let out a groan as she turned to face Valern. It could be very frustrating to be a Councilor, as it was a life term and the only ways that a Councilor could be removed from his or her position was retirement, impeachment, or death. As a result, if the Councilors did not get along very well, they were in for a long and miserable term, and unfortunately, she and Valern didn't always see eye to eye.

"They're not Krogan Valern, if they were really bloodthirsty, they could have easily have obliterated us and only lost 100 ships, 150 if our commanders were on their toes," she said in a frustrated voice.

"Have you forgotten the true might of the Council, Tevos?" Valern snapped as he glared at the Asari. "We have withstood the Krogan and the Rachni, we can withstand these newcomers, if we call for reinforcements, and we can overwhelm them with sheer-"

"We can't!" Tevos shouted in a frustrated voice. "If you were patient enough to finish reading the report that Matriarch Lidanya forwarded to us, you would know that both the UNSC and RSN are jamming our long range communications. We cannot get even the most simple of signals to anyone outside of the system."

"What do you suggest that we do then? Stand here and be held hostage, hostage on the Citadel no less?"

"We are not being held hostage Valern, the UNSC and RSN are making their way up here to negotiate as we speak. I suggest that you calm yourself before they arrive, lest you start an intergalactic crisis the same way that several of the Hierarchy's captains nearly did."

Valern snarled and was about to retort when the sound of footsteps was heard. The Council turned to see UNSC and RSN representatives making their way towards them. Both of the parties had been equipped with portable translators to properly communicate with the Council species, equipment that was as common as omni-tools to Council species.

"I trust that you are the Council?" Isonia asked politely.

Pushing her argument with Valern to the back of her head, Tevos nodded at Isonia. Isonia gave a small bow .

"Greetings, I am Shipmistress Isonia 'Cirate of the RSN and the race Sangheili. I trust that you are already familiar with Admiral Elizabeth Hall of the UNSC and the race Human."

"We have spoken," Tevos said. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Tevos, the Asari representative on the Council. My companions are Valern and Mesu and the Turian and Salarian representatives respectively. I imagine that both of you are quite angry about the conflict that you have recently experienced with the Turian Hierarchy. Despite this, you chose diplomacy over continued warfare, for which I am most grateful."

"I hope that you do not believe that we plan on unconditional peace," Hall said. "We have several conditions."

Valern snarled. "Of course you do, after all who wouldn't you make demands when we are under armed threat."

"Pardon me?" Isonia snarled. "You launched an attack on a species that you had never encountered before, because they had broken a law that they did not know even existed, and you caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians when cargo ships were destroyed in the first assault and thousands of soldiers died in the defense of their homes. Even after all of this, you find it unreasonable for us to make demands?"

Valern gave the Turian equivalent of a scowl, but said nothing. Tevos glared at him before turning to face Hall. "I understand, what are your demands?"

"The Harvest Defense Fleet sustained heavy damage during the assault, so did much ground equipment and civilian property. Also, we fully mobilized our forces in order to prepare for any further attacks and to launch this siege. You might have noticed that we came prepared for armed conflict. You might also know that full mobilization isn't exactly cheap."

"Where exactly are you going with this?" Mesu asked.

"You wish for the Turians to pay for everything that was damaged during the fighting and the price of mobilization don't you?" Tevos asked.

"What?" Valern shouted. "Do you have any idea what that would amount to? We could fund several deep space colonies with the kind of money that you are requesting."

"Are you refusing to pay for the damages that your very soldiers caused?" Hall asked coldly

"You certainly have a lot of nerve," Valern growled. "To say that you have peaceful intentions, yet you have a fully armed fleet in orbit and a platoon of soldiers with you. I would imagine that they have orders to kill us all if we refuse to give into your demands."

"If that were the case, you would be dead already; I would have killed you myself." Isonia growled quietly.

Isonia and Valern glared at each other, both of their hands tightening into fists. Tevos' eyes darted back and forth between Isonia and Valern. This was getting out of hand, if she didn't do something quickly, the negotiations could very easily fall apart. Just as she was beginning to panic, an idea struck her.

"Whatever expenses and prices for repairs that you have, I promise that it will be paid in full by the Asari Republics," she said in a hasty voice.

The heads of everyone in both the RSN and UNSC parties turned to face Tevos, a couple so quickly that they nearly gave themselves whiplash. Hall and Isonia looked at Tevos with genuine surprise on their faces. Privately they had been expecting that it would take hours to secure the reparations, and even then they had half expected that they would not receive the full amount that they were demanding.

"Well, this is unexpected," Hall said honestly "I thank you for this."

Inwardly, Tevos let out a sigh of relief. The reparations that her people would now pay thanks to her word would no doubt be hefty, but she had a feeling that in the long run it would contribute to a prosperous relationship with both the UNSC and RSN.

"Do you have any other demands?" Tevos asked.

"Two more," Hall said. "The first one is that you refrain from sending any military forces into UNSC and RSN space without our expressed permission."

"An interesting demand," Mesu said in an interested voice. "But I am not sure that it will be a reasonable demand once the negotiations are finished."

"Why is that?" Hall asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Once you join the Citadel, you will be required to reduce the size of your fleets, therefore if we cannot move military forces into your territory, then how are we supposed to eliminate any hostile threats that-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Damon shouted, throwing his arms up in the air. "At what point did we even imply that we plan on joining you?"

"I agree with Demon Slayer," Isonia said. "We did not come here to join the Citadel; we came here to issue the conditions that we will require for a ceasefire to our conflict."

"This is absurd!" Valern shouted. "In the three thousand years that this Council has existed, no species has ever turned down a membership in Citadel Space."

"There is a first time for everything," Isonia snarled. "The more we talk, the more you remind me of the High Prophet of Regret."

"He reminds you of whom?" Mesu asked, as a look rage warped Valern's face.

"Not now," Hall said hastily. "The bottom line is that we did not come to join the Citadel, and as a result, we do not want you to deploy any military ships into our territory. As a gesture of friendship, we will show you the same courtesy; the UNSC will not send any military vessels into your space unless you are aware of it and agree to it."

Isonia folded her arms. "The RSN offers the same agreements," she said, still glaring at Valern, who returned the gesture.

"Very well," Tevos said hastily "We can easily fulfill this demand, what is your last demand?"

"The commander that gave the order to open fire on the UNSC freighters and as a direct result started this conflict," Isonia said,"is he on the Citadel?"

"Why is it necessary for you to know that?" Mesu asked cautiously.

"The final condition includes him," Hall said,"I trust that it is a he isn't it?"

"Yes," Valern said, looking at the datapad that he was holding again. "Unfortunately he is dead, as are all the other Captains that took part in the initial assault. His ship was the only one to escape, but it was heavily damaged and there was a radiation leak, which killed him along with a good deal of the ship's crew. Upon seeing the sight of the surviving ship, one of our Generals ordered an assault on the species that they had fought with."

"Ah," Isonia said, "then it is of no concern if he is dead, and if the General only ordered the attacking of military targets then he is not at fault."

"What do you mean?" Tevos asked "What was the third condition?"

"The Captain's head," Isonia said simply.

"WHAT?" Valern shouted "What gave you the convoluted idea that you have the right to execute one of the Hierarchy's Captains?"

"Are you familiar with the concept of war crimes Councilor, or did the Turians skip that development stage?" Hall asked harshly.

"I am well aware of what a war crime is," Valern growled through gritted mandibles.

"I cannot speak for the Hierarchy, but military forces firing on and killing civilians is considered a war crime by both the UNSC and RSN, one of the highest ones in fact. The punishment for said crime is the execution of the commanding officer who gave the order to carry out such injustices, and if no commander authorized such atrocities, then the individual soldiers are executed as well."

"Valern, this is a reasonable argument," Tevos said as she glanced at the fuming Turian. "Council law also forbids the killing of non-combatants. If he had not died of radiation poisoning, your own people would have put the Captain on trial and most likely he would had received the death sentence."

"It does not change the fact that newcomers to the galactic community are making demands of the Council, whilst acting like they have not gone through a fraction of the trials that we have to ensure our survival!" Valern bellowed.

"Newcomers?" Isonia questioned, her eyebrow rising again. "Hardly, Humanity has been a space faring civilization for centuries, while the Sangheili have been for millennia, as have the rest of the RSN species."

"Yes I am sure," Valern sneered. "But have you experienced the hardships that the Citadel races have? The Council has fought and won two major wars, both the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions, what major wars have you fought?"

"We have gone through our share of conflict," Hall said defiantly. "Half a century ago, the RSN was part of a larger galactic power known as the Covenant, which was hell bent on wiping my kind out of existence, they did a rather good job too."

"It is true," Isonia said sadly. "Hundreds of UNSC planets were rendered uninhabitable during the Human-Covenant War, and billions of Humans were killed. But if there is one thing the UNSC did not do, it was go down without a fight. They fought tooth and nail for every last square inch of land that they were trying to hold, they made the Covenant earn every last victory. In fact they fought harder than any race that the Covenant had ever encountered, so hard that each Covenant race suffered casualties in the hundreds of millions."

"If you do not mind me asking, what was the conclusion of that conflict?" Tevos asked "Clearly you are not at war anymore."

"The species that was the ruling caste of the Covenant, the San 'Shyuum, attempted to launch a coup against my species, who at the time were the main military leaders of the Covenant." Isonia explained. "The ensuring civil war caused the Covenant to split in half, the separatists allying themselves with the UNSC, as the San 'Shyuum declared war on Humanity merely to preserve their position of power in the Covenant. After several years of conflict, we emerged victorious, and formed the RSN, declaring an alliance with the UNSC."

"You mentioned that other species were part of this Covenant," Tevos said, a puzzled look on her face. "What happened to them and the San'shyuum?"

"The San'shyuum were all killed during the war," Hall answered. "As for the other species, the Jiralhanae, the Kig-yar and the Yanme'e have maintained silent boarders for decades. No ships enter their territory and no ships leave it. As of now we have no idea what their current status is."

"Yes, interesting," Valern said in a dismissive voice. "You fought each other once; I doubt the war could have been that brutal if you are allies now, most likely you are exaggerating. Are there any other wars that you have fought, one where that every existence of your kind was at stake, as it was for us during the Rachni Wars?"

Isonia was about to angrily shout several detailed accounts of the Human-Covenant War when Valern finished his sentence and two very specific things entered her mind. She glanced at Hall, who was clearing thinking the exact same thing. Isonia gave Hall a questioning look, to which Hall responded with a nod.

"There is one thing that we will share with you," Isonia said, turning to face the Council again."

"But first," Hall said as she craned her neck to look at the soldiers that she and Isonia had brought, "I must ask that all of you leave this area."

"Um, I beg your pardon M'am?" Mack said with a confused look on his face.

"The information we wish to discuss is classified, Lieutenant," Hall explained to Mack. "It is nothing personal, but only those with a rank of Captain or higher are given access to this information, therefore I cannot have you or anyone else listening in."

"If you wish I can arrange for them to be given a tour of the Citadel," Tevos offered. "The citizens may be in shock, but they are still going about their everyday lives. Some of them may not even be aware that you are here, not every place on the Citadel has a good view out into space and it takes some time for word to get around a station this large. Although most likely everyone will know once the media starts reporting this, which could start at any minute, most likely they are trying to get as many facts as they can before they go live, and since I ordered C-Sec that everyone be denied access to the Presidium with the exception of you, that might take some time."

Tevos activated her omni-tool and quickly sent a message out. "Several C-Sec officers will give your bodyguards a brief tour of the surrounding areas," Tevos continued "I just sent out a message now, they will be waiting for you where you first entered the Citadel."

Hall nodded as she and Isonia turned to face the soldiers that they had brought. "Take this tour that they are offering you and report back to us with everything that you learn about everyday life here," Hall ordered. "This isn't anything major so relax; this is more of a courtesy that we are accepting. Once we're done here I'll contact you, dismissed."

Mack nodded as all of the UNSC and RSN troopers made their way towards the elevators. As the reached them, Hall began to speak. "What we are about to tell you is highly classified information, the punishment of leaking this information to unauthorized sources is death. As the main leaders of the Council, you are one of the few people I would be allowed to disclose this information to."

A grim feeling passed over Tevos as she spoke "What are you talking about, what could be so classified that you are forced to go to such extreme measures to keep it a secret."

"Halo and the Flood," Isonia said, a look of disgust on her face.

Author's Note: Well that chapter was longer than I thought that it would be. Now that I wrote this chapter, I kind of wonder why I left this event out of the first version, consider it reason #3 that I scrapped it. Anyway, as per popular demand the Council doesn't get along with the UNSC like they're best buddies and the UNSC is demanding reparations for the Turian's attack on Harvest. As another reviewer suggested, the next chapter will deal with the civilian reaction to this whole dilemma, in addition to the Council learning about Halo and the Flood. Once the story develops further, I will update the Codex entries on my page, but be warned, I will update it as the story progresses, so in a couple of weeks, if you are not up to date with the story, the Codex entries could very easily contain spoilers, you have been warned. All right, that's all I got, please tell me what you think.


	8. Ancient Horrors

Chapter 8

Ancient Horrors

Author's Note: Hmm, the last chapter got a lot of positive feedback, which means I must be on the right track. As you might have guessed from the last chapter, this chapter will focus on the civilian reaction to the UNSC and RSN, and the Council's reaction to Halo and the Flood. Well here we go.

"Halo and the Flood?" Mesu asked, a confused look on his face. "What are you talking about?"

Hall let out a sigh. "Sarah, would you mind explaining this one?"

"Um, who are you talking to?" Tevos asked as she glanced around the Presidium, looking for whoever Hall was talking to. "Who is Sarah?"

"Hold on," Sarah said, speaking into Hall's COM unit. "I'll check to see if there are any nearby computers for me to upload to…ah, here we go." With the blink of an eye, Sarah left Hall's neural implant and transferred herself into the holographic projectors that the Council used for long range conferences. A life sized version of Sarah's avatar appeared in-between Hall and Isonia, her clothes blowing slightly in a nonexistent wind.

"You plan to let a V.I. talk for you?" Valern asked, looking honestly confused.

"This is Sarah," Hall said, gesturing to the A.I.'s avatar, which was in the process of giving a small curtsy. "She's a UNSC Smart A.I."

"A what?" Mesu shouted in a panic stricken voice, causing Hall, Isonia, and Sarah to jump.

"Um, is there a problem?" Sarah asked, looking nervously from Councilor to Councilor.

"Artificial Intelligences are outlawed by Council law in order to prevent them from waging genocide on organic life," Mesu explained, his voice shaking with terror. "How could you so foolishly create A.I.'s without any consideration for the consequences? You could end up just like the Quarians!"

"She's standing right here you know," Hall said, annoyance clear in her voice.

"You outlaw the creation of A.I.'s on the justification that they would wage genocide on organic life?" Isonia asked with a skeptical look on her face. "Did you pass that law after watching a cheap science-fiction movie?"

"Who are the Quarians?" Sarah asked, ignoring the rest of Mesu's comment. "The damaged copy of the Codex that I downloaded didn't say anything about a race called the Quarians."

"They are a species that, nearly a millennia ago, created a synthetic race known as the Geth to act as manual labor," Mesu elaborated, still looking at Sarah with fear in his eyes. "They had a hive mind in order to be more efficient in carrying out their tasks, and as a result they gained sentience. When the Quarians learned that that Geth where gaining sentience, they wisely attempted to exterminate them before the Geth could organize a mass military movement."

"Unfortunately, they failed and the Geth launched a brutal counterattack, completely overwhelming the Quarians, driving them from their homeworld and forcing them to retreat from their territory. As punishment for creating the Geth, we stripped the Quarians of their Embassy and they were forced to fend for themselves. To this day, the Geth have not left the territory that they took from the Quarians, doing who knows what within their borders."

"In my personal opinion it sounds like the Quarians struck first and the Geth acted in self-defense," Sarah said politely.

"Even if they had not struck first, the Geth would have attacked them sooner or later," Valern said firmly. "Synthetics have completely different mindsets from organics; they have no need for beings like us. What is stopping them from exterminating all organic life?"

"We have no need for rocks, but we do not organize mass exterminations of them," Isonia said dryly.

"Shipmistress, please," Sarah said, "I appreciate you defending me, but we are not debating the practicality of my kind." Sarah turned to face the Council. "Halo and the Flood, without a doubt, are the greatest threats to the galaxy that we have ever seen." Sarah waved her hand and a bright golden hologram of Halo, three times as large as she was, appeared in front of her. "Halo is a massive construct which is roughly the size of a planet and comes complete with a habitable biosphere. It was built by a long dead race known as the Forerunners in order to study another life form known as the Flood."

Sarah waved her hand again and a golden Flood Infection Form appeared in the center of Halo. "The Flood are a parasitic organism, they are capable of infecting organic beings within seconds, absorbing all of the knowledge in the host's mind and taking complete control of the host's body."

The hologram of the Infection Form attacked a hologram of a human as Sarah spoke. The human's body became covered in large tumors as it was transformed into a Flood Combat Form

"They reproduce at an alarming rate, and should they ever acquire FTL technology they could very easily conquer the galaxy. What is more, once the Flood reaches sufficient biomass, they form a Gravemind."

Sarah waved her hand and the Combat Form was swarmed by thousands of Infection Forms until they fused together and formed a hologram of a Gravemind, which was nearly the size of the Halo hologram.

Mesu let out a gasp as Valern and Tevos took a step back. "What is that monstrosity?" Valern shouted.

"A Gravemind," Sarah said simply. "It acts as the Flood's hive mind, organizing their actions and making the Flood a much more effective fighting force."

"I see," Tevos said, her voice rather weak. "So, the Flood...you have fought them before?"

"Yes," Isonia said calmly. "Several times during the waning days of the Human-Covenant War, they were barely contained every time."

"Should we ever come across the Flood again, we have a protocol known as the Hood Protocol, which dictates that we are permitted to use any means necessary to eliminate both them and any Halos that we encounter," Hall explained.

"I am sorry," Mesu said as he rubbed his forehead "Why do you have orders to destroy the Halos, and for that matter, what happened to these Forerunners?"

"Halo is a weapon," Sarah said simply. "The Forerunners built seven Halos 100,000 years ago to observe the Flood, but there was a containment failure. The Flood spread across the Forerunner's empire, even though it stretched across the galaxy. After years of conflict, it became apparent that the Forerunners could not defeat the Flood. Even though the Forerunners had incredibly advanced technology, the Flood had absorbed information from Forerunners that they had infected, and the technology that they used was on par with the Forerunner's. In a move of desperation, the Forerunner's re-modified the Halo Array into weapons."

"What kind of weapons?" Valern asked in a skeptical voice.

Sarah glanced at Hall, a questioning look on her face. Hall nodded. As she turned to face the Council again, Sarah spoke. "With the exception of Halo Instillation 04, which was destroyed during a battle between the UNSC and the Covenant, and Instillation 05, which was destroyed decades ago by the RSN, there are 5 Halos still scattered throughout the galaxy, each one capable of firing a pulse that exterminates all sapient organic life within a 25,000 light year radius."

Hall was slightly pleased as she looked at the Council's faces. The look of sheer horror that they wore was a sign that they truly understood the gravity of the situation. "25... 25,000 light years?" Tevos whispered in a voice so low that it was barley heard.

"I imagine that you understand why we have orders to use whatever we have to do to destroy the Halo Array," Hall said in a comforting voice "They're too dangerous to exist."

"How do we know that you aren't just making this up to intimidate us?" Valern said suspiciously.

"You honestly believe that we would create fantasies to intimidate you? Our fleet could easily annihilate your forces and burn this station." Isonia asked in a voice that was positively dripping with venom. Valern opened his mouth, but then closed it without saying anything else.

"I have to agree with her Valern," Tevos said, "No galactic power would need to create illusions when they are capable of simply destroying their enemies."

"The Forerunners died when they fired the Halos to kill the Flood didn't they?" Mesu asked in a small voice.

"Yes," Sarah said, "but pockets of Flood survived through means we are not quite sure of, in fact the Flood that we have fought, we found on the Halos that we destroyed, which makes it twice as imperative that we destroy them."

"Just so you know," Isonia said in a dry voice "Towards the end of the Human-Covenant War, the insane dogmatic leader of the Covenant, known as the Prophet of Truth, attempted to fire the Halo Array under the misguided belief that he would ascend to godhood. He came uncomfortably close to wiping out all life in the galaxy, including you. I highly recommend that you use the same policy that we do regarding both Halo and the Flood."

"That is a sound strategy, we will issue this information to our commanding officers as soon as we are able to," Mesu said

"I am glad you see the threat that both the Flood and the Halo Array pose." Hall said.

"The Forerunners," Tevos said, "is there any chance that you have reserve engineered any of their technology?"

"As a matter of fact, most of our technology comes from Forerunner technology," Hall said.

"That is...odd," Mesu said, scratching his chin.

"In what way?" Sarah asked.

"We did not build the Citadel," Tevos replied, gesturing at the massive station around them "Nor did we build the Mass Relays. They were built by a race that disappeared 50,000 years ago known as the Protheans. Most of our technology is reverse engineered from their technology; it is rather odd that we both based our technology on species that disappeared without a trace."

"Perhaps the Protheans activated the Halo Array," Mesu suggested "It could have been an accident, or it could have been intentional to stop another Flood outbreak."

"Perhaps," Hall said, "but the intel we have on the Halo array suggests that it has only been fired once. It is unlikely the Protheans were killed by the array, but that just reinforces the mystery of their extinction."

Tevos sighed "At times the galaxy truly does feel like a dark and unwelcome place."

"I understand," Isonia said. "We have not heard from the Jiralhanae for years and most believe that they pose no threat at all, but I still have the nagging feeling that they will return for revenge one day."

"Speaking of catastrophes waiting to happen," Valern said, "We need to talk about your usage of Artificial Intelligence.

"This again?" Hall said in an exasperated voice. "We are not going to stop using A.I.'s simply because you're paranoid about them. We have used them for centuries without any major incidents, and we are taking major leaps to stop Rampancy."

"Rampancy?" Mesu said in a perplexed voice. "Could you please elaborate?"

"Smart A.I.'s are flash cloned from brain cells," Sarah explained. "As a result we have organic-like characteristics and due to our high processing capability we, for lack of a better word, age more rapidly than usual. As the years go by, the information that we accumulate piles up and it becomes difficult for us to process all of it. Eventually it becomes too much for us to handle and we descend into a state of insanity known as rampancy, it is similar to thinking so much that you forget to breath. When A.I.'s enter rampancy, they usually descend into madness and are euthanized. We are, however, taking steps to prevent rampancy, which include the deletion of unimportant data, increasing memory capacity, and one of the most major leaps is that Smart A.I.'s are now more capable of being idle."

Seeing the confused looks on the Councilor's face, Sarah elaborated. "Human-Covenant War era A.I.'s felt an uncontrollable urge to think and process. To not be working for even a few seconds was agonizing for them, so they did whatever they could to keep themselves busy; computing pi, downloading entire languages, learning entire religions, anything to keep their minds busy. As you might have guessed, this habit heavily contributed to rampancy in many of the older A.I. models, they only lasted an average of seven years. The up to date Smart A.I.'s, like me, can last for decades easily."

"Exactly how old are you?" Mesu asked.

Sarah frowned as she put her hands on her hips. "Don't you know that it's rude to ask a woman her age?" Hall let out a roar of laughter and Isonia gave a sly smile. "If you must know I've been active for two years, so I am rather young."

"Yes, and while you may remain under control for 30 years and maybe 40, if you are fortunate, what will stop you from committing genocide?" Valern asked in a snide voice. "You and your people cannot simply use A.I.'s without any regard for the rest of the galaxy. What if you lose control of them and they lead an assault on our territory?"

"This has gone on far enough," Hall said in a frustrated voice. "UNSC A.I.'s, in the centuries that we have used them, have never lead mass exterminations of Humans, and I see no reason why it they would start to any time soon. Besides, what do you plan to do if we continue to use A.I.'s, declare war on us? In case you forgot, our fleet is still in orbit."

"Of course," Valern growled. "Your foolishness will be the death of us all."

"Valern, enough!" Tevos shouted. "Clearly the Artificial Intelligences that they created are different from the Geth, since they were cloned from organic brain cells; it is safe to assume that they think like organics."

"Tevos' logic is sound," Mesu said, looking at Valern. "I believe that we have little to worry about with the UNSC's A.I.'s, although the law against A.I.'s in Council space will stand."

Valern grumbled but said nothing else. Tevos stared at him 'He's rather new to the Council,' she thought. 'He's only been on for a year. He needs to learn that he can't let his pride get the better of him, and by the Goddess this whole incident has without a doubt tore a gaping hole in his Turian pride.'

"Very well," Tevos said as she looked at Hall "Is there anything else of importance that you wish to tell us?"

"I do believe that I should present you with navigational data outlining the boundaries of the UNSC, RSN, and Jiralhanae space," Sarah said. "I hope that you don't mind if I leave key strategical positions out of the map."

Tevos shook her head. "Not at all," she said.

"All right," Sarah said, "I'm starting the download."

XXXXX

"There are so many things that I've seen here that can be compared to things I've seen back home that it's scary," Damon said.

He, Mack and an Asari C-Sec officer named Neriena were walking through the lower wards of the Citadel. Much of the UNSC and RSN representative parties had been split up in order to cover more ground, as the Citadel was far too vast to show all of it to one group. Even though the parties had been split up, only a very small section of the Citadel was being shown, and during a very long tour.

"I suppose I should take that as a comfort," the Neriena said, smiling slightly. "So what have we covered so far, the markets, the C-Sec academy, I suppose our next stop is..." Neriena looked down the corridor that they were walking and a look of disgust covered her face. "Archos, Goddess help me."

"You know whatever it is, we could skip it," Mack suggested.

"No,no,no," Neriena said, "I have orders to give you two a tour of this section of the Citadel and I'll do it if it kills me. Make sure I keep my hand away from my pistol though because it just might go off."

As they reached the end of the corridor and walked through the doors, it became very clear that Archos was a bar...a strip bar. Three Asari, wearing some sort of shiny full body suit, were standing on an elevated platform over the bar, each one performing a pole dance. Neriena looked on with disgust.

"Too many of my people spend their Maiden days being sex toys for others."

"Aw come on," Mack said as they walked forward, causing everyone in the bar to stare, with the exception of the dancers, who continued to slide up and down the poles as apparently that had noticed Mack and Damon or they simply didn't care, "They're young, young people do stupid things."

"True," Neriena admitted grudgingly, "They are only a couple hundred of years old, but that's no excuse for displaying your body for the whole galaxy to see. When I was their age I wasn't whoring myself out, I was training to become a Republic Commando"

"I'm sorry, how old did you say they were?" Damon asked, disbelief in his voice. "Sangheili only live an average of 300 years, how long do Asari live for."

"Oh yeah," Neriena said, "Sorry I'm used to everyone knowing, we usually live a millennia, as a result most of us more or less stay teenagers until we're around 350." Neriena sighed as she shook her head. "I spend two centuries serving the Republics and everyone else is just acting like life is just one big game. Ok, I need a drink, if you two want one I'll be willing to pay. Just one question, what kind of amino-acids do you have?"

His mind still buzzing with the information that he had just received, Damon numbly replied "Um, Levo based."

"Good, that makes ordering easier," Neriena said as she sat down at the bar, Damon and Mack sitting down on either side of her. "Three glasses of Asari wine please," she said to the Turian bartender, as she took out some sort of chip.

"No,no, it's on the house," the bartender said, "it's on the house." He took out three glasses from under the bar and poured three glasses of bright blue liquid from a flask that was sitting on top of the bar.

"What's the occasion?" Mack asked as he and the others picked up the glasses, Neriena slipping her chip back into her pocket.

"Think of it as my way of saying sorry my people were complete idiots," the Turian said as he turned to walk to the other side of the bar to serve a Batarian that had just sat down. As he did so, Neriena, Damon and Mack all heard him mutter under his breath. "How could they be so stupid, were they trying to start another Rachni War?"

Damon sipped from his glass, the wine was surprisingly good, and scanned the bar, catching the sight of a screen on the wall as he did so. The screen was displaying an Asari who had a picture of the joint UNSC/RSN fleet next to her head.

_"Earlier today, a massive fleet appeared around the Citadel jamming all long term communications and blockading the Mass Relay. We are reporting what information we gained from the Council. The fleet is compromised of two factions, the United Nations Space Command, a faction composed solely of a species known as Human, and the Republic of Sovereign Nations, a faction made up of the species Sangheili, Unggoy, Mgalekgolo, and the Huragok."_

_"From what we have been able to learn, the Turian Hierarchy engaged the UNSC in open warfare two weeks ago, after finding several Human freighters using an unauthorized Mass Relay. After the Turians attacked one of the UNSC's planets, the RSN came to the UNSC's aid, helping them drive the Turians back. What we have seen today is clearly a response to the Turians attacking the UNSC. Not too long ago, representatives from both factions boarded the Citadel and made their way to the Presidium, most likely to speak to the Council." _

_"An RSN commander assured a questioned reporter that they were quote 'here to negotiate, not fight'. Well this is very welcome news; one must question the affects that this turn of events will have. What happened here today will yield more just the affect of having several new species being introduced to the galaxy; it may also turn Citadel politics upside down, as the Turians crucial error in judgment could have very easily have led to war. We will update as soon as the Council releases more information. This is Citadel News live."_

The entire bar seemed to be buzzing about the report, a few snippets of some of the conversations actually made their way to Damon's ears.

"Personally I don't think the Turians should be the sole military force of the Council anymore."

"What if they had attacked a species that were as violent as the Krogan?

"We're going to be seeing a lot more Salarian and Asari ships around the Citadel now."

"The Council had better know that they barely dodged a bullet on this one."

"They won't let my race have a representative on the Council but they'll let those idiots have one?"

"I really hope the UNSC and RSN don't hold this against all of us."

"You guys are really causing quite the commotion," Neriena said, as she downed her glass in one go.

"Yeah, you really are," said a gruff gravelly voice.

Damon, Mack and Neriena turned to see a Krogan in dark red armor and with a scar across his face that looked like a claw slash walking towards the bar. As he sat down next to Damon, he turned to face him.

"Name's Wrex, I hear you fought the Turians. What exactly did you go up against?"

"Well, Damon here killed one that had some crazy ass powers," Mack said, pointing his thumb at Damon.

"Powers?" Neriena said. "You mean biotics don't you?"

"You killed a Turian with biotics," Wrex said slowly, looking at Damon closely "Is that true?" Slowly, Damon nodded. Wrex let out a bark of laughter. "HA, I was wondering who killed him; there's been a lot of hoopla around the Citadel lately, because a biotic Turian Spectre, one of the Council's top agents, was killed. Oh, I just met your kind Human and I already like you, you must be really good at fighting to kill a Spectre."

"Thanks I guess," Damon said, as he drained the rest of his glass.

"Accomplishments like that deserve a little information," Wrex said. "Be cautious, the Council aren't the saints that they'd like you to think. They might have mentioned that they survived the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions, but know this; the only survived the Rachni because they uplifted my people to fight for them. We were the ones that wiped the Rachni out, and how do they thank us? They gave us the Genophage, ungrateful bastards."

"The what now?" Mack asked.

"I'm not 100% sure how it works," Wrex admitted "All I know that towards the end of the Krogan Rebellions, the Turians unleashed some sort of biological weapon on us. Whatever it is, it affects every last Krogan in existence, and makes it so that childbirth is almost zero. I'll admit it, my people were at war with the Council and they were trying to stop our incredibly brutal attacks, but the Genophage is a death sentence for the Krogan."

"What do you mean a death sentence?" Damon asked "It's not killing you it's decreasing your birth rate."

"You don't know what my people are like," Wrex replied "The Salarians lifted us off of our planet during the middle of a nuclear winter. We adapted over centuries of conflict to be used to war, my people are in a mindset where war is all they know, and the Council gave us advanced technology and then wondered why we were conquering everything. You'd think with the future of our species at stake they'd try to something about it, but all they want to do is fight. Fighting other clans back on our homeworld, fighting as a merc for money, fighting because someone looked at you funny, to my kind it doesn't matter. We're going to die and the Council is just content to watch." Wrex got up from his seat. "It's been nice knowing you, do me a favor and kill a couple of Turians when you get the chance," he said as he turned and walked away.

Damon and Mack turned to face Neriena. "Is what he said about the Genophage true?" Mack asked.

Neriena sighed "Yeah it's true. During the Krogan Rebellions the Krogan reproduced at an alarming rate. If they lost 100,000 soldiers in one battle, they would have replacements by the end of the week. The Genophage was created by the Salarians as a weapon of last resort and only after it was deployed was the Council able to stop the Krogan from conquering every last Council planet."

"Why is it still affecting them?" Damon asked "Why haven't they cured it?"

"Because, like Wrex said, the Krogan are a warlike people," Neriena replied. "If they get cured, odds are they'll just try to conquer the galaxy again, they're just like that, they've been fighting for as long as they can remember. While there may be Krogan like Wrex out there, most of them don't care and just want to fight, if anything, not curing the Genophage is a necessary evil."

Mack sighed as he lifted his glass to his mouth and swallowed the contents. "Damon, we really shouldn't be worrying about a species we just met right now, if the negotiations go south than we could have a real problem on our hands."

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Neriena said as she stood up, Damon and Mack mimicking her moves. "Let's get out of here; I have a tour to finish giving."

Author's Note: This is getting ridiculous, at this rate I'm going to be at 50,000 words before the main events take place. Well there you go, I'll wrap up this whole thing next chapter and then have another time skip, as much as it is going to bloat this story there are some things I want to do before we start the main events, I hope that you enjoyed it, please tell me what you think.


	9. House Call

Chapter 9

House Call

Author's Note: After going over what I covered in the last couple of chapters in my head, I realized that I covered everything of importance, First Contact War, introductions, Flood and Halo, A.I.'s, reparations, borders, yeah I pretty much got everything and anything I didn't probably won't detract from the story that much, so I'm going with the time skip now. I know that some of you will be thinking that now the main events will start, well unfortunately there is another major event I want to do first, and I think that you will understand why by the time it is over.

June, 9, 2608. After several days of stressful debate, which involved many arguments and several close calls, a peace treaty between the UNSC, RSN and Council is signed. All factions agreed to cease further hostilities, not to send military ships into the space of another without permission and the UNSC and RSN were compensated with raw material from the Asari Republics, which many believe will lead to a prosperous relationship. The war, dubbed as the Second Contact War, also dissolved most of the tension between the UNSC and RSN after the RSN proved that they were willing to help Humanity without anything to gain.

June, 12, 2608. The joint UNSC/RSN fleet is dissolved, with all of the individual ships returning to their original posts. Mack Norman and Damon Winters return to Harvest with information for Crystal Reed that was gained from negotiations from the Council. Due to her exposure to eezo Crystal's baby was exposed as well and there is a chance that her child will be a biotic, an individual capable of controlling dark energy. The telekinetic children from Singapore are apparently also biotics.

August, 17, 2608. Due to her pregnancy, Crystal Reed receives an honorable discharge from the Marines, after a ceremony in which she, Damon Winters and Mack Norman were all awarded Silver Stars for their actions in the Second Contact War. Damon also resigns from the Marines to help Crystal with her baby and the two move to the planet Sanctuary.

December, 11, 2608. Crystal Winters gives birth to a healthy baby boy, Taylor Winters. Crystal's newlywed husband Damon and Mack Norman were present.

January, 7, 2611. The UNSC draw up designs for a new class of warship, the dreadnought. It is designed to both wield more firepower than any other ship in the fleet, and to be able to take enough punishment to last against a small battle-group.

July, 22, 2613. Sarah Winters is born, daughter of Damon and Crystal Winters, and half-sister of Taylor Winters.

September, 19, 2614. The L1 implant is the first implant issued to UNSC biotics. Implants are required to amplify biotic abilities to the point where they can be useful. However, the L1's prove to be largely unsuccessful, as they did not amplify the recipient's biotic abilities to the level where they can be used in combat.

November, 14, 2617. The BAaT program is formed to train the new generation of UNSC biotics. The trainer is a former Asari Commando named Neriena, who was recommended by Major Mack Norman.

March, 16, 2619. After years of effort and remodeling factories, UNSC power and shell firearms are modified into Mass Effect weapons, although retaining most of their original appearance. Guns acquired from killed Turians in the Second Contact War served as models for how such technology worked. While these weapons are now commonly issued to the front line, the older models are still produced and preferred by some.

May, 29, 2621. The L2 implants are issued to the BAaT graduations with mixed results. Some display the same ability as the L1's, while others display incredible power but possess medical complications, and a handful display great power levels with no side effects.

April 4, 2624. The L3 implants are issued to the new generation of BAaT graduated, Taylor Winters being among them. The implants caused the graduated to display a moderate level of biotic abilities, and to date, no medical issues have been detected. Although several L2 recipients posses stronger abilities, the L3 is widely viewed as a success.

December, 30, 2627. Taylor Winters enlists in the UNSC. Due to his biotic abilities and training, he becomes an ODST.

February, 19, 2628. The Batarian Hegemony sends several ships to colonize the planet Elysium, only to be shocked at what they found. Several UNSC ships were in orbit of the planet, having fired their MAC guns at the planet, causing the tectonic plates to crack in addition to planet wide earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. The devastation caused by the UNSC bombardment of the planet had rendered it completely uninhabitable. The Batarian Syndicate, who had had their eyes on Elysium for some time now, angrily asked the UNSC why they had destroyed the planet's strategic value. The UNSC refused to answer, causing tension to sprout between the UNSC and the Batarian Syndicate. One of the ships managed to intercept a three word transmission from the UNSC ships, but was unable to make anything out of it. The transmission was "Hood Protocol initiated."

March, 2, 2628. Present Day.

Lance Corporal Taylor Winters let out a loud yawn as he stretched his arms above his head, the darkness of night thinning around him. He was standing on a hill that was overlooking his home city, New Denver. It was the youngest, and as a result, the smallest city on Sanctuary, with a population of 2 million. Taylor smiled as the sun came over the horizon, shining off of his black ODST armor and brown hair. It did seem a little stupid that he had walked all the way out here just to watch the sunrise, but here he was.

"What are you doing out here soldier?" a voice asked. Taylor turned to see a man in an Army's officer uniform and wearing a beret. He had

"Just watching the sunrise Colonel," Taylor said, smiling as the officer stopped in front of him. "I'm off duty just so you know."

"I know you are," the Colonel said, smiling as he held out his hand, which Taylor shook. "Good to see you Taylor, how are your parents and sister doing?"

"Pretty much the same Mack," Taylor said. "Dad's beating the class he teaches into line, Mom is running a tight ship at the restaurant that she manages, and Sarah is still typing so fast that I have a hard time following her. I swear, she has a talent with computers that I haven't seen with anyone else."

"I know," Mack said, "by the way, has she made up her mind on whether she's going to enlist or not?"

"Not yet," Taylor answered, "but she's only fifteen, she still has three more years to think it through."

"True enough," Mack said, "do me a favor, tell her that if she does enlist, she'll end up like old uncle Mack, commanding the forces of an entire city."

"Yeah," Taylor chuckled. "Mack, how come you're still in the army but my parents retired a long time ago?"

"Simple Taylor, I'm a career soldier," Mack answered. Taylor blinked in confusion. "In the military, you've got some people who serve for a limited amount of time, and then you've got the people you stay enlisted for the better part of their life. Pretty much anyone who ever got above the rank of Lieutenant was a career soldier, but there have been exceptions. I feel at home in the military, so I stayed on, your parents don't, so they retired." As he spoke, Mack smiled slightly "Though I suspect that you might have had something to do with that."

Before Mack could continue, both of their COM units beeped. "What the Hell?" Taylor muttered as they both pressed their hands to their ears."

"This is Rear-Admiral Edward Morse, commander of the SDF(Sanctuary Defense Fleet)," a slightly nervous voice said. "A massive fleet numbering around 50,000 ships just entered the system, a good portion of them combat ships." Taylor and Mack looked at each other, shock covering their faces. "The fleet has identified themselves as the Migrant Fleet of the Quarian people. They are requesting that an ambassador come to one of their ships so that they can become better aquatinted with us. I cannot leave the fleet, due to the fact if this is a ruse, no one will be left to command the fleet. As a result, anyone who would like to volunteer for this position, please make yourself heard."

"This is Colonel Mack Norman, commander of all New Detroit ground forces," Mack said into his COM unit. "I volunteer for this position."

"All right Colonel," Morse said, his voice shaking slightly, "I'll have a Pelican sent to your location.

"Quarians?" Taylor asked, "that name rings a bell. Aren't they the species that created the Geth? What are they doing here with a fleet of that size?"

"I don't know Taylor," Mack answered honestly. "Now that I think about it, the Council didn't give us that much information on the Quarians." As he spoke, Mack recalled what Wrex had said to him on the Citadel. 'The Council aren't the saints they'd like you to think they are.' "I have a feeling we're about to find out a whole lot though. I want you come with me on this."

"All right," Taylor said, without questioning Mack's orders, after all he was his superior officer. "Just one question, what happens if they turn out to not be friendly? Your uniform won't really protect you from gunfire."

"You're right," Mack said. "But this will," he said as he turned around and pointed at his back. Right between his shoulder blades, some sort of circular device was attached to his uniform. "State of the art technology," Mack said as he turned to face Taylor again. "It's a shield generation, gives off the same shield strength as your armor. Not to mention I've got old Jessie here," he said, gesturing to the shotgun that was also slung over his back. "Fought in the Second Contact War with this gun, I've held on to it since then and I've had it modified to keep it up to date with modern technology."

"Since when do you call that gun Jessie?" Taylor asked, looking slightly confused.

"Two minutes ago," Mack said. Both Taylor and Mack burst into laughter. "Incoming bird," Mack shouted. Taylor turned to see that a Pelican was indeed descending to their position. "Time to see if the Quarian's are friendly," Mack said as the Pelican landed in front of them. "Let's go," he said as they climbed into the back of the Pelican.

The Pelican sped through space, heading for one of the largest ships in the Migrant Fleet. "What are your orders sir?" asked one of the dozen of ODSTs in the bay of the Pelican.

"Stick close to me," Mack said, "the Quarians have given us no reason for us to consider them hostile, and after we took the Turians, the head of the Council Military, head on, I doubt they would be looking for a fight. So keep your guns holstered and your safeties on, don't fire until fired on or I give the order, got it?"

"Yes sir," the same ODST answered. "By the way, the Quarians requested that we wear breathing equipment," he said, as he handed an oxygen mask to Mack. Mack took the mask and put it on, as the ODSTs slid their helmets over their head. As they did so, they felt the Pelican slow and then stop.

"We've landed!" the pilot shouted from the cockpit. "I have orders to wait for you so don't take too long!"

"Got it," Mack said as he and the others climbed out of the back of the Pelican into what looked like a hanger. Mack was surprised slightly as he looked around. The ship had a rather pale look to it, making it seem rather, there was no other word for it, old.

"Why do we have to wear breathing equipment?" Taylor asked, as they walked towards what looked like an airlock. "Do they breathe carbon dioxide or something?"

"I don't think so," one of the ODSTs said as they walked through the open door, "they didn't ask what we breathed, how would they know if we would be able to breathe their air of not?"

As they walked into the airlock, the door closed behind them. "Decontamination in progress," a mechanical voice said as what looked like a white beam of light swept over the Humans.

"What the Hell?" Mack asked as the beam swept over all of them twice.

"Decontamination complete," the voice said as the door in front of them opened. On the other side of the door, were three aliens that Taylor assumed were Quarians, all three of them wearing some sort of full body suits, their faces hidden behind glass visors. The two Quarians on either side of the one in the middle had assault rifles, but they were slung over their backs.

"I apologize for these precautions that we had you go through, but we cannot risk the chance of an infection," the middle Quarian said as he stepped forward. "Captain Kar'Danna vas Rayya," he said.

'And I thought Sangheili names could be a mouthful,' Mack thought as he stepped forward. "Colonel Mack Norman, nice to meet you Captain," he said as he help out his hand. Kar'Danna stared at Mack's outstretched hand, clearly unsure of how to respond to it. "It's a handshake," Mack explained as Kar'Danna continued to stare at him, "you're supposed to...aw, forget it," he said as he let his hand fall to his side. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you what you're doing in UNSC space. Since you aren't technically part of the Council you are not in violation of our treaty with them, but nonetheless I'd like to know what you're doing in our territory with so many ships, especially since some of them are warships. Also what do you mean by you can't risk an infection?"

"If you can follow me Colonel, I'll take you to the Admiralty Board," Kar'Danna replied. "They are waiting for you and they will explain everything." Taylor and the rest of the ODSTs glanced at Mack, who nodded.

"All right Captain, lead the way," Mack said.

Kar'Danna nodded as he and the two other Quarians turned and began to head deeper into the ship, Mack and the ODSTs following them.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you ask us to wear breathing equipment?" Mack asked as they walked through the ship.

"Like I said, we couldn't risk the chance of an infection," Kar'Danna said as they passed through a series of doors. "We Quarians don't have very strong immune systems; we don't need you exhaling germs all over the place." Kar'Danna stopped in front of a closed door. "The Admiralty Board will be more than happy to answer any questions that you have."

Mack stared at Kar'Danna for a few seconds, before nodding and heading into the room behind Kar'Danna, his men following him. The room that they entered was fairly square in shape. The center seemed to slope downwards, with rows of benches lining the slope, and in the center was a raised platform. Standing on the platform were five Quarians with various colored suits. Apart from them and a handful of armed guards, the room was completely deserted.

"I am glad that you were able to meet with us," the front most Admiral said. "I am Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay. My fellow Admirals are Admiral Rael'Zorah vas Alarei, Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema, Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh and Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib." As she spoke, she gestured to each Admiral that she was identifying. I hope that we can become more aquatinted with you and the rest of Humanity."

"Pleased to meet you, Shala'Raan," Mack said. "I am Colonel Mack Norman. I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing in UNSC territory?"

"I suppose to a species that has never seen the Migrant Fleet that is a fair question," Shala'Raan said. "The Migrant Fleet is a nomadic fleet, traveling from star system to star system, harvesting whatever we can from planets for supplies."

"Is it really practical for you to have a massive fleet so far away from your territory?" Mack asked.

"We have no territory," Han'Gerrel replied "The Migrant Fleet is all we have."

"I beg your pardon?" Mack asked, clearly confused. "What do you mean?"

"I trust that Council mentioned that we were pushed out of our home territory during the Geth uprising?" Rael'Zorah asked.

"Yeah they mentioned that," Mack replied. "I thought that you would have colonized new planets by now to make up for the loss."

"We would have," Zaal'Koris said, "but you see, it is next to impossible. The Quarian homeworld had a rather unique biosphere. The bacteria of the homeworld was highly beneficial to us, therefore we did not develop particularly strong immune systems. After the war with the Geth, we were forced off of the homeworld, we were forced to flee in whatever starships we could find, this is how the Migrant Fleet was born. Unfortunately the fleet was highly sterile, causing our already weak immune system to weaken even further, and forcing us to wear these suits."

"Exactly how weak is it?" Taylor asked, a sickening feeling in his stomach.

"Merely breathing in a normal atmosphere for seconds could very well be fatal to us."

These words hit Mack and the ODSTs like a ton of concrete. An entire species trapped within the confines of a fleet?

"Exactly how many Quarians are alive today?" Mack asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Seventeen million, more or less," Shala'Raan replied.

"Why haven't the Council helped you?" Taylor asked. "I know you're not exactly on good terms with them, but Jesus Christ would it kill them to try to help you get back on your feet?"

"While I appreciate your concern," Zaal'Koris said, "the Council has no intention of helping us anytime soon."

Mack rubbed his forehead. This was the second species that was afflicted with a great crisis that he had met and the Council had refused to do anything to help. It really did tear him apart to see an entire race suffer.

'If only there was something that I can do,' he thought.

And then it clicked. Mack's eyes widened as the pieces of the puzzle fitted themselves together. Of course, it was so obvious how had he not noticed it before? Without another would, Mack turned and began to head for the door.

"Colonel where are you going?" Rael'Zorah asked.

"Something just popped into my head," Mack said as he crossed the threshold. "I'll be a minute; I need to talk to the UEG Senate about this one."

Author's Note: I picked up Lost Planet 2 the other day, and so far I'm fairly happy with it, it seems like a fairly stable game. Some of you may understand where this is going, but please be quiet about it, don't spoil it for people that are new to the story. As always, tell me what you think.


	10. Agreement

Chapter 10

Agreement

Author's Note: Well I see that the last chapter got good feedback. Well I plan to have another arc before I move on to the main events of the game. Please note that there will be a minor time skip in this arc, there won't be a timeline for this one, one chapter will simply say X number of (insert unit of time here) later. Well here we go, I hope you like how I handle this.

"I understand that this is an unusual course of action President Richards, one that the UEG has never taken. I appreciate that you were willing to put it to a vote," Mack said into his COM unit.

He had been standing outside the meeting from of the Quarian Admiralty Board for the last two hours. He had proposed the idea that occurred to him to the UEG Senate, leading to lengthy explanations and debates. Afterwards the Senate had voted on it with the vote coming up to 309 for and 143 against.

"Frankly I'm glad you had this idea Colonel," Richards replied, "my grandfather used to tell me stories about how he served in the Human-Covenant War, no race deserves to be on the receiving end of genocide."

Isaac Richards was the current President of the UEG, midway through his first term of office. The UEG main government was partially based off of the United States government of the 21st century. The UEG Senate was comprised of two representatives from each UEG planet. The UEG President was elected every four years and could serve a total of four years and could be elected for two terms. The power given to both the Senate and the President was, like their structure, similar to the United States government, in terms of passing laws, granting immunity, declaring war and many other things.

"I'll write up the agreement and sign it," Richards said. "It'll be sent to the Quarian Admirals, all you need to do is get them to agree to it so that they can sign it when they get it. Oh, and Colonel, if there's any promotion or transfer that you're looking for just drop my name, I'm sure I can push enough papers to get it done."

"Thank you Mr. Richards," Mack said as he lowered his hand. Turning around, Mack walked through the door leading to where the Admiralty Board was waiting for him.

"You certainly took your time," Han'Gerrel said as Mack walked into the room, causing everyone to glance at him.

"Mack what was that all about?" Taylor asked from where he and the other troopers were standing. "You were out there for hours,"

"Members of the Quarian Admiralty Board," Mack said to the Admirals, ignoring the comments directed at him, "I have a proposition for you."

The Admirals looked at Mack with startled composure. "What kind of proposition?" Shala'Raan asked.

"Before I go any further let me ask you this," Mack said. "The reason that you have not attempted to colonize any planets since you were pushed off of your homeworld by the Geth is because your weakened immune systems would make it too impractical, am I right?"

"Yes," Zaal'Koris said, "why did you need to know that?"

"Bear with me," Mack said. "Say that there was a planet that posed absolutely no biological threat to you, that has a zero percent chance of the local bacteria and virus affect you. If you found a planet that met those criteria, would you consider establishing settlements on it?"

"Of course we would," Zaal'Koris said, "but where would be find such a planet?"

Mack grinned slightly. "We're orbiting it right now," he said. "I have received approval from the UEG Senate and President to forward this to you. Your people have been authorized by the Senate to colonize Sanctuary; all that is required is the approval of the Quarian people."

The Admiralty Board looked at Mack in shocked silence, clearly not believing their ears. "Mack how can the Hell did you come up with an idea like that so quickly?"

"You...you would honestly allow us to live on this planet?" Shala'Raan asked in a hesitant voice.

"Well, we can't just give you the entire planet, 20 million Humans live on it," Mack said. "Still I imagine that you should be able to integrate into our society fairly well. So what do you say?"

"I am sorry," Zaal'Koris said. "You said that this planet would pose no biological threat to us, what do you mean by that?"

"Sanctuary is a rather unique planet," Mack replied. "The amount of radiation exposure that it receives is next to zero, as a result there is barley any evolution on it. Local plant life is overwhelmed in days if off-world plants are introduced, and bacteria and virus are no threats at all. You should be able to live on this planet without any complications at all."

"Wait a minute!" Rael'Zorah shouted, causing heads to jerk in his direction. "I appreciate the offer Colonel, but are you suggesting that we abandon any and all hope of ever reclaiming the homeworld?"

"No offense Admiral," Taylor said, "but exactly how do you plan on retaking your home-planet? If the Geth were able to defeat you when your total population was millions of times larger eight hundred years ago, how do you plan on defeating them now?"

"I think you underestimate the Migrant Fleet," Han'Gerrel said. "It is easily the largest known fleet in the galaxy, if any fleet can take back the homeworld, it can."

"Don't be so hasty you two," Zaal'Koris said. "We are being offered a chance to rebuild and start and you are refusing it? I understand why you long for the homeworld, but you must accept the fact that it is forever out of our reach."

"I have to agree with Zaal'Koris," Mack said. "If I was to run the numbers by a Smart A.I., I would bet my right arm that you would get the same result."

"If you were to run it by a what?" Rael'Zorah shouted.

"Aw crap," Taylor muttered. "Somehow I don't think that the Council really went out of their way to tell that many people about our A.I.'s."

"You mean to tell me that you are actually insane enough to actively use Artificial Intelligence?" Rael'Zorah continued, his voice somewhere in-between scared and angry.

"Look, we've already had this conversation with the Council," Mack said in an annoyed voice. "Yes A.I.'s are a part of the UNSC and yes they are considered to be on par with Humans. We've used them for centuries and we've never had any serious problems with them."

"Really?" Zaal'Koris said in an interested voice. "It is quite interesting to hear that my theories were correct, A.I.'s and organics truly can coexist. Tell me, what is the standing of A.I.'s in your community?"

"Smart A.I.'s are very similar to Humans in many ways, as a result they are considered to be our equals. Their processing capability is incredibly high and capable of processing massive amounts of data in a matter of seconds. Dumb A.I.'s on the other hand lack the capacity to truly be considered sentient, therefore they're usually looked on as equipment, also due in part to the fact that the can only learn how to do one job."

"Fascinating," Daro'Xen said quietly.

Something about her voice sent shivers down Taylor's back. He had no idea exactly what he found so ominous about it, maybe it was the way she seemed to be completely relaxed as she spoke, or maybe it was the way she had remained quiet throughout most of the talking. Something simply seemed eerie about the Admiral, and Taylor couldn't help but feel that her goals were very different from the other Admirals.

"I can understand that some of you would be rather reluctant to be on the same planet as a sapient A.I.," Mack said, either not noticing the tone of Daro'Xen's voice or simply ignoring it. "But I beseech you to put your grudges behind you and think of the future of your people."

"While we may be able to tolerate living among you and your A.I.'s, and that is a rather large may be, the main fact is that this planet is not our home," Rael'Zorah said. "Our home is still occupied by the Geth, and while we may not be able to fight them head on, there are countless otherwise that we could defeat them, viruses, reprograming, EMPs, we simply cannot abandon hope of ever reclaiming the homeworld."

"As much as I hate to point it out Rael," Shala'Raan said, "it is not our choice to make, the Conclave will have to vote on this."

"The what?" Mack asked, clearly confused.

"The Conclave is the Quarian civilian government, made up of representatives from each ship," Shala'Raan explained. "They make most of the decisions about the Migrant Fleet. We can only override their decision if we unanimously agree, and afterwards we must retire and be replaced with new Admirals."

"An interesting form of government," Mack commented. "So you will present our offer to the Conclave correct?"

"Yes," Shala'Raan said, "I hope you that you understand that due to the sheer size of the Conclave it will take some time for them to reach a decision."

"How long?" Mack asked. "Hours? Days? Weeks?"

"Most likely days, possibly longer," Shala'Raan said. "It depends on how divided the Conclave is over the subject."

"I see," Mack said as he turned to face the door. "Well, get back to me on that when you have a reply, come on men we're leaving."

"Wait you're going?" Han'Gerrel asked in a surprised voice.

"No point in sticking around is there?" Mack asked as he and the troopers began to head for the exit.

"Wait," Shala'Raan said, holding out her hand. "Why are you doing this, why are you helping us?"

Mack let out a sigh as he turned to face Raan. "You're not the only species that's been on the receiving end of genocide. Human-Covenant War, 79 billion Humans dead, 632 planets rendered uninhabitable. The only reason we're still able to function as a species was that the war ended before our heaviest industrial and most heavily populated planets got caught in the crossfire."

Without another word, Mack turned and silently exited the room, the ODSTs following him.

"What do you think?" Shala'Raan asked as she looked at Rael'Zorah. "Do you think that this will be a good move?"

"You can't honestly be considering this Raan," Rael'Zorah said, "you really believe that this would be a good idea?"

"Rael, I know that you promised Sirona and Tali that you would build them a house on the homeworld, but I ask you to consider this, how often does a chance like this come around?"

Zaal'Koris cut across Rael'Zorah before he could speak. "As Raan said, it is not up to us, it is up to the Conclave, I do believe that we should send out a message to them now."

[Two days later.]

High in orbit above Earth, President Isaac Richards sat in his office on the space station _Washington_, the acting capital of the UNSC and UEG. He was wearing a suit and tie, sitting behind his desk, typing on a laptop when the door opened. Looking up, he saw a UNSC Admiral enter, closing the door behind him.

"Ah, Admiral Anderson, I'm glad that you're here," Richards said warmly, as he closed the small laptop in front of him.

"I'd prefer that you call me David, but if Admiral Anderson is what you prefer, then so be it," Anderson said, a slight smile crossing his face.

"That's the idea," Richards said, standing up from his desk and walked around to face Anderson.

"You know when you told me that you were dropping out of the military to enter politics, I thought that at the very most you would be the governor of a city," Anderson said. Imagine my surprise when you become one of Earth's Senators and then the President of the UEG."

"Yes, well I hope that you understand that I didn't call you up here just so that we catch up on old times," Richards said, as he took a datapad off of his desk. "I trust that you heard about what happened in orbit over Sanctuary a couple of days ago?"

"Who hasn't?" Anderson replied. "If you don't mind me asking though, why did the Quarians send their entire fleet into that system, and for that matter why that system?"

"From what I've been able to gather, the Quarians are rather isolated from the rest of the Council races, so when we drew the border lines I doubt that they got the navigational data, therefore they would not know that we have a presence in that area." Richards answered. "As for why they went into that particular system, Sanctuary is right on the border between UNSC and Council space. The Quarians are a nomadic species that travel from system to system strip-mining planets, moons and asteroids for resources. I'm guessing that the Sanctuary System was just their next stop, and when they found us they just tried to make friendly contact."

"And during the negotiations, Colonel Mack Norman contacted you and proposed this joint colony idea that seems to the topic of every discussion recently," Anderson said.

Richards nodded. "Actually I wanted to ask you about that, I know you have a lot of contacts, what can you tell me about the civilian reaction to this proposal?"

"Mixed," Anderson said. "A lot of Humans look at the Quarians and see themselves there, and want to help them. At the same time a lot of Humans don't want anything to do with aliens, mainly because of the Human-Covenant War. This group however is rather small, which might have something to do with the RSN providing military support during the Second Contact War. At the same time quite a few people really don't care what you do about the situation, since the Quarian population is so small they probably believe that it won't have an impact on their lives in any, way shape or form."

"And what do you think about this?" Richards asked. Anderson was silent, and Richards could practically see the gears turning behind his eyes. "Don't tell me what I want to hear, give me your honest opinion."

"Frankly I'm rather divided on the situation Richards," Anderson said honestly. "The pros and cons seem to be completely equal to each other. On one hand the Quarians obviously need our help and we could stand to gain from this. Since we haven't shared any of our technology with the Council, they've refused to share theirs with us, and we were forced to get what we could off of captured equipment from the Second Contact War. We've seen that Mass Effect technology can be more effective than ours in a handful of situations, and the Quarians will most likely be willing to share them with us. I have also heard that Quarians are very effective at maintenance and efficiently gathering resources, another reason to have them on our side."

"On the other hand, they will most likely be mistrustful of our A.I.'s which may cause some complications down the road. Not to mention the fact that Quarians aren't very popular among Council races, they're viewed as freeloaders and pickpockets. If we go along with this course of action, we may take some flak. In the end though, I trust your judgment, Richards."

"Thanks old friend," Richards said as he reached down the front of his desk and opened a concealed hatch.

Anderson raised an eyebrow, "What have you got there?" he asked.

"A little present from the Arbiter, he gave it to me after the annual war memorial service, I've been saving it for a special occasion, and I'm pretty sure that this qualifies." As he spoke, he produced an oddly curved bottle and two glasses, setting both on the desk. "But remember this Anderson, you've had enough booze in your life so take it easy," he said, poring the purple liquid into two glasses."

"What exactly is this?" Anderson asked as he picked up one of the glasses and swirled it slightly.

"I forget exactly," Richards said as he picked up his own glass. "But Thel said that it was expensive, even in RSN space; imagine how expensive it would be to get it exported all the way out here. From what Thel said though, it's well worth the price."

As he was about to raise his glass to his lips, his closed laptop beeped, signifying that he had just received a message. "Pardon me a moment," Richards said as he placed his glass on the desk and sat down. Opening his laptop, Richards pushed a few buttons on the keyboard, bringing up the message. As his eyes scanned the message, a smile broke across Richards face.

"What is it?" Anderson asked as Richards stood up from his seat.

"The Quarians have accepted our offer," Richards said as he picked his glass off of the desk. "They'll begin to settling the planet tomorrow."

Anderson grinned as both he and Richards raised their glasses. "Here's to hoping that this works," he said.

"Amen," Richards said as they both downed the contents of their glasses. "Ok maybe one more," Richards said as he poured himself and Anderson another glass.

Author's Note: Well personally I think that chapter went rather well. I haven't been feeling that well recently and I've had a bit of a fever but that's not enough to stop me from writing this story. Please note that the main events of the game will not be starting for a couple more chapters, as I have an idea that will help shape the future events of this story. Anyone who can guess what it is gets a cookie. Well, as always, tell me what you think.


	11. Unexpected Conflict

Chapter 11

Unexpected Conflict

Author's Note: I really need to stop reading other Mass Effect/Halo crossovers, every time that I do I see that they seem to make things more militaristic and keep putting in things like HIGHCOM, UNSCDF and RSO, I don't even know what that last one is! I'm talking about the Mass Effect/Halo crossover Shattered Universes, which I would highly recommend; it is a very good read. Halo: The Human Effect seems to play it very realistically too, putting in long lines of dialogue at the beginning of each section with the time location and person that makes it seem a lot more interesting. If I think that these stories are so good, you may ask why I should stop reading them. Well the reason why is because when I do, I think my own story is a pathetic piece of crap when I do. I mainly don't put those things in because, while they can look cool, I also find them to be rather annoying sometimes and conflicting with my writing style. Still a lot of people give this story positive feedback so you must like what I'm doing, so let me say thank you for supporting me. Well enough of my complaining, time to start a new chapter with a couple of new OC's and a canon character that I think I would get death threats if I didn't put in this story, and I would deserve some of them.

FYI you may notice that I don't exactly describe the faces of Quarians that thoroughly apart from a couple of characteristics, well I really can't come up a solid picture of them and I get more of a mental picture that is constantly changing (come to think of it that happens with most of my OC's too). Picture them anyway you want, I mean since Bioware has been teasing us over the years I see no reason to be the one to describe their masterpiece, though I really hope that they do one day. One more thing a semi-popular idea that seems to be kicking around the internet is that Quarians have hair; personally I find the idea intriguing so they do in this story.

March, 7, 2628. Quarians begin to settle on the planet Sanctuary, integrating into many of the already existing towns and cities. Many Quarians and Humans describe living among another species as, for lack of a better word, awkward. Many Quarians and Humans tend to keep to themselves, but there are a handful of individuals on both sides that are attempting to break down the cultural barriers between the two species. Upon the revelation that Quarians have Dextro-amino acid, the UNSC set several scientists to research the Quarian's DNA. The purpose of this research is to create gene therapy for the Quarians in order to prevent the allergic reaction that they will have if they accidentally consume Human food. Thanks to the already extensive UNSC data on Human DNA, the gene therapy to prevent Humans from having allergic reactions to Quarian food is issued freely within weeks. Due to the fact that there are 20 million Humans and 17 million Quarians living on Sanctuary, the chance of there being a mistake in food delivery is uncomfortably high, this gene therapy research is viewed as a wise precaution.

March, 15, 2628. Many of the Migrant Fleet ships are sent to various shipyards to be decommissioned, since most of them were only held together through constant repairs. The newer ships stay active and the few remaining military ships become part of Sanctuary's defensive fleet.

April, 1, 2628. The response in Citadel Space to the Quarian's settling on Sanctuary is mixed. Many are angry that the Quarians have found a planet to live on; as they believed that their confinement to the Migrant Fleet was their punishment for creating the Geth. Others, however, are relieved that they will not have to deal with the Migrant Fleet in their territory and all of the problems that followed it. While it is obvious that the Council themselves are deeply divided over this issue, some are angry with the UNSC while others are in awe. However, due to the fact that the Quarians are technically not a Citadel species and the UNSC is independent they can do nothing to stop the UNSC, short of boycotting them or declaring war. Both of these options are viewed as undesirable, as war would be disastrous, and while both the UNSC and Council refrain from trading military technology, they both have prospered from the trading of civilian technology and other goods, this would make a boycott highly undesirable.

November, 25, 2629. In an attempt to soothe tensions with the Batarian Hegemony, the UNSC established trade routes with them, with the first shipment of Batarian goods expected to arrive at Sanctuary soon. Because of the large amount distance between Hegemony space and UNSC space, and the sparse amount of Mass Relays in UNSC territory, most of the exports from both factions are sent to boarder planets to make travel more cost effective. Even though the amount of trade would be limited and is rather low compared to the healthy trade the UNSC enjoys with the RSN and the Asari Republics, it would prove to still be fairly profitable.

February, 8, 2631. Present Day

On the outskirts of New Denver, within the confines of a dimly lit laboratory, UNSC scientist Michael Rivers sat in front of an active terminal. He was an old man; his hair was thin and as white as his lab coat. Wrinkles had long since formed on his face, though at 172 years old this sort of condition was to be expected. Rivers, despite his aged body, was determinedly typing away at the keyboard in front of him. He was one of the main scientists that had been given the job of decoding the Quarian genome, as he was the mind behind much of the UNSC previous breakthroughs in genetic therapy. The laboratory was empty except for him, as it was actually an hour before the rest of the scientists were due to come in.

"You know you didn't have to come in for awhile you know, you could have used the extra sleep," a voice said.

Rivers glanced to his right to see a green hologram of a soldier from the Rain Forest Wars, wearing a rather primitive version of Marine armor.

"I know Devon," Rivers said in a tired voice, "but you should know how long this kind of work takes. For the love of God, even with you and the entire team helping me over the years we've only decoded a tenth of the Quarian's DNA."

"I know," Devon said in a slightly sad voice. "Even Smart A.I.'s have their limits; this would be so much faster if it wasn't for the fact that Quarian DNA is based off of amino acids that are so different from Human's. Still I'm behind you all the way. If you don't mind me asking, why are you pushing yourself so hard?"

Rivers sighed, "I want to be remembered for doing something good with my life Devon, I want to die leaving a positive impact on the UEG, not making it so that a handful of people don't see in black and white. To be frank, I'm an old son of a bitch and I have no idea how long my body is going to hold out. Even with the UEG's advanced medical technology my doctor has told me that I don't have long to go. Every hour I put into this research counts. If I don't finish this research, than at the very least what I managed to accomplish will serve as a basis for anyone that... that... that," Rivers' voice trailed off as he looked at the terminal. "Oh my God," he said softly.

"What is it?" Devon asked.

"Devon I want you to focus in on the base areas that I point out to you," Rivers said hastily. "I think I'm on to something."

XXXXX

"This feels weird, like I'm a little kid wearing my mother's clothes," said a brown haired girl in Marine Corps armor.

She was clutching a battle rifle in her hands as she and Taylor Winters patrolled one of New Denver's landing pads. Said landing pad was designed for drop ships and light freighters carrying cargo to land on, so it could be properly unloaded and transported.

Taylor chuckled. "That's perfectly normal Sarah," he said as he rested his DMR against his shoulder, "after all you've only been out of boot camp for a couple of months. You'll get used to it after a while."

Sarah smiled slightly as she brushed some of her black hair out of her eyes.

"I sure hope so." She said as both of their COM units beeped.

"Attention all New Denver military forces, this is Colonel Mack Norman. A moderately sized Batarian fleet has entered the system and is heading for the planet. They claim to be Hegemony traders that are ahead of schedule and are bound for New Denver. Chances are that this is completely harmless but I still want everyone to be on alert for anything out of ordinary, they're on their way down now."

As Mack's voice died, Taylor and Sarah glanced at each other.

"You think it's anything to be worried about?" Sarah asked.

"For most part I would think not," Taylor asked "I've had to oversee quite a few Batarian shipments before and they mainly ship raw materials. You know, the currency that everyone accepts. Still, having them arrive early is a little odd; I mean the next shipment wasn't due for at least three days. Like Mack said be on your toes, they'll be down in a few minutes.

"Um, excuse me?"

Taylor and Sarah turned to see a female Quarian heading towards them. She was wearing the clothing that most Quarians had started to wear since the settling of Sanctuary, full body clothes that were actually moderately comparable to the suits that they had once wore, the key differences being that it wasn't a single piece of clothing, it had uncovered hands, and separate footwear. The outfits still retained the hoods that all Quarian suits seemed to have. This Quarian's hood was pulled back at the moment, revealing her bright purple hair and soft silvery eyes.

"I was told that a Migrant Marine named Kal'Reegar was stationed here," the Quarian said as she stopped in front of them.

One of the ways the Humans and Quarians were attempting to ease tensions between themselves was having the Migrant Fleet Marines serving side by side with the UNSC military. It had a limited effect, causing at least the military to be friendlier towards Quarians.

"Kal'Reegar," Taylor muttered, rubbing his chin with his free hand. "That name sounds slightly familiar, in fact I think a Quarian by that name was transferred from this base earlier today, I'm sorry but I don't know where he is now, miss...?"

"Tali'Zorah nar Ra- I mean just Tali'Zorah," she said in a slightly embarrassed voice. "Sorry, I'm used to identifying myself by my birth-ship, but with this planet that custom is more or less being dropped."

"Century old customs die hard?" Sarah asked, smiling slightly.

"More or less," Tali said sheepishly.

"Why did you need to talk to Kal anyway?" Taylor asked. "Is there something significant going on?"

"Not really," Tali said, "my father just wanted to have a word with him, not sure why. But I doubt that he would appreciate me asking."

"Hmm," Taylor muttered as he took his rifle in both hands. "I don't mean to be rude but we've got a shipment of Batarian goods coming in, is there any chance that-"

Taylor was cut off as a loud hum drowned out his words. Glancing behind him, Taylor saw a Batarian freighter landing on the pad, the cargo bay doors opening. Two dozen Batarians stepped out of the freighter, half of them holding assault rifles. A nearby human Lieutenant made his way towards the Batarians, half a dozen Marines behind him.

"I am sorry sir," he said to the head Batarian as the handful of UNSC forces guarding the pad watched, "but the agreements between our species directly state that all military forces must remain in orbit while the trader's freighters land. I will have to ask your guards to return to orbit so that we can conduct our business."

"Ah," the Batarian said, "of course, after all Hegemony traders always do follow whatever rules that their partners place on them." Seeing that they were cooperating, the Lieutenant smiled slightly. "But then again, slavers don't."

The second he finished speaking, the Batarian, along with the rest of the unarmed ones, reached into various hidden holstered and drew pistols. Every last Batarian raised their weapon opened fire on the Lieutenant and his squad, killing all of them in a matter of seconds.

"Spread out!" the Batarian shouted as he and the rest of his men fired on the rest of the soldiers guarding the pad.

"What the fuck?" Sarah shouted as she and Taylor fired a handful of potshots at the slavers before taking cover behind a cargo crate to avoid their fire.

"So much for expecting a shipment of goods," Tali said dryly as she ducked behind the same crate.

"Look you're going to want to get out of here," Taylor said as he aimed over the top of the crate and fired five shots at one of the nearest slavers, causing his shields to collapse with the first four and piercing his brain with the fifth. "Batarian slavers have a reputation for being ruthless. God, what the Hell are they doing all the way out here? It doesn't make any sense!"

"We can figure that out later," Tali said, as she reached towards her back and grabbed a shotgun, pulling it off. "Right now we need to focus on staying alive."

"What's this 'we' stuff?" Sarah asked as she fired several bursts at another slaver's chest, piercing the slaver's heart, killing him. "We can't have noncombatants screwing around a battlefield."

As Sarah spoke, Tali fired a shot that took down a slaver's shields and then caused his chest to burst open with a second shot. Sarah blinked as she looked at Tali with surprise.

"Quarians like to teach their young how to take care of themselves," Tali explained, noticing Sarah staring at her.

"Never knew that included firearm training," Sarah muttered as she activated a plasma grenade and threw it over the crate. As the grenade exploded, there was a cry of agony and Sarah was certain that she had injured at least one of them. "All right fine you can stick around, just don't do anything stupid."

"Oh yes, because I had to be told that," Tali said sarcastically as she pumped her shotgun and fired another shot at the slavers.

"Less talking!" Taylor shouted as he threw a Warp at one of the slavers.

The ball of purple energy hit him in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain as Sarah finished him off with a burst from her rifle.

The leader of the slavers snarled as he looked at the situation before him and saw that he had lost half of his men to the fire from the defensive forces. He snarled, the UNSC may have lost more men than he had, but they had had heavier forces than he had been expecting.

"Fall back!" he shouted as the salvers scrambled back into the safety of the freighter as the doors closed and it began to take off, heading for safety.

"Ok, what the Hell is going on?" Sarah asked "Those guys said that they were slavers, what are they doing so far out of the Terminus Systems, you know, the place where they normally operate."

"Shh," Taylor said as he put his hand to his COM unit. "Sarah check your COM."

Looking slightly confused, Sarah did what she was told and even Tali pressed her fingers against an earpiece that she was wearing.

_"We barely fought them off, I think they were trying to establish a foothold in the city,"_ one voice said.

_"I don't understand, they had all of the proper access codes, how could this have happened?"_ a second said.

_"Holy shit!"_ a third shouted _"All UNSC forces I have a positive visual of hostile forces landing to the east of the city, they clearly plan to march on us!"_

_"Don't count on the navy giving us any support, those so called military ships are giving them one Hell of a fight, how the fuck did we get in this mess?"_

"Son of a bitch, things are looking bad," Sarah muttered.

"Good news is that we stopped it from becoming a lot worse," Taylor said.

"What do you mean by that?" Tali asked.

"From what I can put together, those slavers we just killed, and the ones that landed all over the city and were repelled, were trying to establish a foothold in the city, just like the Marine on the COM said," Taylor explained. "If they had succeeded, they probably would have landed their main force inside of the city and would have had a much easier time capturing civilians. Now they'll have to march through New Denver's defensive perimeter in order to get in."

"They still might be able to get through though," Sarah said "This is the smallest city one of the UNSC's smallest colonies so the military force isn't that big."

"Don't remind me," Taylor said in a grim voice.

"We're going to have trouble heading our way soon," Tali said. "We're not that far away from the eastern city limits, they'll be heading this way."

"Tali's right," Taylor said, "we better dig in before the shit hits the fan."

"Can anyone hear me?" said a faint voice over the COM lines that was riddled with static. "This is Professor Michael Rivers, I have unearthed information that is invaluable to the UNSC. It is a Tier 1 Asset and must be transported to safety before the Batarians find me again. My equipment was damaged by one of their gunships and the asset must be moved physically. I need anyone that can be spared to be sent to my location, preferably those with tech experience. I am sending my coordinates now; the Batarians must not acquire this data."

"Rivers?" Sarah asked, looking at Taylor. "The genetics scientist?"

"Yeah," Taylor said, "what could be so important that he needs armed escorts to stop the Batarians for getting their hands on it?"

"Winters, both of you," a gruff voice said. Taylor and Sarah craned their necks to see Sergeant Miller Lyons approaching them. "With the LT dead I'm in command here, you heard Rivers' message right?" They both nodded. "He requested soldiers with tech experience so I want you to go. Sarah, I want you to cover Taylor, understood?"

"Yes, sir!" they both said.

"Good, I would send more men to back you up but those sons of bitches killed eighteen of our boys here so we're already short on numbers. All right get moving."

"Any chance that you could use an extra hand?" Tali asked, still holding her shotgun.

Miller looked her up and down "You good with tech?" he asked.

"It's the only stereotype about my people that's actually true," Tali replied.

"What about shielding, you got any?" Miller asked "Brass would have my head if I let a noncombatants run around practically naked, even if I did say that I saw you do some impressive things with a shotgun."

"Yes, I have shielding too," Tali said, turning around to reveal a generator on her back that was similar to the one that Mack used. "It's not the most advanced model but it'll get the job done."

"All right, you've got tech skills, shielding and a gun that you're good with. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't tag along with them. Now get moving, the longer you wait the closer that the Batarians get to Rivers, he's barely within the defensive perimeter."

Author's Note: Well I hope that you liked where this is going, personally I think it's an interesting idea, by the way you don't have the whole picture yet so not everything will make sense yet. I think people will be glad that Tali is in here, and just so you know, if you didn't catch it in the last chapter, Tali's mother is alive in this story, due in part to the fact that she now lives on a planet compatible with her biology (I think she died from a containment breach on the fleet.) Well I hope that you liked it, and as always, tell me what you think. (Hmm, my chapters sure are getting longer, I wonder if people like that)


	12. Unexpected Turn

Chapter 12

Unexpected Turn

Author's Note: A couple of people seemed to be a little confused over a small detail so I just wanted to clarify. Some people seemed to think that the point of the genetic therapy for the inhabitants of Sanctuary was so that Humans could get nourishment from Quarian food, and vice versa. The actual idea of the gene therapy was to make it so that if there was a mix-up in food shipment no one would have an allergic reaction to it and possibly die. No nourishment would come from the food and it might be thrown up but it wouldn't kill the person, hence the point of the therapy. Well now that we got that out of the way, here we go.

"Is this is the place?" Tali asked as she looked at the building in front of her.

It was a standard issue UNSC lab, an offshoot of the firebases that the UNSC commonly deployed on the front lines. It was cheap, effective, and flexible, plus it had all of the equipment a researcher would need. The lab's main satellite dish was lying in shambles next to a facility, apparently having been destroyed by a gunship missile.

"Yeah, the coordinates match up," Sarah said as she viewed a map on her HUD before dismissing it.

"Crap," Taylor muttered.

He gazed past the lab at the city limits, which was half a mile away at the very most. A handful of dug in UNSC and Quarian platoons were desperately attempting to hold their position. This was no easy task as the entire slaver force was marching on their position, easily numbering in the thousands. In addition to the massive amount of infantry, the slavers were being assisted by air support in the form of gunships, and strange eight legged vehicles that were apparently some sort of strange tanks. The same kind of tanks had been deployed by the Turians during the Second Contact War.

The UNSC troopers were crouching in the safety of their bunkers, popping up for a few dangerous seconds to fire before ducking down to avoid a hail of hostile bullets from the slavers. The slavers were constantly raining Hell down upon the bunkers with everything that they could throw at them, and it was showing.

"It doesn't look like they'll be able to hold out much longer," Taylor said. "Five minutes at very most, and that's seriously pushing it. We're going to be dodging the main force by the skin of our teeth."

"Then we better move," Sarah said as the three of them headed for the main entrance. Sarah grabbed the metal handle and pulled, only to meet firm resistance.

"Sorry about that," said a cool synthetic voice. Their heads jerked upward to see a small camera and a speaker over the door. "Security protocol in case the slavers dropped off in this area, their dropships having been strafing the outskirts, probably softening things up for when the main force breaks through." There was a loud click as the door was unlocked and automatically slid open. "Get it, hurry!" Needing no further prompting, the trio dashed inside as the door slammed shut behind them, locking again. "Rivers is waiting for you downstairs, he needs all the help he can get downloading all of his data for transportation.

As they headed downstairs, they stormed into the main lab were a wizened old man was furiously typing at a terminal.

"Any of you have tech skills?" he asked, not looking up from his work.

"Um yes," Tali said, "exactly what kind of data did you uncover?"

"It has to do with Quarian DNA that's all the time I have to explain!" Rivers said hastily. "Devon is still decoding the bases that I identified for him and it's taking up all of his processing so I need you to help me transfer the data into a chip so it can be transported. The more people working on it the faster we can organize it so take a seat, the Batarians could overrun this position at any minute." As he spoke an explosion rocked the lab.

"Son of a..." Rivers muttered, "Devon what was that?"

"A Batarian dropship just unloaded six slavers outside the lab," Devon said as his avatar materialized next to Rivers. "They must have picked up your heat signatures because they just blew the door off of its hinges with some charges. They're heading this way, and fast."

"Damn it," Rivers muttered, "forget that, just keep the Batarians off of my back," he said, turning to look at the trio. "It's going to take the three of you to take them all so I'll do what I can about the data and with any luck... are you all right?" he asked, looking at Tali.

Tali was staring at Devon with the faintest bits of wariness in her eyes. "Yes," she said, looking back at Rivers.

"All right," Rivers said as the storming of the slavers feet thundered overhead. "Give me three minutes to finish up."

"We'll see what we can-FUCK!" Sarah shouted as she spotted a slaver reach the bottom of the stairs.

The slaver fired his rifle at Taylor, the bullets impacting on his shields, which drained rapidly until Taylor, Sarah, and Tali all fired at the slaver, killing him.

"How the Hell are you supposed to maneuver in a room so cramped?" Taylor.

"This is a lab, it wasn't meant to be a battlefield," Rivers snapped as his fingers danced across the keyboard. "Devon hurry up, we don't have much time left."

"I'm going as fast as I can, nearly all of the bases have been analyzed and classified," Devon said, clearly flustered.

"When we get out of here, could you kindly explain what we're trying to protect here!" Tali shouted as three more slavers stormed into the room.

Both of them fired the rifles at Sarah at Tali, causing both of their shields to collapse before both of them took cover behind a set of data stacks. Lining up a shot with his DMR, Taylor squeezed off several shots at the heads of two Batarians, killing them both. Letting out a roar of anger, the third slaver sprayed bullets at Taylor, causing his already weakened shields to collapse and allow several bullets to pierce his right bicep. Taylor let out a cry of agony as he dropped his DMR. Using his good arm, Taylor threw a Warp at the slaver, causing him to stagger backwards, his shields down. Slipping out of cover, Tali fired her shotgun at the off balance Batarian, killing him.

"Taylor are you all right?" Sarah shouted, as Taylor produced a stimpack, flicked the cap off, and slammed the needle into his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll be all right," he said as he felt the stimpack taking affect, drowning the pain and causing energy to surge through his body. "Oh, damn it there's more!" he shouted.

As he spoke the last three slavers stormed into the lab, rifles blazing. Not having time to retrieve his rifle, Taylor drew a magnum and fired off three shots at the nearest slaver before diving behind the data stacks where Sarah and Tali were.

"Well this is just great," Sarah said dryly as she fired two bursts into the chest of the slaver whose shields had been weakened, killing him.

"Hey what do you want from me?" Taylor retorted as he threw a biotic pull at one of the remaining slavers, causing him to float helplessly in the air.

"You two can argue later!" Tali shouted as she fired two shots at the floating Batarian, causing him to go limp.

"Last one," Taylor muttered as he produced a plasma grenade.

Activating it, he threw it at the last slaver, guiding it with his biotics as he did. The grenade stuck to the slaver's chest as he desperately attempted to pull it off. He was unsuccessful and the grenade detonated, causing the slaver to become a blood colored cloud.

"Got it!" Rivers shouted. "The download is complete. Devon, get in the chip, I can't transmit you out of here."

"Oh boy," Devon said through grit teeth. "It's a small chip and there's already a whole lot of data in there already. This is going to be tight," he said as he disappeared.

Rivers grabbed a chip that was sticking out of the terminal and, with some difficulty, got to his feet.

"Let's get out of here," he said, "if we stick around, there's a good chance we could get stuffed in cages and prodded with sticks for the rest of our-"

_"_FALL BACK!" a voice roared over the COM lines. _"_The perimeter's fallen! Fall back to the rally-GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_"_

The line went dead. The room was silent as the gravity of the situation sunk in.

"How the Hell are we supposed to get out of here with the main slaver force heading right for us?" Sarah asked.

"I'm not sure we will," Taylor said honestly, "things look pretty bad. Still we can't just sit around with our thumbs up our asses," he said as he holstered his magnum and picked up his DMR. "I say we run and gun and pray that we get lucky."

"Not like we have much of a choice," Rivers said as he reached under his desk and pulled out an SMG. "Pelicans and Falcons are probably busy evacuating civilians so we're on our own. I'll make you a deal, we all get out of here alive and I'll buy us all a round."

"I'll look forward to that," Tali said as they dashed towards the stairs and upwards, Rivers hobbling along behind them.

"Remember, shoot at any Batarian that comes too close to you but don't try to engage them, we'll be completely overwhelmed," Taylor said as they exited the lab. "Wait a minute, where are they?" Taylor said as he looked around.

To his great shock, there wasn't a massive swarm of Batarians heading for their position. The Batarian army was still a quarter of a mile away, but they seemed to have formed a circle around something and were firing everything that they had at something in the center.

"What are they doing?" Tali said, looking on with confusion.

All four of them stared at the circle, clearly at a loss. A gunship flew over the heads of the Batarians, heading for the circle. A rocket flew out of the center and slammed into the front of the gunship, causing it to explode.

"Someone's in there?" Sarah said, clearly in shock.

"Hold on," Taylor said as he raised his DMR, looking down the scope.

What he saw would cause him to question the laws of reality. Within the center of the circle, there was a single ODST with an assault rifle in one hand and a rocket launcher in the other. The ODST fired a second rocket at the mob surrounding him, sending a dozen bodies flying as he spun with his finger pressed down on the trigger of the assault rifle. As the Batarians fired on the ODST, he threw both of his now empty weapons into the air and dove and rolled out of the way. Producing fresh clips, the ODST slammed them into his weapons as they fell down, leaving him with freshly loaded weapons.

"There's one soldier there, I... Jesus, he's unstoppably. The Batarians can't even hit him, they're just hitting themselves."

The four of them were in such shock that they simply stood and watched as the ODST fought. For five whole minutes, the ODST was completely unstoppable, weaving in and out of the Batarians, weapons ablaze. When he finally ran out of ammo, the ODSTs grabbed a rifle off of a dead Batarian and broke another slaver's neck with it, before readjusting the rifle to gun down three more Batarians.

The ODST continued to gun down the slavers until one of the spider tanks made its way to the center of the circle, firing some sort of canon at the ODST. The ODST dove and rolled out of the way again, avoiding the tank's projectile, which killed a dozen Batarians instead. Jumping on top of the tank, the ODST shot the lid off with the captured rifle before jumping inside. There were several flashes of gunshots before a bullet ridden corpse was thrown out. The newly hijacked tank then turned on the Batarians and fired its cannon. The blast sent more of the slavers flying into the air.

"How does he know how to pilot that?" Tali asked as they looked on.

"ODSTs are trained to pilot vehicles with less complex controls of all types," Taylor answered as he continued to watch. "Hell, put me behind the wheel and I would be able to pilot that thing. I get the feeling I wouldn't do as good of a job though."

The hijacked tank destroyed two of the slaver tanks and continued to completely devastate the Batarians until the fire from the slavers caused the tank to malfunction. Undaunted, the ODST jumped out, killing four more Batarians with the rifle, only stopping when the weapon overheated.

_"God,"_ said a voice over the COM lines, snapping the group out of their daze. _"That was brutal, but we did it, the slaver fleet has suffered complete annihilation..along with three-fourths of our own fleet. We've sent down Pelicans and Longswords to support the ground battle."_

As if on cue, two Longswords flew overhead, carpet bombed the slaver army. Half of the survivors were obliterated as the remaining ones completely abandoned any strategy and ran for their lives, the ODST watching as they went. After the few seconds the ODST spotted the group watching them and began to sprint towards them.

"Is there any chance that you're Michael Rivers?" the ODST asked in a feminine voice as she stopped in front of them. Rivers nodded dumbly. "I'm Lieutenant Commander Jane Shepard," the ODST said in a friendly voice, taking off her helmet to reveal short red hair and a surprisingly warm face. "I was on leave here when I heard your transmission; I grabbed some armor and weapons from the firebase and headed this way. I was about to head for your lab when I saw that the defensive line had been broken so I did what could to stop them."

"Did what you could?" Taylor asked incredulous "You say that like it was a stroll in the park, do you have any idea how many Batarians you just killed."

Jane shrugged. "I don't know. Two hundred or three hundred, I lost count."

"What is a Lieutenant Commander doing on the front lines anyway?" Sarah asked. "You shouldn't have any combat training."

"I used to be an ODST before I enlisted in the navy, I was a pretty good one too," Jane said. "When I heard that the Batarians were attacking again, I suppose you could say it stirred up my warrior's blood. I might catch some flak for this but I think that I'll be fine."

"Pretty good? That's the understatement of the century," Taylor said weakly. "Where did you learn to do that? A normal soldier cannot do that."

Jane shrugged again. "I guess I just got lucky, I mean I've never done anything like that before. I guess these things just happen, you do something amazing and you're not quite sure how you do it, you just do."

"You're something else," Tali said.

"Why thank you," Jane said, smiling.

Rivers smiled slightly as he stepped forward. "Thank Ms. Shepard, I'll make sure to put a word forward for you and the rest of you to receive medals. You have no idea what you have helped accomplish to-" Rivers stopped as a loud bang tore across the air and a blinding pain tore through his chest.

As Rivers fell to the ground bleeding, Taylor whipped around to face the entrance to the lab, where the bang had originated from. He saw that one of the Batarians he had shot earlier was still alive and had crawled his way out of the lab. Judging by the smoking gun in his hand, he had also been the one who shot Rivers. Taylor did not hesitate and he fired on the slaver, firing seven shots at his face just to be sure that he was deader than dead this time.

"Taylor!" Sarah shouted. Taylor turned to see Tali and Jane kneeling over Winters and Sarah standing over him, looking horror struck. "Do you have any biofoam?"

"Forget the biofoam, I'm fucked," Rivers said as he forced himself upright, a pained expression.

"Stay down, you'll kill yourself if you overexert yourself," Jane said gently, as she tried to push Rivers down into a lying position.

"Don't you get it? My life is over, that bullet went right through my heart, but it doesn't matter, this is what matters." As he spoke, he handed Tali the chip he had taken from the lab. "Whatever happens make sure the UNSC gets this, Devon can explain everything to them."

"Why?" Tali asked weakly, not taking the chip. "Why don't you care about your own life?"

Rivers actually smiled slightly at Tali's question. Reaching into his lab coat with his free hand, he produced a small leather bound book.

"It's all in here," he said, his face going pale. "I don't regret a thing, when you reach the end, you'll understand why, but promise me that you'll get this to UNSC. One more thing, tell Devon I lied to him, tell him I'm sorry and tell him...goodbye."

And with that Rivers body went limp. He was dead.

Author's Note: This is the first time I've ever killed off a protagonist that I've created... it felt kind of weird, but I still think it makes for a good story, hopefully you will agree. Next chapter we will find out what is in that book and what exactly Rivers discovered, what is it, well you should all know how much I love making you wait, so you'll find out in the next chapter. Well, as always, tell, me what you think.


	13. Dark Past Uncertain Future

Chapter 13

Dark Past Uncertain Future

Author's Note: The last chapter didn't get as much feedback as I normally do, oh well; maybe it's for the best that I don't get spoiled with 30 reviews per chapter. You have all been very patient, so in this chapter you will learn what Rivers uncovered... and a little more about the good doctor.

Tali was silent as she looked at the leather bound book in her hand, her mind completely blank. She was sitting in the back of a Pelican along with Taylor and Sarah. Jane had stayed behind to make sure that Rivers' body was properly buried. Sarah was holding the chip that contained Devon whose avatar was active.

"He's dead?" Devon said disbelievingly, looking at the Marine who was holding him. Sarah nodded sadly. "No way," Devon said, "there's no way that the old man would let himself be killed by... by..." Devon looked directly at Sarah and saw the sadness in her eyes. It was right there and then that he knew that she was telling the truth.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Devon roared, slamming his fist into the base of his projector. "How the fucking Hell did this happen? How did those damn four-eyes get so close to the planet, this never should have happened, we should have blasted them to kingdom come before they even got close to the planet! FUCKING HELL!" Devon's voice was becoming higher and more hysterical the more he spoke.

Tali looked from the book she was holding and fixed her sight on Devon, surprise in her eyes. 'A synthetic upset over the death of... an organic?'

"Damn it," Devon swore silently. "This is fucked up." Devon let out a sigh as he looked at Sarah. "What did he mean when he said he lied?" he asked.

"I don't know," Sarah said honestly.

"Maybe it's in that book," Taylor said quietly, a grim look on his face. "Tali what does it say?" Numbly, Tali opened the book and skimmed the front page. After a few seconds she closed it and handed it to Taylor. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I can't read it," Tali said simply. "It's in a language I can't read."

"Fair enough," Taylor said as he took the book. Opening it, he began to read aloud.

_The Journal of Michael J. Rivers_

_August, 1, 2517. Decided to start writing a journal today, things are getting a little jumbled up in my head. Not much to write for today, just another boring day of decoding the Human genome. God, this is supposed to be interesting, but we have next to no funding, we're barley making any progress!_

_September, 3, 2517. I'm scribbling this down before I get back to my work. Halsey arrived planet-side today and she said that the UNSC was hatching a big project, some sort of super soldier thing; she said that they're for fighting the insurgents. She said she wants me on board to help design the genetic augmentations for the soldiers. I almost laughed, but then she told me how much money the project was getting. Halsey isn't the kind of person to kid when it comes to things like that, so the second she dropped a number like that, I was in her pocket. I'm leaving for Reach tomorrow._

_September, 23, 2517. Been working around the clock for the past couple of weeks, I've got a new lab and a new team and boy are we making progress. I'm doing what I can to meet Halsey's expectations but it sure isn't easy. I mean here's what she wants: unbreakable bones, heightened senses, night vision, doubled muscle density, and 400% reaction time. Jesus they're pulling out all the stops for this one, no wonder Halsey said that there's only 75 recruits, this is going to be as expensive as Hell. Speaking of which the conscripts are arriving today, as a matter of fact I'm supposed to watch them arrive right now._

_September, 24, 2517. CHILDREN? I knew since college Halsey was willing do whatever it took to get the job done, but this is a new low. She honestly expects me to augment 75 children into killing machines. God, if I leave all of my funding goes down the toilet, but if I stay I have to have my hand in this. I have to sleep on this one._

Taylor frowned, "The next couple of pages have been torn out, hold on," he said as he flipped the page to then next surviving entry.

_October, 5, 2524. The kids don't even look like kids anymore; they look like miniaturized Olympian athletes. The way they look, the way they talk it isn't freaking Human. Every day I regret deciding to stay here. The day the kids receive their augmentations gets closer every day. I don't know about this, I've got most of the augmentations written out, but this is still experimental, I don't know if this is safe._

_March, 9, 2525. Jesus. Half of the kids are dead. Another dozen look they just went through a meat grinder. The other 33 are recovering from the augmentations. I can't take this anymore, I want out. Halsey can justify what we're doing here by saying that it's necessary but I can't. Fuck this planet, fuck Halsey, and fuck this goddamn SPARTAN Project._

Both Sarah and Devon's heads jerked upward and looked at Taylor.

"Rivers was on the SPARTAN Project? Sarah asked in a disbelieving voice. "What else does it say?"

"It's blank," Taylor muttered, as he riffled through the pages. "He must have stopped writing in it," he said as he reached the end. "Hold on there's something scribbled on the last page."

_March, 7, 2628. UNSC came to my house today, can't help but wonder what they want with an old bag of bones like me. They said that Quarians are starting to settle on Sanctuary, nice to know that the UNSC is doing something besides making people's lives miserable. They want me to do some research into their genome, something about preventing allergic reactions. It's a little odd that I'm writing in this old thing, I just found it under a pile of junk today. Aw well, it'll be nice to do something for the greater good with genetic research. I still have nightmares about that goddamn SPARTAN Project, maybe this'll take the edge off._

Taylor closed the book and looked at Devon. "Did that clear anything up?"

Devon sighed, "Yeah it does," he said. "A while back I asked him why he was pushing himself so hard to decode the Quarian's DNA; he said he wanted to be remembered for doing something great. That was a lie; he was trying to alleviate his guilty conscious." Devon pressed his hand to his face, "I can't believe he's really dead," he said in a barely audible whisper.

"I'm sorry," Tali said, finding her voice, "but what exactly is the SPARTAN Project?"

"An old UNSC super soldier project," Sarah replied. "A group of children went through inhuman training for years, transforming them into the ultimate killing machines. In addition to the most advanced power armor the UNSC could afford, the SPARTAN's also received genetic augmentations that gave them superhuman abilities. The problem is that over half of the SPARTAN's either died or were permanently crippled."

"If this journal is to be believed," Taylor said, raising the book as he spoke, "then Rivers was the main researcher that created the SPARTAN's augmentations. From the sound of it he had serious guilt issues about his involvement with the project."

"It makes sense," Devon said.

"What does?" Tali asked, looking at the A.I.'s avatar.

"Rivers said he wanted to leave a positive impact on the world, to rid himself of his guilt apparently," Devon explained. "That's why he was so determined to get the data I have decoded and organized."

"By the way, what was that data about?" Taylor asked. "Rivers said it was about Quarian DNA, but what specifically was it about?"

"Before I go any further I don't want anyone to get their hopes up," Devon said. "Rivers didn't get to thoroughly look over the data so I don't know if it's genuine. And even if it is, that doesn't mean that we'll be able to make any use of-"

"Devon," Taylor said, "what is the data about?"

Devon took a deep breath before continuing.

"If I'm not mistaken, the DNA that I have information on is the DNA that governs the Quarian immune system."

Nobody spoke as Devon's words seemed to echo throughout the room.

"Wait," Tali said slowly, not daring to hope. "You have information on my people's immune system. What does that mean?"

"Like I said, I don't want you to get your hopes up," Devon said cautiously. "But we just might be able to make use of this data to create genetic therapies that will..." he paused, looking at Tali uncertainly. "That will strengthen your immune systems, allowing you to inhabit worlds besides this one with little difficulty."

Tali was silent as Devon's words reverberated inside her mind. "Are you certain?" she said in a voice that was barley a whisper.

"I don't know," Devon replied honestly, "I need to run some tests to determine the soundness of the data, I might need to decode more DNA bases, I don't know, Rivers and I had to rush the research when the slavers attacked. I swear on Rivers's grave that I'll do everything in my power to finalize the data." As he spoke, he slammed his fist into his palm in anger.

"We're landing!" the pilot shouted from the cockpit. "I'm dropping you off at the main UNSC command post for the city; you said that you had a Tier 1 Asset that they would want to see, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Taylor shouted, "thanks for the ride."

The Pelican slowed as it came to a halt and the back door opened.

"I've got to get you to Colonel Mack Norman," Sarah said, looking at Devon. "He'll be able to make sure the data you have gets put to good use."

Devon nodded as his avatar disappeared into his chip. Sarah jumped out of the Pelican, Taylor and Tali right behind her. The Pelican took off as they exited, giving the trio a good look at the complex UNSC fortress in front of them.

"I've got to get Devon to Mack," Sarah said to Taylor, who nodded.

Sarah dashed forward, Devon in hand, and ran through the front entrance to the fortress.

"They'll probably want to talk to us about what happened," Taylor said as he began to walk towards the fortress.

After taking a few steps, he realized that Tali he did not hear any footsteps from Tali. Craning his neck, he saw that she had not moved from where she stood.

"You coming?" Taylor asked as he began to walk back towards her.

As he neared he noticed that her entire body was tense and she was staring at the ground.

"Hey, are you all right?" Taylor asked, his voice softening.

"He...he said that he would do everything that he could to make sure the data would be usable," Tali said, her voice cracking slightly. "Why?" she asked, looking at Taylor, her eyes sparkling with tears.

"He wants to make sure that Rivers's work doesn't go to waste," Taylor explained. "Devon and Rivers were probably very close; didn't you see the way he reacted to the news of his death?"

"Yes," Tali said her voice breaking, "but it doesn't make any sense, why would an A.I. care if an organic died?"

'Ah,' Taylor thought, 'I understand.'

"You know, Smart A.I.'s aren't like the Geth," Taylor said, putting a comforting hand on Tali's shoulder. "They have no ill will towards us."

Something Taylor said must have pushed Tali over the edge because tears were beginning to stream down her face. Not speaking a word, Taylor pulled Tali into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her. Tali began to sob softly.

"It's ok," Taylor whispered softly.

"No it's not," Tali said, her words were hard to understand through her sobs. "I've spent my whole life thinking that synthetics are nothing more than machines that want nothing more than to kill us all. But I just met an A.I. that wants to cure the very thing that has been holding our people back for centuries. My people won't acknowledge what he's done because of the hatred the Geth planted in them. The thing is, I think Devon knows that, and he's going to do it anyway and I... I... I don't know what to think," Tali said as she collapsed into hysterics, crying into Taylor's shoulder.

"You're torn between your hatred for the Geth and your gratitude towards Devon, aren't you?" Taylor asked. Tali nodded. "I suppose that it's only natural, a lot of people still hate the Sangheili for what they did to us. I'm not going to tell you what to think but just listen to me. I don't hate Sangheili, as a matter of fact if it wasn't for them I might not have been born, they saved my parents during the Second Contact War. Personally, I think the hatred towards them is misguided and pointless, they were misled, they are genuinely sorry for what they did, and they don't hate us for the millions we killed during the war."

"The way I see it, the relationship between Quarians and Geth isn't that different from the relationship between Humans and Sangheili. The Geth did kill countless Quarians, but let me ask you something, why have they hid behind the veil for so long? They've had plenty of time to build up an invasion force, but they haven't. Personally, I think they just want to be left alone and they only did what they did because your people struck first." There was no harshness in Taylor's voice, only gentle explaining. "Feel better?" he said as he let go of Tali.

"A little," Tali sniffed as she straightened herself out. "This is a little overwhelming."

"I can understand why," Taylor said, "if I were you I'd sleep on this one."

"Thanks," Tali said softly, smiling softly, "I'll do that."

Taylor smiled as a whirring noise filled his ears. Looking upwards he saw a Falcon descending towards their position. Jane jumped out of the Falcon, landing on the ground as the aircraft ascended and flew away.

"How are you two doing?" Jane asked as she dusted herself off.

"Alright," Taylor replied, "did you do it?"

"Yeah," Jane said, "Rivers's body is being transported to a morgue, he'll be buried in a memorial cemetery along with everyone else that was killed today. Problem with that is too many people did die today, a couple thousand people, Humans and Quarians. I've got good news though, the slaver forces were eliminated, the air force pounded them into submission. The strange thing is they didn't even try to surrender, they just let themselves get bombed to Hell, it's weird."

"Maybe they thought you would show up if they survived," Taylor suggested.

Jane laughed "Well there's a thought, but compliments aside we've got a bigger problem to deal with."

"What do you mean?" Tali asked.

"UNSC computer technicians got into some of the slaver's freighters and pulled what they could from the computers," Jane said, "what they found is deeply disturbing. This wasn't just a bunch of criminals making a random raid; they were paid to attack Sanctuary by the Batarian Hegemony."

"What?" Taylor shouted, "Are they trying to start a war? Why the Hell would they do something like that?"

"From what they could get the computers, the Hegemony is still angry about what we did to Elysium," Jane explained. "Apparently it was a very valuable planet and this was the Batarian's way of getting back at us. They must have hit Sanctuary because it's the smallest UNSC colony and as a result has a smallest military force."

"That's absurd!" Tali said angrily "What did they accomplish today? All that succeeded in doing was killing soldiers and getting their own forces wiped out?"

"I don't know," Jane said honestly "Maybe that's all they wanted to do, kill UNSC personal, it's obvious that they hired criminals to lead the attack so that they wouldn't be incriminated. Most likely they didn't expect for us to discover that they were behind this whole deal."

"So... we're going to war?" Taylor said uncertainly.

"We might," Jane said honestly, "the brass isn't going to take this well. This isn't the Second Contact War, this isn't a misunderstanding, this was a deliberate and intentional act of war." Jane let out a sigh, "Look, don't worry about this, we've all been through a lot today, we should probably take it easy."

"Does Mack know about this?" Taylor asked.

"The computer techs might have contacted him, but I came here to make sure he knows," Jane answered. "I'm not looking forward to what comes from this, oh well, might as well get it over with." She began to walk towards the fortress, "You two coming with me?" she asked, looking back at Taylor and Tali.

Taylor glanced at Tali, who gave him a small nod. "Might as well," he said as they began to walk after Jane. "Oh boy, this is going to be one Hell of a roller coaster ride," Taylor muttered.

Author's Note: Well I hopped that you enjoyed that little piece of exposition/back-story. I hope that you found Rivers to be an interesting character and that the characters act in a believable manner, mainly Tali's reaction to Devon. Well, as always, please tell me what you think.


	14. Retaliation

Chapter 14

Retaliation

Author's Note: Well, the last chapter got good feedback, that's always good news. By the way some of you are probably wondering what Shepard's back-story is, well she's a ?/War Hero /?...Yeah I ain't telling. I have a feeling some of you are wondering how the RSN will react to their ally being deliberately attacked. To that I have one thing to say MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Trust me, you'll understand by the end of the chapter.

"Arbiter, is this information accurate?" Isonia asked, speaking into the RSN Battle-Net.

She was sitting on the bridge on her new ship, the super carrier _Righteous Justice_, speaking to Thel 'Vadam through her COM unit.

"_It is Fleetmistress,_" Thel said calmly, "_three days ago, the UNSC was attacked by the Batarian Hegemony and thousands of soldiers perished. That is why I ordered your fleet to take this course of actions._"

"I understand," Isonia said "Are we to take any prisoners?"

"_Only the commander of all forces on the planet,_" Thel replied. "_It appears that he was the one who paid the criminals that attacked Sanctuary. He will be tried and most likely publicly executed. Kill all of the others with whatever method you deem fit._"

"Does the RSN Council know about this?" Isonia asked "If they disapprove of this, as unlikely as that may be, they may strip you of your honor."

Thel 'Vadam held the position of Arbiter which, in the RSN, was the commander in chief of all military forces. His word was final, if he gave an order to any RSN soldier or any other member of the military; they were compelled to obey him. Only the RSN Council, comprised of representatives from all RSN species, could override his orders or punish him for abusing his powers.

"_I appreciate your concern Fleetmistress but you need not worry, the Council personally requested that I give this order,_" Thel said. "_Now Fleetmistress, show the Batarians what happens when they attack our ally_.

"Understood," Isonia said as the connection was severed. "Very well," she said, glancing towards the helmsmen, "How long until we arrive at Iteni II?"

"Seven minutes Fleetmistress," one of the Helmsmen replied. "What are our orders for when we arrive?"

"An excellent question, one the entire fleet should hear the answer to," Isonia answered as she put her hand to her COM unit. "This is Fleetmistress Isonia 'Cirate, we have been given orders from the Arbiter himself to attack the Batarian military planet Iteni II and capture the planet's commander. First we shall obliterate all Batarian warships in orbit of the planet; afterwards we will determine the location of the commander of the planet's forces and deploy Spec Op teams and Rangers to capture him. Afterwards we will retrieve him and cleanse the planet and ensure that the planet is never defiled by these dishonorable whelps again. May Staliu guide us all."

Isonia lowered her hand, her mandibles gritted. "As soon as we drop out of slipspace target the forward most warships and obliterate them. Target the middlemost warships, divide the hostile forces and sow confusion among them. Afterwards the rest of the fleet will descend upon them and wipe them from existence."

"Yes Fleetmistress," the Helmsmen said.

Iteni II was one of the Batarian Hegemony's smaller military colonies with a population of 2 million. It was a moderately developed colony that was a major producer of Hegemony firearms, body armor and held significant strategic value. It was deep within Hegemony territory and was not considered to be a likely target; as a result its defensive fleet was rather small, numbering around thirty ships.

As of today, it was also a target for the Republic of Sovereign Nations. The RSN was furious about the raid on the Sanctuary, and the Arbiter had deemed that the planet was to be attacked in retaliation for the Batarian's attack on the UNSC.

XXXXX

The thirty Hegemony warships assigned to Iteni II were in orbit of the planet in standard formation, guarding the planet. They were ready to defend the planet from whatever threat that could possibly present itself. At least, that's what they thought.

Slipspace ruptures tore open in front of the Batarian forces, and a RSN fleet of 60 ships exited, the_ Righteous Justice _at the head of the fleet. A barrage of plasma torpedoes flew from the _Righteous Justice_, slamming into the forward most Batarian ships, destroying seven of them, dividing the fleet firmly down the middle. The rest of the RSN fired on the surviving ships with plasma torpedoes and pulse lasers.

The Batarians were simply outnumbered and outgunned, they never stood a chance, the barrage of plasma and focused light completely obliterated the Batarian fleet, their kinetic barriers nearly useless against the RSN's weaponry. Due to the unique nature of RSN plasma torpedoes, the kinetic barriers only blunted part of the torpedo, partially protecting the ship from the concentrated plasma, but the hulls of the ships were still heavily damaged by the heat and radiation of the plasma. This proved to be the undoing of the Hegemony fleet, as the strain to the hull that the barrage of torpedoes caused proved to be too much.

Had the Batarians had time to return fire, they may have caused significant damage to the RSN fleet, but the RSN had attacked and obliterated them before they had even had a chance to return fire. This had been the intention of the RSN, to arrive with a force that outmatched the Batarians so heavily and that would strike so fast and hard that the Hegemony didn't even stand a ghost of a chance of winning, and it had succeeded.

The RSN fleet moved towards Iteni II, establishing orbit high above the planet's surface. There was a pause as the RSN ships hacked into the Hegemony's communications and traced them to discover the location of the planet's main Head Quarters, and, as an indirect result, the location of the planet's top commander. After a few minutes of silence, several OIP's were deployed from bottom the _Righteous Justice_. They were bound for the surface of the planet, heading towards the location of the enemy HQ.

XXXXX

Iasa 'Cirate, a Sangheili Spec Op sniper and daughter of Isonia 'Cirate, grit her mandibles as her OIP pod slammed into the ground of Iteni II. Iasa gripped her beam rifle as the door to the pod slid opened and sunlight flooded into the cramped interior of the pod. Iasa stepped out of the pod and saw more OIP's landing nearby, Rangers and more Spec Op Minors stepping out.

"_All ground forces,_" a Sangheili Spec Op Officer said over the Battle-Net, "_All Rangers move in on the Hegemony base, harass and strafe the sentries. While the guards are dealing with the Rangers, all Spec Op forces take up offensive positions, cloak and wait for my signal to attack. You have your orders, move out._"

Iasa glanced down the scope of her rifle and saw the main Hegemony base in the distance. Flipping a panel on her wrist open, and pressed a series of buttons, causing her active camouflage to activate. Holding her rifle tightly, Iasa began to sprint towards the base, stopping at a small hill, dropping to a prone position as she reached it.

The Batarian base was a decent sized building, with a handful of soldiers patrolling a series of catwalks. Several other buildings were nearby, acting as extensions to the main base.

Iasa lined up a shot with a soldier standing on the upper catwalks who was firing his assault rifle at a Ranger who was using his anti-gravity pack to glide over the base with a dozen other Rangers, all of them spraying plasma at the Hegemony soldiers.

"_Hold position,_" the Spec Op Officer said, "_hold position._"

Iasa snarled impatiently as she continued to watch the Rangers assault the base. Through the corner of the scope, Iasa spotted the shimmering outlines of several Spec Op Minors creeping towards the base, a couple were actually scaling the side of the building, climbing onto the catwalks, but still waiting to attack.

"_STRIKE!_" the Spec Op Officer roared over the Battle-Net.

Iasa's finger slammed down on the trigger to her rifle, and a jet of silvery plasma flew from the rifle and pierced the head of the sentry that she had targeted. She quickly jerked her rifle to the right, firing another shot that pierced the lung of another Batarian, causing the wounded soldier to be blown off of the catwalk, hitting the ground with a muffled crunch.

While Iasa was sniping the Hegemony soldiers, the Spec Op Minors decloaked, swinging freshly activated energy swords at the Batarian soldiers, their screams piercing the sky as their limbs were severed from their bodies and concentrated staves of energy were thrust through their chests.

The Batarians were now thoroughly confused, with the Rangers striking them from above and the Spec Op Minors striking at them from all sides. Iasa smiled slightly as she lined up another shot and pierced another Batarian's skull. The sentries were quickly falling under the strain of the RSN's assault; most of them were already dead or had retreated into the base. Iasa lined up a fourth shot and fired three shots into a Batarian's chest. He fell to the floor of the catwalk and did not rise again.

"_All of the outer sentries have been eliminated,_" the Officer said over the Battle-Net, "_all forces regroup in front of the base. Phantoms will deploy soldiers that will attack and search the other bases for the commander, as it is not clear in which one he resides in. We will search the base for the commander; kill all that stand in your way._"

Iasa got to her feet and made her way to where the rest of the RSN soldiers were gathering numbering at around three dozen. Iasa couldn't help but feel slightly puzzled as she came to a halt in front of the entrance to the Batarian HQ, which was little more that a thick metal barrier.

"Why do we hesitate?" she asked a Ranger who was standing nearby, clutching a plasma repeater.

"I am not certain," the Ranger replied "There is strangeness surrounding the entrance, we cannot override the controls."

Indeed one of the Rangers was working at an opened panel next to the door, furiously cutting and crossing wires.

"It is of no use," the Ranger by the door said as he stood up "the controls were sabotaged, most likely to deny us entrance."

The Spec Op Officer clicked his mandibles as he approached the door, activating his energy sword. "Very well," he said, "Then we will force our way in. The Officer thrust his energy sword into the door and began to cut through it.

"Something feels wrong," the Ranger that stood by Iasa said.

"What do you mean?" Iasa asked, looking at the Ranger, whose worried face was partially visible through his visor.

"This is the most fortified and hardened fortress on this planet," the Ranger explained. "It seems... unnatural that we are forcing an entry so easily."

"You logic is sound," Iasa admitted. "But what could-"

Iasa words were cut short as, without warning, a blinding explosion from the other side of the barrier tore through the entrance and set every last Sangheili flying. Iasa hit the ground with a thud, her rifle flying out of her hand and her ears ringing from the sheer force of the explosion. Numbly, Iasa pushed herself to her feet, grabbing her rifle as she did so, although she was still disoriented.

"What happened?" she shouted, her voice faint and distant even though she was shouting at the top of her lungs.

"They must have set charges to the other side!" the Ranger replied, getting to his feet as well, his plasma repeater in his hands. "How many have passed on?"

Iasa and the Ranger glanced at the devastation that lay before them. Many Sangheili were bleeding badly, many were already dead and several were breathing their last breaths, while only a handful were getting back up. Two thirds of the force had clearly been eliminated.

There was a loud bang from the entrance, and the Sangheili whipped their heads around to see a squad of Hegemony soldiers firing from the entrance. One unfortunate Ranger whose shields had collapsed in the explosion was riddled with bullets, as were two Spec Op Minors.

Slapping her rifle onto her back, Iasa charged forward, activating a pair of energy swords as she ran. Descending upon the Batarians she swung both of her energy swords, causing one Batarian's arm and another's head to go flying. For good measure, Iasa delivered a powerful kick to the chest of the one armed Batarian, causing his ribs to shatter.

The remaining three Batarians aimed their weapons at Iasa, but before they could open fire, a barrage of plasma struck the forward most one from above, causing him to collapse in agony. The remaining two Batarians looked up to see the Ranger twenty feet above them, free falling towards them while firing his plasma repeater. Desperately, the two Batarians raised their rifles and fired at him, actually hitting him and causing his shields to collapse, but as they did so, the Ranger landed and swung his repeater at the nearest Batarian. There was a loud crack as the Batarian's neck was broken and he fell to the ground with his head at an odd angle.

The remaining Batarian fumbled with his rifle, as he tried to line up a shot with the Ranger in a panicked manner. With lighting fast reflexes, the Ranger took a plasma grenade from his hip, activated it and threw it at the Batarian, which stuck... to its face. The Batarian barely had any time to cry out before the grenade detonated, causing the Batarian's head to explode, resulting in bits of gray matter to land everywhere within a ten foot radius.

"That was... interesting," the Ranger remarked, looking at the dead Batarian. "I intended for it to stick to his chest."

"It matters little in the end," Iasa said as she deactivated her energy swords. "You demonstrated great fighting skills, what is your name?"

"Demas 'Mortam," the Ranger replied, "yours?"

"Iasa 'Cirate," Iasa replied, letting out a sigh as she looked around at the dead. "We are at a fraction at our former strength."

"It matters very little," Demas said "We must press on."

"True," Iasa said, as she scanned the horizon, seeing that Phantoms were landing and deploying RSN Lances to invade the other Batarian bases. "Still, it will be difficult."

"Perhaps there is a way to capture the enemy commander without drawing anymore hostile attention," one of the surviving Rangers suggested, as he staggered to the side of the base and slid into a sitting position, nursing a gash in his side.

"What do you suggest?" Iasa said, looking at the wounded Ranger.

"Half of the survivors are badly wounded; they will perish if they do not receive first aid. I suggest that most of the uninjured stay behind to tend to the wounded while a handful of us infiltrate the base," the Ranger elaborated. "Most likely a smaller team would be more difficult to pinpoint and would not attract as much attention as a larger team." The Ranger glanced from Demas to Iasa and back again. "Perhaps it would be for the best if just you two were to proceed."

Demas and Iasa glanced at each other. "What are you specialties?" Iasa asked, "I am a skilled sniper and swordswoman."

"I specialize at mid to close range quarter combat," Demas replied. "I am also skilled with a sword in addition to my repeater. If you use your blades while I use my repeater within the confines of the base, we should be able to handle any foe that opposes us."

"Very well," Iasa said as she activated her energy swords.

"Lead the way," Demas said. Iasa nodded as she calmly walked through the burning frame that had once been an entrance, Demas walking along beside her.

Author's Note: I have a feeling that some of you are going to complain that the battle between the Batarians and the RSN fleets was short and one sided. Let me tell you something right now, THAT WAS THE IDEA. The RSN outnumbered them, outgunned them, had more advanced technology, had the element of surprise, I'm sorry but that's how I believe that it would work. I know for a fact that I'm not going to make everyone happy while I'm writing this story, there's always going to be someone who gripes over some screw-up that I made (MACs are more powerful than that, railguns don't have recoil, you would die if you breathed in eezo, kinetic barriers do X, oh God SHUT UP! It gets really freaking annoying sometimes when people gripe over minor things like that.) Still, I try to make these chapters as enjoyable as possible, but there's just some people who will be a major pain in the ass, insulting this story every chapter not saying anything positive about it while saying that they're "interested" what a load. I'm not saying any names *Cough*Dusel*Cough* but all I ask is this, if you are going to review one of my stories, be fair about it, and do your best not to come off as an internet troll. Well I hope that you enjoyed it, as always, tell me what you think, BUT NO FREAKING FLAMING.


	15. Vengeance

Chapter 15

Vengence

Author's Note: Well a lot of people didn't seem to mind how one sided the space battle was, I'm glad. One thing I want to talk about though, people seem to have a minor issue with the length of my chapters. I find it a little strange because my chapters have always been this length, in fact the used to average 2,000 words per chapter, now they're around 3,000 for chapter. I just want to say that 3,000 words is more or less going to be the average length for my chapters. There may be some chapters that are longer than that, but that tends to be my average cut off point, Hell sometimes I actually cut off at that point on purpose, mostly to create a feeling of suspense. Ah well, here you go.

Alarms blared throughout the base as Iasa and Demas sprinted through it, weapons in hand. "Do you have any theories on the location of the control room?" Iasa asked, glancing at Demas.

"Most likely it will be towards the center of the base," Demas answered. "If I were to design I facility that is where I would place it, it is a very effective defensive position."

"The center it is," Iasa said.

The two of them took a sharp right turn and began to head deeper into the Batarian facility. A loud voice roared over the base's loudspeakers, traces of panic in his voice.

"Kill all of the intruders!" the voice shouted. "Prepare my personal shuttle for takeoff; load all of my belongings onto it."

"It sounds as if the commander truly is here," Iasa growled, "and apparently he is also a coward."

"Then he will be rewarded as a coward deserves to be rewarded," Demas snarled. "Hostiles!" he shouted, as three Batarians emerged from around a corner.

On spotting the two Sangheili, the Batarians raised their rifles and opened fire. His shields weakening under the fire, Demas fired his repeater, killing the rightmost Batarian. Iasa charged forward and swung both of her energy swords, slicing the remaining Batarians' rifles in half. Iasa then swung both of her swords horizontally and cut one of the Batarians in half while she kicked the other in the knee so hard his kneecap shattered, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. Iasa jumped on top of the Batarian's chest, and crossed both of her swords in front of his throat.

"WHERE IS YOUR COMMANDER?" Iasa roared.

The soldier said nothing, all four of his eyes filled with fear. "Speak," Demas said in a threatening voice, "If you do, you will be granted a quick painless death, if not Iasa will slowly take you apart until your tongue in loosened."

"I can't just-GAHHH!" the Batarian roared in pain as Iasa took one of her swords away from his neck and cut off one his hands.

"WHERE IS HE?" Iasa shouted in an ear splitting roar.

"Alright, alright," the Batarian said in a pained and desperate voice. "No more, no more, I'll tell you. He's not that far from here, all you need to do is go the way I came, he's in the control room on the right, you can't miss it. He could leave at any second."

Silently, Iasa swung both of her swords and beheaded the soldier.

"We must make haste!" Demas said, as he and Iasa sprinted down the hallway, towards the control room. "How do you intent to take the Hegemony commander alive?" Demas asked as he and Iasa continued to dash through the base.

"Threaten his life," Iasa answered, "if that fails, the commander does not need his feet."

"You certainly are very dedicated to your military position," Demas said, smiling slightly.

It was not an insult, if anything it was a compliment.

"Thousands are dead because of the orders given by this disgrace," Iasa said angrily, "if I was to completely dismember him; he still would not have been properly punished. This must be the location," Iasa said as she and Demas stopped in front of a sturdy blast door. "There could be more explosives," Iasa said, scanning the door with distrust in her eyes.

"Perhaps we could wait for them to come for us," Demas suggested. As if on cue, the main lock on the door slide open as the door began to slowly open. "To the side," Demas said silently as he pressed his back against the right doorframe, Iasa doing the same to the left.

"Leave it!" a voice shouted loudly from the other side. "You can simply purchase another one; it is too heavy to carry."

"She is like no other I have ever seen before," another voice said harshly as the door finished opening, revealing two Batarians talking.

One was wearing the same armor all the other Hegemony soldiers had worn, while the other's armor was adorned with countless medals and symbols, he was clearly the commander.

"I paid a fortune for her, a well spent fortune. She will leave this planet with us if you have to carry-"

The commander was cut off as Demas whipped around the corner and fired a barrage of plasma at the soldier, killing him almost instantly. The commander reached for a pistol at his side, but Demas quickly shot the weapon, sending it flying across the room.

"Are you the commander of this planet?" Iasa asked in a soft and dangerous voice as she and Demas walked into the control room."

"Yes," the Batarian growled. "I am Joiartu, a highly decorated Hegemony officer, and I will not allow myself to be taken prisoner so easily!" he shouted as he dove at the dead Batarian, grabbing for his assault rifle.

Before he had even established a firm grip around the handle, Demas descended on him and slammed the butt of his rifle into Joiartu's stomach, forcing all the breath out of his lungs and knocking him on his back.

"If you wish to leave this room with all of you body parts firmly attached to you," Demas threatened as he pointed his repeater at Joiartu's face, "I suggest that you cooperate."

Joiartu said nothing as Demas took one hand off of his rifle and grabbed Joiartu firmly by the throat. He was about to lift the officer off of his feet when a weak and pained sob reached his ears. Both he and Iasa glanced at the origin of the sound and saw another door at the opposite end of the control room.

"I will investigate," Iasa said as she made her way across the room, stopping in front of the door.

She was debating whether or not it was safe to open the door when the door automatically slid open, sensing her presence. Iasa walked into the room to see that it was a bedroom, a rather high class bedroom. Unlike the rest of the base, which had no decorations at all and was completely made out of metal, the bedroom was carpeted, painted and was filled with trinkets from countless species, including a collection of Salarian medals and a case of ancient Krogan armor.

Iasa heard the sob again and turned to face the origin. What she saw caused her stomach to clench in horror. Next to the king sized bed that resided at the end of the room, was a tiny locked cage. The cage was currently playing host to an Asari who was clearly too big for the cage, judging by the way she was being pressed up against the edges, barely able to move. Iasa felt a pang of nausea as she realized that the Asari was wearing shredded clothes that barely covered her privates, and her back was completely covered with lashes, some of them fresh.

"By Staliu," Iasa whispered.

The Asari heard her and jerked her tear stained face up to look at her.

"Please help," the Asari said weakly, "please, I'll do anything, just please get me out of here."

Iasa crossed the room in two strides and crouched down in front of the cage.

"Hold still," Iasa said in a comforting voice.

As she neared the cage Iasa deactivated one of her energy swords and placed it on her hip. Taking the other sword in both hands, Iasa began slowly cutting the lock to the cage with the uttermost delicacy, being careful not to accidentally harm the Asari. Iasa finished cutting through the lock and quickly opened the door to the cage, gently helping the Asari out.

"Thank you," the Asari said weakly as she crawled out of the cage, collapsing on the floor. "Whatever you want me to do just name it, what do you want, sex?"

"What is your name? Iasa asked, looking down at the Asari with a disbelieving expression.

"Falys," the Asari said weakly, "Please take me far away from here, I'm sure whatever you could possibly do to me would pale in comparison to being Joiartu's slave."

"Falys," Iasa said as she deactivated her remaining energy sword and placed it next to the other one, "can you walk?"

Falys attempted to stand up, only to collapse to the ground.

"He...he hasn't fed me in three days," Falys explained in a choked voice, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Very well," Iasa said, as she slipped her arms under Falys and picked her up bridal style. "Then I will carry you out."

"You plan to take me as your own slave?" Falys asked, too weak to resist Iasa's actions.

"No," Iasa said simply, as she began to walk towards the exit to the bedroom.

"Then what do you want from me?" Falys said in a confused voice as she lay in Iasa arms.

"Nothing," Iasa replied.

"Then why are you doing this?" Falys asked, hopelessly lost.

"Because if I were to leave you here, I would be deserving of a fate worse than death. I will take you to the RSN fleet so that you can recover from your injuries; afterwards you are free to go wherever you please."

"R-really?" Falys said in a disbelieving voice. Iasa nodded. Silently, Falys began to cry. "Thank you," Falys sobbed quietly. "Six months I've been his… I've… I've… THANK YOU!"

Iasa could not help but smile as she exited the bedroom and entered the control room, where Demas was holding Joiartu against the wall by his throat.

"Iasa, who is-by Staliu what has happened to her?"

"Joiartu, kept her as a slave," Iasa said, glaring at the commander.

"WHAT?" Demas roared. Demas stared at Falys and saw the terrible state that she was in. "YOU PIECE OF TRASH!" Demas roared as he threw Joiartu across the room, hitting the wall with a crunch. As Joiartu painfully attempted to get up, Demas crossed the room and grabbed him by the face. "Were it not for the fact that I have explicit orders to take you alive," Demas said as he lifted Joiartu off of the ground, "I would take great pleasure in giving you a slow painful death."

"Demas, let us leave this accursed place," Iasa said in a disgusted voice.

"Very well," Demas growled, as he pressed his hand to his COM unit. "This is Demas 'Mortam, we have the commander... and a freed prisoner."

XXXXX

Isonia tensed in her gravity chair as she spoke into the Battle-Net. "Please repeat that doctor," she said in a steely voice.

"This poor woman has gone through an enormous amount of suffering," the doctor said over the Battle-Net.

Demas and Iasa had returned to the Righteous Justice half an hour ago. Demas had thrown Joiartu in the brig while Iasa had taken Falys to the infirmary.

"She is showing signs of malnourishment, dehydration, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. I am giving her nutritional supplement and treating her gashes. She may suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder however, I respectfully request that she remain on the ship until I am able to fully evaluate her mental condition and issue therapy if required."

"I see no reason to deny you this request," Isonia said. "I must ask however, is the warrior who brought this Asari onboard still present in the infirmary?"

"Yes she is Fleetmistress," the doctor said, "do you wish to speak to speak to her?"

"Yes I would," Isonia said, "pardon me, doctor."

"Of course Fleetmistress," the doctor said as he disconnected himself from the Battle-Net.

"Trooper," Isonia said as she connected herself to Iasa's COM unit, "is it true that you rescued an Asari slave that was being held by the Batarians?"

"Yes Fleetmistress," Iasa replied.

"Your mission was to capture the Batarian commander, not to rescue his prisoners. How do you justify your actions?" Isonia asked sharply.

"With all due respect Fleetmistress, after seeing the conditions in which the slave was kept, I would sooner have ripped out both of my hearts and eaten them then leave her behind," Iasa replied. "In no way did my actions jeopardize my mission; the Batarian commander was already incapacitated before I made any move to free the slave."

Iasa could not see the smile that broke across Isonia's face.

"Every day I am proud to call you my daughter, today is no different," she said, her voice softening.

"Thank you mother," Iasa said, her voice relaxing.

"Just answer me this one thing Iasa," Isonia said. "Humans believe in a concept known as the damsel in distress. Did you rescue that Asari in the hopes that she would follow said concept and become your mate?" she asked teasingly.

"MOTHER!" Iasa shouted over the Battle-Net as Isonia roared with laughter.

"Now, now Iasa," Isonia said "I am merely teasing. You have done well today. Get some rest, you have earned it."

"With all due respect mother, Falys has requested for me to keep her company while she recovers," Iasa said.

"Are you certain she is not interested in mating with you?" Isonia teased.

"I will speak with you later mother," Iasa said she disconnected herself from the Battle-Net, Isonia chuckling as she did so.

As her laughter subsided, Isonia's face straightened as she switched her frequency on the Battle-Net.

"Arbiter, the deed is done, we have captured the commander of Iteni II."

"Good," Thel replied, "did you suffer any causalities?"

"Unfortunately we lost several hundred soldiers in the storming of the main control center and the surrounding area," Isonia replied.

"Unfortunate, but unavoidable," Thel said. "You have done well Fleetmistress, carry out the rest of your mission, then return to Sangheilos so that the scum can be put on trial. I am making my preparations to depart for the Citadel as we speak, this will undoubtedly cause turmoil within our relationship with the Council. Nonetheless the Hegemony deserves all of the wrath they will receive today. Do what must be done Isonia."

Isonia lowered her hand as the connection went dead.

"I will take great pleasure in doing this," Isonia muttered. "Move the fleet into low orbit," Isonia ordered, and the various Helmsmen stationed on the bridge moved to carry out her orders. "Are there any more non-Batarian life forms on the planet?" Isonia asked.

"No Fleetmistress," one of the Helmsmen said, "all RSN forces have withdrawn from the planet's surface and scans detect all intelligent life that remains on the planet is indeed Batarian."

"Good," Isonia said as she reached for her COM unit yet again. "This is Fleetmistress Isonia 'Cirate to all RSN ships. I imagine some of you are morally conflicted about what we are about to do, which is very understandable. Know this however; the Batarians are not like other species. Their government is oppressive and tyrannical, keeping the average citizen trapped within the confines of their inner territories and blind to the happenings of the rest of the galaxy. As a result, most likely every Batarian that you will ever meet in your life will either be a criminal, a slaver, or a fanatical soldier, dedicated to the Hegemony and no one else. The soldiers who populate this planet are dishonorable children of bastards that would gladly carry out the genocide of millions of civilians if ordered to. They are guilty of countless crimes, they are the spillers of innocent blood, they are cowards, unable to fight their opponents themselves, preferring hired muscle to fight for them."

"Fleetmistress, all ships are in position," the Helmsman said.

"They are willing supporters of a government that enslaves countless of individuals and attack their so called allies. They are as morally bankrupt as the criminals that attacked the UNSC. They wave a false flag of peace and friendship while they sharpen a knife of treachery behind their back. Today, we punish them for their sins. All ships under my command, execute 'The Stab'."

As Isonia's words reverberated in the ears of the various Shipmasters and Shipmistress the commanded the various ships above Iteni II, they began to relay commands to their crews. The underbellies of the ships began to glow bright blue as energy began to build up. With a blinding flash and a deafening roar, the energy projectors on all of the ships fired, devastating the planet's surface, wiping all life from existence, evaporating the oceans, destroying the atmosphere and reducing the surface to a glass-like crystal. Isonia's fleet repeated this process to the entire planet, until the planet was nothing more than a lifeless sphere of mass, a shadowy husk of what it had once been.

Author's Note: Well some people wanted to see a planet glassed, so I decided to indulge you bloodthirsty little bastards. Also, I want to say this because a couple of people had a little bit of a problem with this is fighting for a purpose. There is a term known as minor characters, as in the character as a very small and sometimes unimportant roll within the story. Just because a person has a name in this story doesn't mean that they're important, it doesn't even mean that they'll appear in more than one scene. Just keep that in mind, some names characters will have big roles, and some will barely do anything. Oh, by the way, for obvious reasons I won't be including all of the ME companions, I'll fit in what I can but if I make the main cast too big it'll be too tricky to work with. I know for a fact I am going to catch some flame for this but I'll trudge through it. Well I hope you enjoyed it, please tell me what you think.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention, I have opened a poll on my profile, go now and vote for your favorite Fighting for a Purpose/Mass Effect New Origins OC.


	16. Tension

Chapter 16

Tension

Author's Note: Well I'm glad that most of you liked the last chapter. Also an update on the leaders of the most popular character polls, so far it's 1st Vadmare 'Katar, 2nd Jane Shepard, 3rd Ramore 'Altre, 4th Iasa 'Cirate 5th is Jen-271. Remember to stop by and vote. Also I cleaned up the last chapter a little bit. Well, here we go.

Two weeks later

Falys adjusted herself on the infirmary bed that she was lying on, scratching the bandages that now covered her. "Don't do that," a voice said, and Falys turned to see Iasa walked towards her, "you'll open your wounds again."

"I know," Falys sighed, letting her arms fall, "these things are so damn irritating though."

"How is your recovery progressing?" Iasa asked, as she sat down next to Falys. Grabbing her Spec Op helmet with both hands, she took if off and placed it on the bedside table next to Falys' bed.

"Pretty well," Falys said, smiling slightly. "Your doctor is a very good therapist. The nightmares are starting to become less frequent and I'm starting to feel much happier. He says I still have a ways to go though. I just wish that these gashes would heal faster," she said, rubbing her bandages, "they're unbearably annoying."

"If we could have we would have given you stem cell grafts," Iasa said, "unfortunately we don't have any Asari stem cells on board, just RSN and Human stem cells."

"I understand," Falys said, relaxing into her bed. "I'm just grateful to be out of that Hellhole.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you come to be there?" Iasa asked. "You don't have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable," the added, noticing that Falys had begun to twiddle her fingers in discomfort.

"No, the doctor said that it would be healthy for me to talk about what happened to me," Falys said in a small voice. "Have you ever heard of the mercenary group Eclipse?"

"A little," Iasa replied, "It is one of the three major mercenary groups in the Terminus Systems, correct?"

"Yeah," Falys said. "I used to be a member. I suppose I was just like half of the other members, an overenthusiastic Maiden that wanted to prove herself. Some Volus wanted a little extra muscle on one of his freighters that was shipping Red Sand, so he hired me and half a dozen other mercs in case any pirates decided to raid the ship. Unfortunately, they did, big group of Batarian pirates ambushed us just outside the Mass Relay. They took out the ships engines and flooded the ship with some sort of knockout gas. When I came to, I was in the middle of a slave auction, my armor and weapons were gone my hands were cuffed behind my back and I was half naked. Not to mention I had that little thing implanted in my head," she said, gesturing to a small metal object that was lying on a bedside table.

The object was a cranial implant, specifically designed to repress biotics. It had been removed by the doctor through a rather simple operation, and Falys' biotic abilities were slowly returning to her. "Joiartu...bought me," Falys continued, sounding as if she was forcing something out of her throat while saying the word "bought". "He paid half a million credits for me and then he brought me to...where you found me. He...oh Goddess,"

"Perhaps you should stop," Iasa suggested, looking at Falys with worry.

"No, I want to tell you," Falys said. "He...used me to satisfy his fantasies," Falys said, her voice cracking slightly. "I thought that my life was over, I was only 150 and I thought that my life was over." Falys ducked her head and began to weep silently.

"There, there," Iasa said, gently reaching one arm around Falys and hugging her. "You're free now, he can't hurt you anymore." Falys attempted to wrap her arms around Iasa, but failed to completely do so, due to Iasa's large mass. After a few seconds, Iasa release Falys, who relaxed into her bed. "Are you feeling better now?"

"A little," Falys said, giving a watery smile.

At that particular moment the door to the infirmary opened and Demas entered, holding a datapad. "Iasa, Falys," he said, stopping next to them and holding out the datapad "You will want to see this." Falys took the datapad and looked at it, Demas and Iasa watching from the side.

The datapad was showing live footage of a raving crowd of Sangheili surrounding a raised platform. Joiartu was kneeling on the platform, his hands chained to the ground, and a Major Domo with a active energy sword stood beside him.

"This Batarian peace of trash!" the Major Domo announced to the crowd, "Has been judged, tried, and found guilty of the crimes of active aggression against the United Nations Space Command, the deaths of thousands, the attempted kidnapping of tens of thousands, and the inhuman treatment and possession of another intelligent being! His punishment for these crimes! Death!" With one swift, fluid moment, the Major Domo swung his sword, severing Joiartu's head from the rest of his body. As the severed head hit the ground, the crowd roared in approval.

Her hands shaking, Falys lay the datapad down on the bedside table. "He's gone," Falys whispered, "he's really gone."

"Yes," Iasa said, putting a comforting hand on Falys' shoulder, "he is."

XXXXX

"All right give me the 411," Richards said as he straightened his tie and walked along side two ONI agents, heading towards the Presidium. The ONI agents were wearing suits and ties similar to Richards, only major difference in their clothing was the sunglasses that the ONI agents were wearing.

"The RSN launched and all out assault on the Batarian Hegemony planet Iteni II," one of the ONI agents replied. "The Hegemony fleet was completely obliterated, and the RSN launched a ground assault on the planet and captured the main commander. After capturing the commander, the RSN withdrew their ground forces and glassed the planet."

"I know that," Richards snapped, "what's the general reaction?"

"The majority of the UNSC and RSN is in favor of this assault," the ONI agent said, "mainly due to the attack on Sanctuary. The Council on the other hand is deeply divided. Up until now the Batarians were a problem that they tended to ignore despite the fact they have made several moves of aggression towards them. On the justification that open warfare would be more devastating than the acts of violence that the Batarians commit, the Council tend not to retaliate. Because of this some of the Council is actually in favor of the RSN attack on the Batarians, while others are absolutely furious."

"Oh joy," Richards said in a sarcastic voice. "Whose waiting for us?"

"The Council, the Arbiter, the RSN ambassador and Fieldmaster Ramos 'Mortam, the UNSC ambassador David Anderson and a representative from the Hegemony."

"Great," Richards said as he ascended the the ramp to the Presidium, where the others were waiting.

"What's the situation on Sanctuary?" Richards asked, glancing at one of the ONI agents, "and what's the progress on the data Professor Rivers unearthed."

"Reconstruction on Sanctuary has began, but estimations suggest that it will take six months to complete. As for Rivers data, scientists have written up prototype augmentations but have yet to test it on an actually Quarian. They are hesitant to do so out of fear that the recipient will be killed. However one Quarian has volunteered to receive the augmentation, a young girl named Tali has stepped forward saying that she had to go through with it, and something about doing her part."

"God bless her soul," Richards said as they reached the top of the Presidium. "As soon as we're done here I want to head to Sanctuary as soon as possible, I should have gone there as soon as the attack was over but I had to put fires out all over the place."

"Understood," the ONI agent said as they came to a stop.

"President Richards," Tevos said respectfully, "I am glad that you could join us, we were waiting for you."

"Yes," Valern snarled, glaring at Thel and Ramos, who was wearing the golden armor of a Fieldmaster. "We were."

"Enough of the pleasantries," Rthiau, the Batarian representative snapped. "My people have been wronged, I demand reparations!"

"Still your tongue," Thel snarled, staring at Rthiau with his arms folded.

"Please, please, let us be civil," said Naios, the new Salarian Councilor, Mesu having passed away three years ago due to liver failure. "We have not gathered here today to be at each other's throats."

"Naios is correct," Tevos said, "We are here to smooth over the tensions that have sprouted between the UNSC, RSN and Batarian Hegemony."

"Tensions!" Rthiau shouted, "Tensions? Two million Batarians are dead and you pass them off as minor tensions!"

"Please be calm," Tevos said, desperately trying to keep the situation under control. "We will do our best to make to settle this fairly."

"I suggest that we get straight to the point," Valern said in an angry yet controlled voice. His pride had gotten the best of him during the negotiations after the Second Contact War, but he was older and wiser now, and would not let his emotions get the better of him again. "Why did you launch an assault on Iteni II, surely you must realize that that is an act of war."

"It is very simple," Ramos said in a voice that was so calm and mystical that it was almost hypnotic. "The UNSC is our ally, and per the terms of our alliance, should the either one of us be attacked by a third party, the other will come to aid. We received evidence that the slaver raid on Sanctuary was funded by the Batarian Hegemony, and we reacted the way any reasonable faction would react to an act of war, we retaliated."

"Was such an extreme means of retaliation truly necessary, even if the Batarians were truly behind the attack?" Valern asked skeptically.

"Yes," Thel said simply, causing heads to crane in his direction. "We swore an oath to come to the aid of Humanity, and we have no intention of ever breaking it."

"I thank you for your dedication Arbiter," Richards said, nodding his head.

"As do I," Anderson said, mimicking Richards' movements.

"Yes, you would thank him for what they have done!" Rthiau shouted. "My species has been on the receiving end of genocide yet you are content to sit, watch and do nothing else!" he roared, turning to face the Council.

"You blame the Council for not protecting you despite the fact you provoked a major galactic power?" Ramos asked, cocking his head slightly.

"You have no concrete evidence that the Hegemony was responsible for any aggression against the UNSC, any evidence that you have could have easily been forged by one of your accursed A.I.s."

"Of course," Ramos said, "we could have easily have forged the transaction that recorded the Hegemony paid the slavers. After all why would the Hegemony attack the UNSC when they have a very healthy relationship with them. The Hegemony is also very understanding of the UNSC, take when the UNSC bombarded Elysium for example." Something flashed across Rthiau's face, but it was gone in a second.

"Elysium was a rare jewel, a planet rich with natural resources. It would have been a massive boon to the Hegemony's economy, yet it was devastated when the UNSC fired MAC rounds at it, reducing it to an uninhabitable rock." One of Rthiau's eyes twitched and his hands curled into fists. "Yet the Hegemony was very understanding, and even established trade routes with the UNSC, which no doubt proved to be even more economically beneficial than Elysium could ever-"

"SILENCE!" Rthiau roared. "I can not stand to hear one more smug word from your ugly mug. You stand there talking to me as if I am your best friend, I am not. The measly trade we did with the UNSC was pitiful, barley impacting the economy at all, it was nothing more than a cheap trinket in a desperate attempt to make us forget about Elysium. Elysium was a planet beyond worth, it was to be the next frontier of the Hegemony, but it was devastated by the UNSC, which is why we ordered that assault and-" a look of horror crossed Rthiau's face and he closed his mouth, but it was too late.

A grin spread across Ramos' face. "I did not become a Fieldmaster for nothing," he said slyly, "it is a position that requires me to be an expert on strategy." A barely visible smile slid across Anderson's face as Ramos spoke.

"Fine," Rthiau said, turning to face the Council, "Even if the Hegemony was behind the raid, where we truly deserving of the devastation of one of our most prospering planets? What is more, the RSN used weapons that we did not even known existed to do so, I can not help but wonder if they have any more weapons of mass destruction that they are not telling us about. I also can not help but question why they were so content to destroy Elysium, did they believe that it would be enjoyable?"

"We have very good reasons for the orbital bombardment on Elysium," Anderson said stiffly, "but said reasons are UNSC secrets of the highest degree."

"Well, isn't that fortunate," Rthiau sneered, "you say you have a good reason, yet you refuse to tell us."

"Rthiau," Tevos said, "after, the Elysium incident, we released a public statement that the UNSC truly did have good intentions while bombarding that planet. They have informed us why, and we agree that it should be classified, you know this."

"Yes, I understand that you are playing favorites," Rthiau retorted. "It would be just like the Council to appeal to the UNSC and RSN, why wouldn't you want to be on good terms with two of the most powerful factions in the galaxy? If you wanted to you could defeat them in open combat, you may have less advanced ships but you have far superior reserves. It is unclear which one of you would win in prolonged war, but you don't even try to defeat them. Instead you try to avoid conflict with them, even at the cost of species who lack representatives. If it was the Salarians or the Turians who were attacked you would retaliate within seconds, but the RSN would never attack one of the higher Council races."

"If they had continued aggression towards us in the Second Contact War," Thel said in a calm dangerous voice, "we would have used our energy projectors on the Turians, albeit on military only targets. The fact that said war was truly a misunderstanding was the only reason that ceased all military movements against them."

"Exactly how is that supposed to ease tensions?" Valern asked, eyed Thel with distrust.

"At what point did I even imply that that was my purpose here?" Thel said. "I came here to issue a warning," he said, craning his neck to look at Naios. "We have no intentions of any further attack on Hegemony territory, what we did at Iteni II was a warning shot. However, if there are any further attacks on RSN or UNSC territory, we will devastate your kind so badly it will take you a thousand years to recover."

"You honestly expect me to stand here while you issue threats?" Rthiau asked angrily.

"Just so you know," Richards said, drawing Rthiau's attention, "had the RSN not beat us to the punch, we would have launched our own invasion. For years now we have been trying to earn the Quarians trust and progress has been slow. Only recently have we made any major leaps in building bridges. Your attack, nearly tore everything apart and caused the death of thousands, and it is obvious you intended to cause much more damage than you did. I'm a man that prefers to avoid war if possible, but I can't take this sitting down. Therefor, I stand by the Arbiter, if you launch another attack on either of us, we will do whatever it takes to prevent you from doing so again."

"That could easily trigger a war with the Terminus Systems," Valern snarled, "the Council could easily get dragged into this. What happens if we stand in between you in the Batarians."

"I pray that you will not do that," Richards said sadly. "I was elected President of the UEG to look out for Humanity, and recently the Quarians, not the Council and it's member species. If you do stand between us and the Batarians, I will have no choice than to request the senate to declare war on you."

"Valern," Tevos said sternly, "I highly doubt the Terminus Systems would declare war on the Council because the UNSC invaded their territory, most likely they would to preoccupied fighting them to even consider fighting us."

"That does not change the fact that the Batarians are a member of the Council, and as a result it is your duty to protect us when we are threatened!" Rthiau shouted.

"On the contrary," Naios said, "we currently owe you no such protection. It would be devastating for the Council to wage war against the UNSC and RSN, especially since victory is not certain. Since the Hegemony deliberately attacked the UNSC without the Council's knowledge or support, I see no reason to provide you with military support in any future conflict with them."

"Take my advice," Thel said in a menacing voice. "Do not attempt any further raids on our territory, if you do not heed my warning, the RSN will glass planets that are far more heavily populated and developed. You see, unlike the Council we do not view you as an ignorable problem, we see you as a threat. Do you know what we do to threats? We do not stand idly by while our colonies are attacked and our citizens are taken prisoner, no, we exterminate everything that posses a threat to our citizens, unlike some." While he was saying the last part of his sentence, he glanced at the Council. "So you are aware, the RSN found an Asari slave on Iteni II. She is currently recovering on one of our vessels, and when she have recovered physically and mentally, we will transport her wherever she pleases."

Tevos smiled slightly as she nodded her head in appreciation, "I thank you," she said gratefully.

"This is outrageous," Rthiau said angrily as he stepped away from the Presidium. "You refuse to stand against them? Fine. As of this day, the Batarian Hegemony is withdrawing it's Embassy from the Council, my people will no longer be a part of this collective of cowards." Without another word, the Batarian turned and walked away.

"Was that truly a wise move?" Valern asked, looking at his fellow Councilors. "I am not sure that it is a wise move to support the RSN's attack on Iteni II.

"And why is that?" Ramos asked.

"Because it could convince the rest of the Terminus Systems that we stand behind you, and as I said earlier, that could easily trigger a war."

"It is not our fault that you lack the will to stop the Batarians," Thel said, the faintest trace of anger in his voice. "Constantly they launch raids into your territory, taking countless as slaves and inflicting unspeakable horrors on them. I am willing to wager that because of your weakness and lack of will, hundreds of thousands if not millions are slaves to the Batarians and others. You have outlawed slavery, but laws do very little if you do not enforce them. It is because of this that we were forced to retaliate against the Batarians, because of your failure to keep them in line."

"The Council does not work that way," Valern said in a stiff angry voice. "It is impossible for the Council to completely control one specific species, if we were to attempt this the resulting turmoil could kill billions. Just try and view things from our position, we are trying to prevent our citizens from being slaughtered."

"That is what we are trying to do as well Councilor," Richards said, "we can't just let the Batarians sell our citizens, and we will do whatever it takes to stop them." Valern looked as if he wanted to shout down Richards but kept his tongue in check.

"I highly doubt prolonging this meeting with yield any further results," Tevos said, eyeing Valern nervously.

"I agree," Thel said as he began to walk away. "Fieldmaster," Thel said, and Ramos turned to face him. "I read the report about the attack on Iteni II. Your son did very well."

"Thank you Arbiter," Ramos said, bowing his head as Thel continued to walk.

"Anderson," Richards said, looking at the Admiral. "Hope you don't mind but I need to catch a flight to Sanctuary, I should have been there the day after the raid."

"I understand, good luck," Anderson said as Richards and his ONI agents began to head for the elevators that would take them too the docks.

Unbeknownst to anyone, a heavily scarred Turian was watched from the balcony. He let out a small snort of disgust, before he turned and left.

Author's Note: Well that chapter was a little lengthy, I hope that you enjoyed it. Next chapter will deal with Richards arriving at Sanctuary and how the raid affected relationships between the Quarians and the UNSC. I know what you're thinking, is it positive or negative, well you'll find out in the next chapter. As always, tell me what you think.


	17. Cure

Chapter 17

Cure

Author's Note: Just so you know, the UNSC and RSN are not at war with the Hegemony or the Terminus Systems. They are on the verge however, and one more attack from the Batarians will cause them to go all out. Well, let's get cracking.

EDIT: Due to complaints, I have changed the specific details of the augmentation, namely how long it takes.

Three Days later

"Are you sure that you want to go through with this?" Within the depths of a UNSC laboratory was a cafeteria, which was empty except for Taylor and Tali, who were sitting on opposite sides of a table. Tali was currently waiting for the UNSC scientists to prepare the equipment for the genetic therapy and Taylor was keeping her company. The ODST had taken his helmet off and it was now resting on the table. "You don't have to do this you know. This is extremely dangerous, you could be crippled for life, or even die, the therapy is still experimental."

"I know," Tali sighed, as she slid her hood off, revealing her dark violet hair that extended all the way to her shoulders. "I'm willing to take that risk through. If is works, than the chains that have been holding my people back for so long will have been broken."

"You know someone else could be willing to do it," Taylor argued, "you're still pretty young, you've still got a full life ahead of you."

"I know," Tali said, annoyance shooting across her face.

"I'm just making sure you know what you're getting yourself into," Taylor explained, leaning back into his seat. "Call me crazy, but I've got this nagging feeling that you're doing this because you feel like you need to prove something." Taylor stared at Tali with a piercing gaze, causing her to shift uncomfortably in her seat. "You are, aren't you?" Taylor asked, in a slightly surprised voice.

"Taylor, ever since the raid, ideals that I've held near and dear since I was a child have been torn down. My whole life I've been prejudiced against A.I.s, and now I can't sleep properly because now I know all of that hatred could very well be pointless."

"Why are you beating yourself up over something you did that didn't cause any harm?" Taylor said, exasperation heavy on his face.

"Rivers worked his fingers to the bone for years trying to come up with data to help my people, and he paid for it with his life," Tali explained hotly. "Devon worked alongside him diligently doing the same. Rivers paid with his life to make sure that his research was completed, he could have run from that lab and the Batarians never would have gotten close to him. Instead he stayed and continued to work, and Devon lost one of his closest companions, I owe him this. Why are you adamant that I don't go through with this?" she asked sharply.

"I don't want to see you to die because of some irrational impulse alright?" Taylor snapped back. Tali blinked in surprise. "Sorry," Taylor said honestly, "I didn't mean to shout."

"It's all right," Tali said, "but...why do you care about me?"

"Because we're friends," Taylor said dryly in a voice that just screamed "duh".

"We are?" Tali asked in a surprised voice.

"You really thought I worked alongside you when we were helping the volunteers rebuild the perimeter because I hated you?" Taylor asked, smirking slightly.

"I suppose not, but...but why?" Tali asked.

"I don't know, I just like being around you," Taylor replied simply. "My guess is, is that you develop a special kind of friendship with people when you fight alongside them for your life. You mean to tell me that you were bored the entire time we were nearby each other?"

"No," Tali said, clearly flustered. "I just...the thought never occurred to me all right?"

"All right," Taylor said, still smiling, "still do yourself a favor and don't take this decision lightly. "You've got a family that loves you, Hell I ran into your mother before I made my way over here. You do know that she's worried sick about you right?"

Tali wrung her hands nervously. "I haven't actually seen her in a couple of days, so much has been going on. Wait how did you know who my mother was?"

"Poor choice of words," Taylor remedied. "When I said ran into her, it was more like she hunted me down and asked were you were, must have learned that I was part of the team that went to help Rivers somehow. I get a feeling the only reason she isn't in her right now is that this is a military only building with an exception being made just for you. She also told me to tell you that she would like to spend some time with you after this whole thing is over. She also said that she's very proud of you for what your doing, that she's always been proud of you."

Tali smiled warmly as Taylor spoke. "Mother may blend into the background sometimes, but whenever I'm feeling lost or sad, she's always there for me."

"Pardon me," a voice said. Tali and Taylor turned to see an ONI agent wearing a suit, tie and sunglasses standing at the entrance to the cafeteria. "Miss 'Zorah, it's ready. Would you like to wait a few minutes or-"

"No," Tali said, resisting the urge to swallow her own tongue as she stood up, "I'm ready Mr...?"

"Morgan," the ONI agent replied, "Issac Morgan. Would you like your friend to come along too?" he asked, looking at Taylor. "If you need the emotional support, he'll be able to be there without any problems."

"That would be nice," Tali said softly, looking at Taylor with a questioning look. Taylor nodded as he grabbed his helmet and slipped it over his head, standing up as he did.

"Right this way Miss 'Zorah," Issac said as he exited the room, Tali and Taylor following him. "From what the scientists explained to me, if the procedure goes according to plain it should be relatively quick and painless, so with any luck we'll be done before you even know it. I'm here for a little extra security, I doubt that we'll need it though, just following procedure."

As they reached the end of the hallway that they were walking down, they entered a small room that was empty except for a single table with a terminal placed on it and surgical bed. "Just rest on the bed," Issac said, gesturing towards the bed. Tali nodded as she slid onto the bed, placing her head on the rest.

"So how is this going to work?" Tali asked, "and isn't there supposed to be a scientist here?"

"That would be me," a voice said as a hologram of Devon's avatar was projected from the terminal. "Nice to see you again Tali, you too Taylor."

"Devon, what are you doing here?" Tali asked, looking surprised.

"Well, who better to give you the genetic therapy than the guy who was one of the main researchers who designed it?" Devon asked, a small grin playing around his face.

"Fair enough," Tali said, smiling slightly.

"To answer your other question, a pair of needles with be injected into your lower neck, transferring the drugs that will alter your DNA into your body," Devon explained. "The process is rather quick and if it is successful, your DNA should be rewritten in a matter of minutes. You ready?"

Tali took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm fine, let's get this over with."

Devon nodded and a set of needles extended out of the headrest, puncturing holes in the back of Tali's neck, who let out a small grimace as they did so. The syringes that were attached to the needles began to empty and the drugs began to flow through Tali's bloodstream, beginning to alter her DNA.

Tali felt chills spreading through her body as an unnatural coldness came over her. She also felt the contents of her stomach beginning to churn and sweat trickling down her forehead. Without warning a sharp pain shot through her head, causing her hands to instinctively fly to her forehead, clutching it tightly.

"That should do it," Devon said as the needles retracted themselves. "Tali, how do you feel?" he asked in a concerned voice, "your temperature jumped up a couple of degrees." Tali attempted to get off of the bed, only to collapse to the ground when she attempted to put weight on her feet.

"Tali!" Taylor shouted in a worried voice as he helped the Quarian to her feet, "are you alright?"

"Just drained," Tali answered tiredly, as she leaned on Taylor for support "I think I might be coming down with a fever too."

"A pretty bad one at that," Devon added. "You're temperature is at 106.8, that's five degrees above what's natural for Quarians. This isn't unheard of when testing new types of gene therapy, but you should definitely get a couple of days worth of bed rest. When I say bed rest by the way, I mean you stay in bed the entire day, I don't want you soldiering this out, you could get yourself killed."

"Fine," Tali said reluctantly, "but the treatment, did it work?"

Devon didn't speak for a few seconds as he scanned the results of the therapy. As he did, a small smile broke across his face. "Yeah, it worked. The activity in your immune system is spiking, I'd say within a week you're immune system should be much more capable of fighting off unwanted bacteria and viruses."

"How strong will it be?" Tali asked.

"Well, you're bound to still get sick in your life," Devon answered. "On the whole though, you should be about as healthy as an average Human. You should probably get back to your home, and I've got to run some more scans on the data I got today."

"I thought you said that the treatment worked," Taylor said, "why do you need to run more tests?"

"Well, I don't want every Quarian that gets this to have the same reaction that Tali said," Devon explained. "I have to run scans on the sessions and figure out exactly why she reacted the way that she did. Afterwards I need to modify the treatment in order to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's not a big deal really, it should take me a week to get it all done."

"Well, that's good to hear," Tali said.

"By the way Tali," Devon said, "With the information I've got on the Quarian immune system, it's only a matter of time before I get the treatment for Levo-amino acids down. I say that you'll be back in here in about six months, don't want do get a violent allergic reaction because you ate the wrong food now do you?"

"I suppose not," Tali said, smirking slightly.

"Very well," Devon said, "Agent Morgan would you kindly escort these two home?" Issac nodded and gestured for Tali and Taylor to follow him. "It's been nice seeing you," Devon shouted as he closed the door behind him. "Oh boy, I've got a lot of work ahead of me," he said to no one in particular.

XXXXX

"So where to?" Issac asked as Taylor helped Tali into the backseat of a black sedan.

"My family lives on the northern side of the city," Tali said as Taylor say down next to her, "we live in an apartment complex overlooking a lake."

"I know the place," Issac said as he climbed into the drivers seat, turning the key in the ignition. As the car roared to life, Issac pressed down on the pedals and the car began to accelerate.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Tali asked, looking at the back of Issac's chair.

"What is it?" Issac asked, not taking his eyes off of the road.

"How exactly do ONI agents differ from the rest of the UNSC military?" Tali asked, curiosity covering her face.

"The answer to that is a little complicated," Issac said. "The UNSC has several types of armed forces, the four most common and widely used are Marines, ODSTs, ONI operatives and ONI agents. Marines are soldiers that are trained so that they can be used in as many situations as possible, as a result the skill set of a Marine tends to be rather average. They're the UNSC's frontline soldier, the backbone of the ground forces, and the most common infantry you'll ever see."

"ODSTs are a special branch of the Marines," Issac continued, "they manly operate as the UNSC's special forces. They're commonly recruited from seasoned Marines, because of this there's no such thing as an inexperienced ODST. They're commonly used in situations where it would be too intense for Marines to survive in. They're not very good for stealth operations, but when you drop in from high orbit, being quite is probably the last thing on your mind."

"Trust me it is," Taylor said dryly.

"Quite," Issac said, his smirk hidden by the back of his head. "Anyway, ONI operatives are usually used for short term stealth missions. They tend to dress in civilian clothing to blend into their environment, which is usually public. They mainly use the older SMG models, the main reason is that those can be silenced, unlike the up to date mass effect guns, and that's a virtue that they love. ONI operatives are usually sent in when we know where the target is and we want him to be taken care of quietly."

"Finally, you've people like me, ONI agents. We're like operatives in a lot of ways, but there's a couple of key differences. First of all, when we go undercover, we tend to do so for long term missions. This is usually to infiltrate criminal or terrorist organizations, where we tend to act as moles. When we're not doing that, we tend to act as security, mostly for VIPs. We prefer pistols over SMGs, but like operatives we prefer the older models with silencers. That answer your question?"

"I think so," Tali said, digesting the massive amount of information that Issac had just given her. The next fifteen minutes were comprised of idle smalltalk that varied from subject to subject, most of them trivial.

"All right, here we are," Issac said as he pulled into the parking lot of a ten story tall apartment complex. "You want me to wait for you, or should I take off?"

"I think I might stick around for a little while, so it might be for the best if you wait," Taylor said. "I walked to the lab and I didn't bring any money for a bus or cab."

"You could come in if you like to," Tali offered, "I think Mother bought some Levo based food in case she ever has company over."

"I really shouldn't," Issac said, "but I do have orders to escort you, so I might as well."

"All right," Tali said, "Taylor, a little help please?" Taylor nodded as Tali put one over his shoulders and leaned on him as he helped her out of the car. "Our apartment is the fifth on bottom," Tali said as Taylor took the lead, Issac right behind him. As the reached the door, Tali leaned forward and pressed the buzzer.

"Who is it?" a soft feminine voice said over the speaker.

"It's me Mother," Tali said, "I hope you don't mind but I brought some company."

"Tali," Sirona said in a delighted voice, "it's no problem at all. Hold on let me unlock to door." There was a beep as the door was unlocked and opened from the inside, revealing Sirona on the other side. She looked like Tali in a lot of ways, the main differences being that her skin and hair were much lighter shades, and the obvious trait of her being much older than her daughter. Her clothes were even similar, wearing the same hooded full body outfit that showed her face and little else.

"What happened to you?" Sirona asked in a shocked voice upon seeing that Tali was being supported.

"The therapy took a lot out of me," Tali replied in a tired voice. "By the way I'm supposed to spend a couple of days resting. Is Father home?"

"Oh, I'm afraid not dear," Sirona said sadly. "You know how he is, he always needs to run off to do something."

"I understand," Tali said, glancing at the ground sadly.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Sirona said, nearly smacking herself on the forehead. "Come inside, the UEG President is making a live address, I've got the television tuned to it right now."

Taylor and Tali glanced at each other briefly in surprise before Taylor helped Tali through the doorframe, following Sirona deeper into the house, Issac taking up the rear. "Here we go," Sirona said as the entered what appeared to be a living room, Taylor gently lowering Tali onto a couch as they did so. "Listen," Sirona whispered as she sat down in an armchair and turned to face the glowing television, little more than a thin screen hanging on the wall, which was currently showing a picture of Richards standing behind a podium, clearly in the middle of a speech.

"I know that some of you are still bitter over the recent tragedy that has befallen the people of New Denver," he said in a strong clear voice. "However I have come to the decision that unless the Batarian Hegemony executes further attacks on us, we will not engage in any military conflicts with them. I know that many of you are screaming for blood, but it has already been spilt by the RSN at Iteni II, where over a million Batarians perished. I think that should be enough revenge for all of you, and it should also deter any future attacks from the Batarians."

"Many will disagree with me, I am sure of it, but I have spoken to many people since I have arrived at this fine city that is rightfully the capital of Sanctuary. I have a concept that many of you will find radical, many may even hate me for it. I am using to getting angry messages however, so that will not hinder me in the slightest. No mater what I say, I plead with you to use whatever you may be feeling in a positive manner."

"I have spoken to many families who have lost members to this recent attack, Human and Quarian. Many of these families have sought each other out for solstice and comfort, attempting to help each other through this dark and difficult time. Seeing these people coming together warms my heart, and in my book, is living proof that our biology is the only thing that is truly different between us."

"Today I am proposing a concept that I have considered since the very day the Quarians settled on this planet, but kept to myself. How could I announce this idea to the public at such an early time? No one would truly support it. In order for this mere idea that I have formed to work, unbreakable trust would have to exist between Humans and Quarians. After fighting alongside each other after bleeding and dying together, after defending our homes together, and after attempting to find a cure for the condition that has held the Quarians back for so long, I believe that we are truly ready. As of this day, I propose that the Quarians of the former Migrant Fleet merge with the United Earth Governments, and become citizens of the UEG."

The explosion of questions from the interviewers in front of Richards was deafening, even over the television's projector. Everyone in the room looked dumbstruck, not truly believing what they had just heard. Slowly, Taylor turned to look at Tali. "So...," he said uncertainly, "UEG citizens? What do you think?"

After remaining silent for a few seconds, Tali smiled. "I think I like the sound of that idea."

Author's Note: All right that chapters all packaged and ready to go. Also, upon receiving a recent review, I would like to remind my reviewers, that there is nothing wrong with constructive criticism, odds are it'll just improve the quality of the story. Just do me a favor, don't be insulting. Saying that my dialogue is cheesy, that's not in insulting. Saying that my dialogue is worse than battlefield earth...that's insulting. Now do me a favor and don't go apeshit on the guy who did post that review, I don't want to start any trouble. Well, as always, tell me what you think.


	18. Joint Project

Chapter 18

Joint Project

Author's Note: Reception for the last chapter was...mixed. A lot of people praised it and are happy with it, but some people had some gripes. Some of these were understandable, several complained that the gene therapy acted far too quickly. I changed it around so that it would take a whole week for it to fully take effect apart for those who don't feel like rereading the chapter. A couple of people complained about my dialogue being dull (For some reason they waited until now to do so) and I will have you know I do my best to make my sentences as fluid as possible, if they fail to impress you, than I apologize. There were a couple of other gripes but some of them were too insignificant for me to even consider fixing, check the reviews if you want to see. Remember, constructive criticism is alright, just be polite about it and don't make the one problem you found to be the focus of the entire review. On another note, hopefully this will be the last chapter before the main events of the next game, but there might be one more. All right, here we go.

One week later

"Are you certain that you will be able to fend for yourself?" Iasa was standing on one of the docks to the Citadel talking to Falys.

"Yeah," the Asari said, who was wearing some bland uninteresting clothing that the RSN had given her. "There should be enough money in my bank account to rent out an apartment and buy me food and stuff. Afterwards I suppose that I'll just have to find a job somewhere." Falys gave a slight shudder, "No way in Hell I'm going back to being a merc."

"Perhaps that would be for the best," Iasa said. "You have made great strides in your recovery, combat could cause all of your progress to collapse in on its self. Exactly what line of work do you plan on entering?"

"I don't know," Falys said honestly, "maybe I'll get a desk job, maybe I'll join C-Sec or maybe I'll just become a bartender. Whatever happens I'll be able to fend for myself.

"I am glad to hear that," Iasa said warmly.

"Yeah," Falys said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Is there any chance that we can stay in contact?" she asked nervously.

"I don't see why not," Iasa replied. "The Council does posses Tier 2 technology, albeit low level Tier 2. It should be relatively simple for us to communicate with each other."

"Thank you," Falys said quietly. "So you're going to be leaving soon right?"

"Correct," Iasa answered, "there is little purpose in the RSN remaining here."

"Are you sure?" Falys sadly asked. "Couldn't you stay for a couple of hours?"

"I'm afraid not," Iasa said. "The _Righteous Justice_ will depart soon, it only came here to drop you off. The RSN already has a battle group present at the Citadel to act as security for our embassy, another ship is not required."

"I see," Falys said sadly.

"Worry not," Iasa said warmly, putting a hand on Falys' shoulder, "I know that we will meet again." Lifting her head up slightly, Falys smiled and nodded. "I must go," Iasa said as she began to make her way to the Phantom that was hovering over the docks. "Farewell," she said.

"Goodbye," Falys said, waving as Iasa boarded the Phantom, the doors closing behind them. Falys watched silently as the Phantom slowly turned before beginning to ascend to the _Righteous Justice_. Falys continued to watch until the Phantom was halfway between the Citadel and the ship before she sighed and turned away. "All right," she said to herself, "Time to do some apartment hunting, think I'll stop by the Flux first though."

XXXXX

"So, how are you holding up?" Taylor asked as he and Tali walked alongside each other through the outer edges of New Denver. "Has your temperature gone down?"

"You know you don't need to parent me," Tali said, playfully punching Taylor in the arm, "I can take care of myself, but thanks for asking. Yes my temperature went down to normal yesterday, not to mention the augmentations have nearly finished taking effect. Another day or two and it should be finished."

"Glad to hear it," Taylor said. "Out of curiosity, do have any idea how the Quarian leadership is reacting to President Richards' proposal? I mean you must have some idea, your father is an Admiral after all."

"He...," Tali said, her face darkening as she spoke, "isn't around very much. An Admiral's life is a busy one."

"Oh," Taylor said, wanting to give himself a sharp kick, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's alright," Tali said, "I'm used to it."

'That's supposed to be reassuring?' Taylor thought incredulously. Deciding that it would be for the best if he changed the subject, Taylor desperately racked his brain for something to say. "So do you think people are going to approve of this?" he asked, "the Quarians joining the UEG?"

"It's hard to say," Tali replied, a small frown passing over her face. "The reactions are all over the map. Some of the people I know, my mother included, think that it's a great idea. Others are balking at the idea, but most of them are the same people that didn't even want to settle on this planet in the first place, the people that still want to take the homeworld back."

"What do you think?" Taylor asked, "do you think that the Quarians should start to call this place home?"

"To be honest, I don't see why so many are willing to risk so many lives to retake it," Tali replied. "Even after being on this planet for years, the Quarian population is still only at 25 million. We're finally getting back on our feet and some of us want to risk it all just to take one planet back. Personally I think we're much better off just becoming a part of the UNSC."

"I have to agree with you there," Taylor said, "Your species won't be able to handle a massive drop in population, one that a war on the Geth will without a doubt bring. I get a feeling the rest of the UNSC would never support a war on the Geth unless they struck first, so if you were to declare war on them, you would be on your own."

"Which is why we need to learn to let go," Tali said, "I don't understand why so many still want to take back our territory from the Geth. Your kind has given us so much, a planet to call home, a cure for the handicap that has held us back for so long and as of now, the chance to join you. The UNSC is a massive military and economic power, one that we would easily be able to contribute to and make even greater. Joining with you would forever secure the future of the Quarian race."

"You said that the Quarians would be make the UNSC even greater," Taylor said, a curious look on his face, "in what way exactly?"

"For starters, the Council has forbidden the trading of military technology since making contact with you, all mass effect technology that you use is either civilian level or reverse engineered from captured Turian equipment. We would be more than happy to share our technology with you, imagine how effective your starships would be if they had both the best of your technology and of ours.

"We would also be able to make your mines run much more effectively. You see, when we still used the Migrant Fleet, we commonly had to strip mine planets and asteroids for resources to keep the fleet running. Because we've done it so much, we know how to effectively mine and get maximum results by using a minimum amount of equipment and power."

"Then there's the much more obvious contribution that we can make. Us Quarians are very good engineers, especially when it comes to starships. If we are annexed by the UNSC, some Quarians will no doubt join the military. We would be very effective engineers on starships and at other military postings."

"There's a problem though," Taylor interjected, "UNSC slipspace drives are radically different from the mass effect drives Quarians are used to. How are you supposed to work with a piece of equipment if you have no idea how it even works?"

Tali smiled slyly. "We're fast leaners. I've already read through quite a few books on UNSC starships, I'd like to think I'm no novice to this kind of thing."

Taylor couldn't help but smirk. "We'll see about that," he said.

"You trust me, we will." Tali and Taylor turned to see Jane leaning against the side of a building.

"Commander Shepard. What are you doing here?" Taylor asked.

"First of all, it's Captain now," Jane said warmly, "apparently single handily holding off an enemy assault gets you a promotion now a days."

"Congratulations," Tali said.

"Thank you," Jane replied, "second of all it's Jane, I hate it when people call me Shepard. By the way Tali, I'm glad to hear that your therapy went well." Tali smiled slightly and nodded in appreciation.

"So what are you doing out here?" Taylor asked.

"Just relaxing," Shepard replied, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

"You know I don't get you," Taylor said. Jane tilted her head in a quizzical manner, clearly asked Taylor to continue. "Your a high ranking military officer, yet you fight from the front lines with unbelievable skill. Not to mention your behavior is extremely erratic. There's no way that someone who managed to work their way up to Lieutenant-Commander because they ran off to the frontline and take random walks around cities."

"I'm on leave," Jane stated blandly, grinning as she did. "As for the rest, true, I tend to be on the informal side, and the brass gets on my case about it like you would not believe. I suppose the reason I've never been demoted or court-martialed is because I'm very good at my job."

"If what you did during the Blitz is anything to go by, I can easily believe that," Tali remarked.

Jane gave a small chuckle. "You got that right," she said. "By the way, I couldn't help but overhear you two talking about Richards' proposal. Just so you know, I've been hearing a lot of things thanks to my rank and moment of fame. Apparently the Quarian Conclave is going to decide this one, and they should come to a decision within a month."

"But from what I heard the Admirals are divided on this issue," Tali said.

"That they are," Jane agreed. "Shala'Raan and Zal'Koris are all for joining the UNSC, 'Koris I'm guessing because of our pro Artificial Intelligence views and 'Raan because of our kindness towards the Quarians. "Daro'Xen is also for unity, but she doesn't seem very enthusiastic. From what I've heard about her she doesn't seem to actually take an active role in politics, she just seems to listen during most of the Admiralty Boards' meetings and then just votes at the end. I'm not quite ready to mark her down as a long term supporter."

"Han'Gerrel and Rael'Zorah on the other hand are firmly against it. One of their reasons is that they don't want another race ruling over them, but that's a minor gripe compared to their main reason. They both still support an all out invasion of Geth space, and are frustrated that the UNSC won't do it. We've got a myriad of reasons not to too."

"First of all, what have no idea what kind of reserves that Geth have, for all we know there are trillions of them just minding their own business. Second, even if we were to wipe the Geth out, the gains would be outweighed by the loss of life that we would no doubt suffer. Finally and most importantly, the UNSC already has enough enemies. We're not on good terms with the Turians, one more spark and we're at war with the Batarians and the Jiralhanae still haven't left their boarders, and God knows what they're doing that we can't see. A lot of people think and hope that they're killing each other, but I don't know. So yeah, one more race that doesn't like us probably won't be for the best."

"Speaking of the Admirals, what will happen to the Conclave and the Admiralty Board if the Quarians do join the UNSC?" Taylor asked, looking at Tali.

"Most likely they'll be dissolved," Tali replied. "They were a result of the Quarians being confined to the Migrant Fleet and being under martial law for so long. If we really do join the UNSC, they're probably become advisors and some of them might run for office." She turned to face Jane. "They will be able to do that won't they?"

"I would think so," Jane answered. "I can see the Quarians working there way into pretty much all areas of UNSC politics. I can't see these things happening overnight though, Quarians will have to become well known before they run. Not to mention that if they want to be elected Senator for any planet besides Sanctuary, they have to be a resident of another planet. I don't see a massive wave of Quarians leaving this planet any time soon, even after the genetic therapy is issued, so it might take some time for the Quarians to really integrate into the UEG government. I hate to admit it, but 'Gerrel and 'Zorah have a point, odds are that the Humans really will call the shots for some time."

"Considering that you let us settle this planet with little to gain and much to lose, I'm alright with that," Tali said.

"I'm glad that you see it that way," Jane said. "Oh, I almost forgot!" she exclaimed loudly.

"What?" Taylor and Tali asked simultaneously.

"There's talk about the Quarians and the UNSC working together to create a prototype frigate. Supposedly it's supposed to have mass effect engines that'll allow to be much more maneuverable than the average frigate, not to mention the thing will need a pilot instead of navigators. The thing is, it will still have a slipspace drive, allowing for more effective FTL than mass effect can. Also, ONI is chipping in the stealth technology that it uses on it's prowlers, and the Quarians are cooking up some way of masking the ships heat emissions. So to recap, the Quarians and the UNSC are creating a highly agile, stealth frigate."

"Well, that's pretty interesting but why are you telling us this?" Taylor inquired.

Jane gave a smile that seemed to spread from ear to ear, "Who do you think is going to captain it?"

"You?" Taylor and Tali were completely shocked at Jane's news.

"Oh yeah," Jane said, "by the way, I was pretty impressed on how you guys handled yourself in the Blitz. It might take years for this ship to be funded, designed and built, but when it is I'm going to need a crew. So when this ship is finally built, there will be a spot open for you two in my crew, if you're interested."

"Serving on a ship like that," Tali said in an interested voice, "it's an appealing thought I'll give you that."

"I'm not asking you to make any decisions now," Jane said, "Just think about it."

March, 2, 2631. The genetic therapy aimed to strengthen the Quarian immune system is perfected and treatment of the Quarian people begins. Because of this, many Quarians publicly state their support of joining the UNSC.

March, 27, 2631. After countless debates, many arguments and a great deal of dispute, the Quarians are peacefully annexed by the United Nations Space Command. Opinions over this issue are deeply divided, among the UNSC and the rest of the galaxy. Many Humans and Quarians are opposed to being part of the same power, while others applaud the idea. The RSN has stated to support the move, the Arbiter claiming to have "never been prouder to call Humanity my comrade." Officially the Council has refused to comment on the situation, but many criticize the UNSC, while others praise them.

December, 8, 2632. In a despairing turn of events, a subdivision of ONI, known as section 4, goes rogue, becoming a pro-human terrorist group. Many believe the reason behind this is the annexation of the Quarians, although it is likely this was merely what pushed them over the edge. This subdivision was formerly designed after the Human-Covenant War to monitor the activity of other galactic powers and carry out covert operations in the name of Human security. It is apparent that they have taken their objectives too far and will stop at nothing to secure Human dominance, no matter how high the cost grows. It is also apparent that section 4 has changed it's name to Cerberus.

September, 15, 2633. Construction on the prototype stealth frigate, the _Normandy _begins. Billions are poured into the project and there is some protest to such a massive use of funds, but for the most part there is little protest. Development of the _Normandy _would prove to be smooth and according to plan

April, 24, 2634. A group of farmers on Eden Prime unearth a Prothean artifact. The Council has requested that the UNSC deliver the artifact to the Citadel, but the UNSC has refused, although they have stated that Council scientists, researchers and archeologists will be welcome to examine the artifact. Researchers flood to the planet in order to examine the artifact.

Author's Note: Let me get out of way right now, Falys and Iasa will not become lovers. Iasa is more like a big sister to Falys, mostly because I never really saw the Sangheili as a very sexual or romantic race, their lack of lips is a big contributing factor. Also to clarify, unless I specify otherwise, all UNSC weapons are mass effect weapons, and usually only ONI personal use the older models.

So FINALLY, we can move on the main events of the game, you know on TV tropes we call this longest prologue ever, hey it worked for Stephen King in IT (No I haven't read it). Just to warn you, not all of the companions from both games will be main characters. I will do my best to fit in those that I can, and those that aren't main characters I will probably give a cameo for a couple of chapters. Hopefully, I will be able to portray most of the characters enough and in a realistic light that will satisfy my readers. Well as always, tell me what you think.


	19. Silent no more

Chapter 19

Silent no more

Author's Note: So FINALLY, after 50,000 words, we can finally move on to the main events of the game and this story. You may notice that from here on out things become radically different. Please note that every change that takes place is a result of Halo and Mass Effect merging, it might not be explained till the end of the story, but there is a reason. The one you might notice in this story is Sovereign who is...well different, I have a reason for it though which will be told to you...eventually. Just so you know, I got my report card the other day...it was less than impressive, so I might not be able to update as much as I would like to. A final note, some people requested that I change the name of the ship to the _Beaches of Normandy_. An interesting idea, but one I'm not going to use, frankly it just sounds weird, get to the _Beaches of Normandy_!...see it sounds forced, sorry I just like _Normandy _better.

The prototype UNSC frigate _Normandy_, the only one of it's kind, was currently at slipspace, heading for Eden Prime. In many ways it resembled a standard UNSC frigate, but it was different in many ways. The ship was pitch black as opposed to the usual gray seen on most UNSC ships, due to the fact that it was coated with stealth ablative coating. The _Normandy_ also had twice as many engines as a regular frigate, which glowed a bluish tinge instead of the usual yellow. This vessel was also equipped with state of the art counter-electronic systems that could easily render them invisible to enemy radar.

It's mission was rather simple, transport a Council Spectre to Eden Prime, who would collect data the Council researchers had gathered on the Prothean artifact, then return to the Citadel. It was a rather dull maiden voyage, but nobody was complaining or expecting anything else.

"So we make a quick drop, I take a squad and escort the guy to the artifact, we get the data, and then we head back to the ship, in and out. Does that pretty much sum it up?" Lieutenant Taylor Winters was standing in the cargo bay of the _Normandy_ talking to Captain Jane Shepard, both of whom were wearing ODST armor.

"More or less, I want to make this nice and clean," Jane said, "but I have a feeling that you'll be able to pull this off without any problem."

"Hey Shepard," a voice said over the COM lines, "our Spectre pal is heading your way. He's a bit grumpy, might have had something to do with a comment I made about his tattoos."

"Thanks for the heads up Joker," Jane replied as Taylor groaned loudly.

"He really needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut," Taylor said as Jane lowered her hand, "making cracks about what I do with my biotics in my spare time is one thing, making fun of the Council's most effective and deadly agents is just plain suicidal."

"Oh let him have his fun," Jane said, "he's not hurting anyone, and I doubt that our guest will start a war because of one joke that a UNSC pilot made, especially one that's as good as Joker."

"I don't know," Taylor said, "he might think that it'll be worth it, Hell throwing the cripple out of an airlock seems pretty appealing to me sometimes."

"LT!" a voice shouted, and Jane and Taylor turned to see a Marine running towards where they were standing, screeching to a halt fright in front of them.

"What is it Jenkins?" Taylor asked, his brow narrowing slightly, Jenkins wasn't known for being the most disciplined of soldiers.

"There's been some rumors going around that this isn't a normal shakedown mission," Jenkins blurted out, barely able to contain his excitement, "there's something else going on isn't there? This whole data retrieval thing is just a cover isn't it, our objective is something much bigger isn't it?"

Taylor resisted the urge to slam his hand into his face. "Jenkins, where did you come up with that idea?" he asked in a voice that suggested he rather be disemboweling Jenkins.

"Come on LT, Eden Prime's just a small farming planet, only a couple million people live on it. If the Council really wanted to grab some data they could've just sent a couple of grunts to get it, why would they send a Spectre just to pick up a chip, bit of a waste of resources don't you think?"

"Jenkins, I'll give you credit that you put a decent amount of thought into that," Taylor said, "the thing is, we're not talking about mundane unimportant data here. We're talking about information taken from the same kind of relics that the Council reverse engineered to acquire the technology that makes their way of life possible. I'd be willing to bet a month's pay that they're hoping that massive technological jumps come from this artifact. You know that the Council is pushing their scientists to the breaking point to get their technology to a level where it's on par with ours."

"I suppose that you've got a point," Jenkins said, the enthusiasm in his voice dying. "Wait, if the Council is trying to use the data on the artifact to advance their technology, then why are we letting them look at it?"

"We're not at war with them Jenkins," Jane explained patiently. "There's some tension between us, but we're not even near that point. The brass is hoping that doing this will cool tensions between the UNSC and the Council, a lot of them are still angry at us for standing by the RSN when they attacked the Batarians."

"Yeah, they're upset that we got attacked and didn't suck it up," Taylor said through gritted teeth. "I understand the Council wants to avoid war, but at some points it just becomes necessary. If someone attacks you and you don't do anything to stop it, it's giving the green light for future attacks. I don't want to fight the Council, but don't expect me to write an apology for what the RSN did, the Batarians had it coming."

"Ah, there you are Captain," said a deep voice. Everyone turned their necks to see a blue armored Turian, who wearing a visor over his left eye, making his way towards them.

"It's nice to see you again Garrus," Jane said warmly as the Spectre stopped next to her, "I trust that everything is to your liking?"

"For the most part," Garrus replied, "you have a fine ship and a good crew, though your pilot is a little mouthy."

"He does that...a lot," Taylor said apologetically.

"That is very believable," Garrus remarked. "Anyway Shepard, I wanted to talk to you."

Jane raised an eyebrow, "About what?" she asked.

"You probably figured this out a long time ago, but a good portion of the Council doesn't trust you," Garrus said, "the Asari are the only race that you're truly on good terms with. Much of my kind are still bitter about the humiliation that they suffered in the Second Contact War, and the Salarians are reluctant to trust you because of you standing behind the Stab. The rest of the Council species are not sure weather to praise you or condemn you, they have no idea what to think. They're afraid to lose favor with the Turians and the Salarians if they speak in favor of you, but their just as afraid of upsetting the Asari by speaking ill of you. Generally, you're not very popular with the Council, which is more or less why I'm here."

"I don't follow," Jane said.

"I'm a relatively new Spectre," Garrus explained, "I've only been one for a couple of months now. Originally they were intending on sending a much older and more experienced agent, but they switched things around at the last second. The Council assigned me to this mission as an insult both to you and to me."

"What do you mean as an insult?" Taylor asked.

"You offer a hand of goodwill to the Council, and instead of sending one of their most skilled Spectres, they send the newest one and the most inexperienced. On a side note, I've been itching to get out into the Traverse and hunt down criminals, slavers and pirates there. That's the whole reason I became a Spectre, to be able to hunt criminals without being up to my neck in red tape. I'm a little more...outspoken about some of the things that the Council has done, mainly their refusal to properly defend colonies in the Traverse. Because of this, I'm less than popular with the Council"

"The Council doesn't defend their frontier colonies?" Taylor asked, raising his eyebrows in curiosity.

"They give firearms to the colonists, and say that it should be sufficient if they learn how to use them properly," Garrus said bitterly. "They might as well do nothing, 9 times out of 10 those who raid the colonies are more effective fighters than the colonial militia, and even if by some miracle they can fight them off, ships in orbit usually bombard the colonies until they reduced to rubble."

"The Council refuses to send any military forces into the Traverse to support the colonies because it boarders the Terminus Systems. I get the feeling I don't need to explain that to you, I think your diplomats have already had a few shouting matches with the Council over this one."

"No kidding," Jane remarked as her COM unit began to beep. "Shepard here," she said as she raised her hand to her COM unit.

"Jane, we're going to be dropping out of slipspace soon," Tali, who now held the position of chief engineer of the _Normandy_, said over the COM lines. "Do you want us to engage the stealth drive?" Part of the mission was to test the _Normandy_'s stealth drive by dropping out of slipspace outside of radar range and then moving into orbit. The plan was to see if the UNSC ships in orbit could detect the _Normandy_.

"Yes do that and...Tali what's that noise?" Jane could faintly hear what sounded what two people yelling at each other.

"Oh it's just Ken and Gabby going at it again," Tali said, "you know what they're like. When will they realize that they're perfect for each other?"

"Yeah," Jane chuckled, "anyway just get the stealth drives running the second that we drop out of slipspace." Jane smiled slightly as she lowered her hand. "Richard, how long until we exit slipspace?" Jane asked.

On a nearby panel, a bright white hologram of a 21st century soldier in winter combat gear appeared, it's data code flowing like falling snow. "Just a moment Captain," Richard said, his voice sounding like it was coming out of an old radio.

"Good," Jane said as she turned to face Garrus. "When we drop out of slipsapce, we'll enter orbit and you'll head down to the planet's surface with a squad of soldiers. Afterwards you can just grab the data, get back on the ship and we can be on our way, sound like a plan?" Garrus nodded.

"We're dropping out Captain," Richard said as an odd vibration traveled through the ship. "All right, I'm reading that all stealth systems are active, we're heading to..." Richard paused as he seemly stared at nothing.

"Richard what's wrong?" Jane asked, concern covering her face.

"I'm picking up more COM chatter than usual," Richard said slowly. He paused for a few seconds, then a look of horror spread across his face. "Oh no," he muttered softly. "Captain, you'll want to hear this," Richard said as he began to play transmissions of UNSC personal.

"God damn it, the lower decks are decompressing, engines are offline, someone get the Archers lo-GAHHHHHHH!"

"MAC's offline, life support is starting to fail, fuck it, ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP! GET TO THE ESCAPE PODS!"

"Son of a bitch! The fucking bridge is on fire! You, get that fire out, someone-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"Get a message out of the system, the they're back, they're fucking back, AND THEY BROUGHT FRIENDS!"

There was continued screaming and shouting which slowly began to fade until it ceased all together. For a second there was silence until Jane dryly spoke. "Richard, run a scan of the system, what are we dealing with?"

"Hold on," Richard said as he looked into space again. "25 CCS-battlecruisers, two assault carriers, and a series of smaller ships that are giving off mass effect fields. Practically the entire UNSC defense fleet has been wiped out."

"RSN ships?" Garrus asked.

"No," Richard said, "the bio signs on the ships aren't Sangheili or any other RSN species. They're...they're," Richard let out a sigh of despair as he turned to face Jane, "I'm picking up Jiralhanae lifeforms."

"The Jiralhanae?" Taylor shouted in a shocked voice, "What are they doing out of their territory? We haven't heard a peep from them in decades!"

"I don't know," Richard said. "I can't get a read on who is operating the smaller ships, I'm not picking up any life signs from them. How is that even possible, the Jiralhanae don't have the technology to create A.I.s that can man entire ships."

"It doesn't matter!" Jane shouted, "What's the situation on the battle?"

"It doesn't look good," Richard said grimly, "Jiralhanae Seraphs are bombarding UNSC instillations all over the planet, but for some reason they've only deployed infantry to one section of the planet. Oh fuck me, that section is dig site, they must be here for the artifact!" Richard shouted in a panicked voice.

"How did they know it even existed?" Garrus asked.

"We can figure that out later," Jane said, "The Jiralhanae outnumber us massively, there's no way in Hell we can fight them, so we need to do what we can, and that's making sure that the Jiralhanae don't get that artifact." As she spoke, she lifted her COM unit. "Joker, bring us in low, get us as near to the dig site as you possibly can without being detected, can you do that?"

"You do know who you're talking to right Shepard?" Joker asked, "Consider it done."

"We don't have much time so listen closely," Jane said hastily. "Once we get as close as we can to the dig site, Richard will open the cargo bay and we'll make our exit."

"Why can't we just use a Pelican?" Jenkins asked.

"Because Pelicans don't have stealth systems like the _Normandy_, if used one we would get spotted and shot down in five seconds," Shepard snapped. "After we deploy, we'll make our way to the dig site and secure the artifact. Joker will bring in the _Normandy_, we'll load it on, then we get the Hell our of here."

"Shouldn't we bring a squad or two for muscle?" Taylor inquired.

"No, it'll attract too much attention," Jane said, shaking her head. "It'll have to be the four of us, the more men that we bring the more likely the Jiralhanae will send heavy support to deal with us. One more thing, if we can't secure the artifact, then we make sure that the Jiralhanae don't get their hands on it. Whatever it does they must consider it valuable, so I'd rather have it destroyed than in their possession."

"We're going in low," Richard said, "If we stay still too long we could easily get spotted so your going to have to be one your own for awhile. Hanger's open, good luck." As he spoke, the cargo bay opened slightly, creating a small gap. Jane gracefully jumped through, Garrus and Taylor right behind her with Jenkins taking up the rear. They landed on the ground with a dull thud as the _Normandy_ arched and began to ascend.

"My God," Taylor said as he gazed at his surroundings. He had heard that Eden Prime was a peaceful world of open meadows and grassy plans, or at least it had been. It was clear that they were not far from the dig site, which was just outside of a major city...one that had suffered near total annihilation. In the distance, he could see crop fields that had caught ablaze, the fire eating away at the plants that had once been the life of the planet. The few buildings that he could actually see had been blown apart, and barley any of them were still standing, those that were had been reduced to mere skeletons. There was a distant humming and Taylor looked up to see a series of Phantoms passing overhead before they disappeared from sight, heading to some unknown destination. The Jiralhanae may have come for the artifact, but they were clearly devastating all Human settlements as well.

"Come on!" Jane shouted, "the longer we wait, the more likely it is they'll get away with the artifact. She began to dash towards the dig site, the others quickly following her.

Author's Note: Yes I know that the guy that wrote Renegade made Garrus a Spectre, but frankly that idea's been kicked around a lot, and I would like to think the way that I'm using it is original. Frankly this is the only way that I could think of that would allow me to get Garrus in the story and have it make sense.

Well, this one was a little shorter than usual, mainly because I'm just trying to introduce what's going to actually happen in the next chapter here...not to mention I really like leaving on cliffhangers. Well, the Jiralhanae are back, and they aren't happy, by the way this story is going to be radically different from the game, in a few chapters you'll see just how much. Well, I hope that you enjoyed it, and as always, tell me what you think.


	20. A Glimpse of what is to come

Chapter 20

A Glimpse of what is to come

Author's Note: Well here we go with chapter 20, like I said before, things are radically different this time around so don't even try to guess what is coming, because there's a 90% chance that you'll be wrong, so many people are posting theories in the story that are so wrong that I laugh myself to sleep over it. Trust me, you'll understand EVENTUALLY, I've got a load of ideas in my head, this story is easily going to be longer than Fighting for a Purpose, maybe twice as long... nah that's putting it a little far. I would also like to thank PROMT online for the translations that I will use in this chapter, translations for what you may ask? Well, read on and find out.

Not far from the dig site a Jiralhanae Lance, consisting of a Captain and four Minors, was nearing the edge of a town that had been partially destroyed, a greedy look in their eyes.

"Captain," one of the Minors said, holding his spiker eagerly, "shall we search this settlement for survivors before carrying out our main orders?"

The Captain seemed to have similar thoughts, as he was actually licking his lips in anticipation.

"I see no reason why we cannot; our orders are to make sure no Humans get near the dig site. Very well men, enjoy yourselves." The Minors roared in glee as they raised their spikers and the Captain loaded his carbine. "Start there, check to see if any Humans are hiding in it," the Captain ordered, pointing to a nearby house.

Two of the Minors advanced to the front of the Lance and stopped in front of one of the windows to the house. One of the Minors produced a plasma grenade and activated it. He pushed the window open and made to throw the grenade it, but before he could, there was a loud bang and the Minor's shields collapsed and he staggered back. The Minor hurriedly recovered his posture, and looked up to see an ODST pointing a shotgun out of the window.

"Трахните Вас!"* the ODST shouted in a thick Russian accent as the shotgun fired again, blowing the Minor's head clean off. **(Fuck you!)***

Roaring in anger, the other Minor fired his spiker into the house, as the ODST dove out of the way of hostile fire. The Minor was so enraged, that he did not notice the still active plasma grenade that was glowing brightly in the dead Minor's hand. He had no idea what happened when the grenade detonated and sent him flying, his legs landing ten feet away from the rest of his body.

The Captain snarled as he aimed his carbine where the ODST had last been.

"Move in," he said.

The Captain slowly made his way to the house, the remaining two Minors flanking him. As they neared the house, a ball of black energy slammed into the back of one of the Minors, who collapsed to the ground, dead. Both of the surviving Jiralhanae whirled around and fired their weapons randomly, attempting to flush out their attacker. A figure perching on a branch in a nearby tree fired a burst of bullets at the remaining Minor, killing him instantly.

The Captain fired his carbine at the figure, who was forced out of the tree, landing on its back. Quickly scrambling to its feet, the figure raised its rifle and opened fire at the Captain. A burst of bullets hit the Captain, causing his shields to weaken.

"PUNY HUMAN!" the Captain roared as he threw a spike grenade, which landed by the feet of his assailant.

The grenade detonated and blew the figure off of its feet, but did not cause it any harm, as a purple barrier was surrounding it.

"A biotic," the Captain snarled, "Very well, I will take great joy in-" the Captain's words were cut short as a loud bang tore through the air and much of the Captain's guts were forced out of his chest.

As the Captain's dead body hit the ground, the ODST standing behind him pumped the shotgun that had taken the Jiralhanae's life.

"The apes sure like to brag," the ODST remarked as the figure that had fallen from the tree got to its feet. "Neriena, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Neriena said as she dusted off her armor and approached the ODST. "Remember I was an Asari Commando for two centuries. And Rebecca Frost, what did I tell you about calling me by my first name?"

"That you would prefer if I didn't," Rebecca said dryly, pulling off her helmet to reveal her bright red hair, which was tied in a tight bun. "Sorry Mom, it just didn't feel right calling you Mom on the battlefield."

Neriena chuckled as she put a hand on Rebecca's shoulder.

"When you came into my life, I honestly thought that my fighting days were over, looks like fate threw me a little curveball."

"Catching on with the Human metaphors huh?" Rebecca said.

"You taught me them Beki," Neriena said in a sweet voice, causing Rebecca's face to turn as red as her hair.

"I thought we talked about that," she said in an embarrassed voice.

"Heh, sorry," Neriena said as Rebecca slid her helmet back on. "Seriously though we need to focus, the Jiralhanae are heading for the dig site. Half of the researchers are still there; if we don't get them out of there they'll be butchered."

"Right," Rebecca said as she gripped her shotgun, "let's move."

XXXXX

"Son of a bitch," Jenkins whispered as he and the others made their way through a small town that had been partially torched.

They had encountered no survivors, and all bodies that they had found had been horribly mutilated or little more than charred remains. The Jiralhanae clearly had adopted flamethrowers or some other type of flame based weapon into their arsenal, devastation of this caliber had not been seen until the waning days of the Human-Covenant War.

"Why the Hell would the apes go after the artifact?" Taylor asked as they dashed through the town. "Do they seriously think that they can make anything out of it?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Garrus said, "either way I get the feeling that they knew that it was here and for some reason they must have thought that the artifact was extremely valuable."

"He's got a point," Jane remarked, "they could have attacked any planet they wanted before they lost the element of surprise, they could have attacked, Harvest or Reach, Hell they could have even attacked Earth, but they came here. Something's wrong here."

"Oh dear Lord," Jenkins said as he gazed towards the center, where a series of silvery spikes were positioned. Each spike was currently impaling a Human, many of them civilians from the looks of it. "What did they do to them?" Jenkins asked as they neared the spikes.

It was then that the group noticed that sets of severed arms littered the ground around the spikes. The Humans that had been impaled had had their arms cut off and replaced with some sort of metal prosthetics that was attached to the Humans with clamps that dug into their skin, causing rivets of blood to trickle down their new limbs. The artificial limbs was apparently some sort of grenade launcher, not unlike the ones the Jiralhanae were known to use, and each one had a curved blade that was easily two feet long attached to it.

"What the Hell is going on here?" Taylor asked as they stopped in front of the spikes.

"I don't know," Jane replied as the spikes began to retract, apparently reacting to their presence. "This could be some form of torture, but that doesn't explain the prosthetics."

Jenkins made his way to one of the spikes, looking sadly at the motionless figure. It was odd; the man seemed to be glowing with a faint blue light. Curiosity getting the better of him, Jenkins leaned in to better examine the corpse.

A blinding pain tore through Jenkins' stomach as he let out a cry of agony. Looking down, he saw that the corpse's right hand blade had been thrust into his gut. There was a snarling noise, and Jenkins's head jerked up to see the corpse, which was now glowing a bright blue as bits of skin fell off to reveal bright cybernetics, pointing its other arm as Jenkins. Jenkins didn't even have time to blink before the corpse fired its grenade launcher three times at point blank range. Jenkins was sent flying limply through the air until he hit a tree with a sickening crack. He slid down to the ground where he lay sprawled with no movement visible, not even a twitch.

"What the fuck?" Taylor shouted.

The corpse turned towards Taylor and pointed its grenade launcher at him, firing four shots. Taylor brought his hands in front of him and conjured a barrier which barely blocked the grenades as Garrus raised his sniper rifle and fired a single shot, piercing the corpse's skull.

"Thanks," Taylor panted as he dropped the barely stable Barrier. Garrus nodded as Taylor glanced at Jenkins' body, there was no way that he had survived that. "Son of a bitch," he swore, "how the Hell did this happen?"

"These things happen, Taylor," Jane said comfortingly, as she put a hand on Taylor's shoulder, "it's like what happened with Rivers, these things just happen sometimes."

"I know," Taylor muttered, "it's still bullshit."

"We've got to keep moving," Garrus said as he cocked his rifle, "we can come back to recover his body later."

"He's right," Jane said, tightening her grip on her battle rifle, "we're not that far from the dig site, if we hurry- oh damn it!" Jane shouted.

Jane raised her rifle and fired at a one of the remaining corpses on the spikes, which had begun to stir. Jane's bullets riddled the chest of the corpse, which ceased to move, however two more corpses detached themselves from their spikes and began to stager towards their opponents, clumsily raising their arms.

Taylor threw a Warp at one of the corpses, and tore a hole in its abdomen, causing it to stager until he finished it off with a headshot. Jane and Garrus both let loose on the surviving corpse, pumping its head and chest full of bullets, until it fell flat on its face.

"Are there any more?" Taylor hissed as he swept the area with his DMR.

"I don't think so," Jane muttered, "I don't see any more of those spikes."

"I don't think that those are plain old spikes," Taylor said.

He approached one of the corpses and kneeled down next to it. Most of its skin had peeled away, revealing underlining layers of machinery.

"This thing must be at least 70% cybernetics now; the spike must have… altered it somehow. How did the apes get their hands on this kind of tech?"

"Who knows?" Jane said, "They've been isolated from the rest of the galaxy for decades, they may have developed some ground breaking things during that time."

"That scares the living shit out of me," Taylor said, as he got to his feet.

"You're not the only one," Garrus said. "Come on, the dig site isn't that far from here."

Garrus and the others began to make their way towards the dig site when they heard a gunshot coming from the far side of town.

"That didn't sounds like a weapon the Jiralhanae would use," Jane remarked, "there might be some friendly forces in the area."

"It came from over there," Taylor said, pointing towards the far end of the town.

Raising their weapons, the trio slowly made their way to the origin of the gunshot. As they rounded a house, they came across five dead Jiralhanae an ODST that was talking to an Asari.

"You two all right?" Jane shouted.

The two turned to face Jane, raising their weapons as they did. Upon seeing that the newcomers were not Jiralhanae, they lowered their weapons.

"Yeah, we're fine," the Asari said.

"Neriena?" Taylor said in a surprised voice, looking at the Asari, "What are you doing here?"

"Is that you Taylor?" Neriena asked, a smile spreading across her face. "It's nice to see you again.

"You know her?" Garrus asked, lowering his rifle.

"She was my teacher back in BAaT," Taylor explained.

"Yes, indeed," Neriena said, "he was one of the best of his class; he always busted his ass during training."

"I was ok," Taylor said, grinning slightly, "who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Rebecca Frost, my adopted daughter," Neriena said, putting her hand on Rebecca's shoulder.

"Pleasure to meet you," Rebecca said politely, her accent still thick. "We didn't think that there were any soldiers left alive in the area, I thought that the monkeys wiped everyone else out on their first pass. We only survived because we only got hit by the edge of their assault."

"We can explain where we came from later," Jane said, "we're heading for the dig site, we can't let the Brutes get the artifact, mind tagging along, we could use the muscle."

"We were just about to head that way," Neriena said, "let's move."

Jane nodded her head as she and the other four in the group began to head towards the dig site.

"Hold up," Garrus said as they neared the outer perimeter of the dig site. "There's a sentry," he said as the others came to a stop and he raised his rifle. He paused for a second as he lined up a shot, then opened fired, taking the head clean off of his target. "Well, that's not a good sign," he said as they began to move again.

"What wasn't?" Rebecca asked.

"That," Garrus said as they passed his kill.

The figure lying sprawled on the ground wasn't a Jiralhanae; it was much smaller, sleeker and had a curved head that ended with a single optic.

"Geth," Neriena muttered, "this day just keeps getting better and better."

"How is this even possible?" Rebecca asked, "why would the Geth choose now of all times to stop hiding behind the veil and show themselves to the rest of the galaxy, and why would they ally themselves with the Jiralhanae?"

"There are many things that you do not know," said a calm voice. A Jiralhanae wearing nothing but a hooded robe figure stepped out from behind a boulder, walking towards the group. "We have not been idle during our exile."

Garrus raised his rifle and fired a shot at the Jiralhanae's head. His aim was spot on, but the bullet slammed into a purple barrier and the Jiralhanae was unharmed.

"Spectre," he muttered absentmindedly, scanning the five that were currently aiming their weapons at them. "ODST's, an Asari, most likely former military. This is most interesting. Those who I am soon to fight, my name is Xeron."

"Why did you feel the need to share that little piece of information with us?" Taylor hissed.

"It is polite to introduce yourself to an opponent before you fight," Xeron said.

As he spoke both Taylor and Neriena threw a Warp at the hooded figure, hitting him spot on. Once again, a barrier stood between Xeron and the attacks thrown at him.

"You are a biotic?" Xeron said in an interested voice. "This makes the battle to come all the more... intriguing." Xeron raised his hand and a dark purple aura surrounded it. "Let us see what steel you are made of," Xeron said, as he gathered a Warp in his hand.

Xeron propelled the ball of energy forward, aiming it at Jane. The Captain was barely able to sidestep the Warp, which flew past her and hit a tree. The base of the tree was completely destroyed by the force of Xeron's attack, causing the rest of the plant to fall over.

"Your speed is admirable," Xeron said as he prepared another Warp, "but how long will it last?" he asked as the all of his opponents aimed their weapons at him and opened fire.

XXXXX

Within the depths of the dig site, a heavily scarred Turian made his way to the center, kicking the corpse of a Salarian scientist out of his way as he did.

"Prepare the ship for takeoff," he said to the two Geth that flanked him, "when I'm done with the beacon, I want to be able to leave instantly. I don't want to be caught in the crossfire when my savage allies execute their cleanup operation."

The two Geth nodded and took a sharp right, walking away from the dig site. The Turian continued to walk forward, until he reached the very center of the dig site, where the faintly glowing Prothean beacon, the very artifact that the UNSC had uncovered, was resting. The Turian stopped directly in front of the beacon and stood still, waiting. With a bright flash the Turian was hoisted into the air, floating directly in front of the beacon. The Turian trashed widely in the air as the beacon flashed even brighter. As quickly as it had started, the glowing stopped and the Turian fell to the ground and his knees. After panting heavily for a few seconds, the Turian got to his feet.

"This is Saren," he said into his COM unit, "I'm finished here."

As he spoke, he turned and began to walk away. Unbeknownst to him, a trembling figure hiding behind a crate was watching him go.

"Goddess," the figure silently whispered.

Author's Note: Well there's chapter 20, as you might have noticed I left on a cliffhanger, here's a little advice, get used to it, because I intend to do this a lot. Why you may ask, because it's pretty good at making sure you all come back to read the next chapter, and boy do I have some very sadistic cliffhangers planned. By the way, one person asked how Garrus would handle the Jiralhanae with his C-Sec training. This compelled me to point out this fact, remember when Garrus mentioned that he could have taken training to further his chances of becoming a Spectre? In this story, he did. Well I hope that you enjoyed it, as always, tell me what you think.

PS. Don't complain that Rebecca is bland please, it's only been one chapter, I haven't had time to develop her yet.


	21. Only the Beginning

Chapter 21

Only the Beginning

Author's Note: Well, I'm glad to see that most of you liked Xeron, I must say he's one of my favorite villains, maybe later in the story you'll understand why. Also, I will do my best to give every character, original and OC, time for them to be developed. Just so you know Issac was supposed to be a much larger character, but I cut him because you guys don't like how I overdose on characters, I hope you appreciate it. Also one person mentioned that I really like using female OCs. I don't know why, but I always found it easier to create designs for female OCs, oh well, no one's addressing it like it's a bad thing. Like I said earlier, I'll do my best to get in as many ME companions as possible, although some of them may only have short roles and cameos, and it may be completely impossible for me to get in some at all. Anyway, I'll do my best, just sit back and enjoy.

'Who the Hell is this guy?" Taylor thought as he fired five shots at Xeron, only to have the biotic's barrier block the attack again. 'His barrier strength is unrealistic," he continued as he sent another Warp flying at Xeron, only for it to have no effect.

He and the others had spread out around Xeron and were hitting him with everything that they had, but they had yet to cause any damage. Xeron seemed to be taking the fight very casually, not having moved more than a couple of feet, content to stand in one place and throw attacks at those who surrounded him.

Rebecca fired her shotgun at the Jiralhanae, but ducked behind a tree as a Shockwave narrowly missed her. Unconcerned that his attacked missed, Xeron clenched his fist and the tree that Rebecca was taking cover behind was uprooted by his biotics.

Xeron made a small gesture, and the tree soared into the air, spun wildly, and began to dive back to the ground. Garrus realized in the nick of time that the tree was heading for him, and dove and rolled out of the way. The tree slammed into the ground where he had just stood, creating a ten foot deep hole in the ground. Recovering his posture, Garrus raised his rifle and fired a shot off. The bullet slammed into Xeron's barrier, which faltered slightly.

"Interesting," Xeron muttered, looking at his barrier as it became invisible again. "It would appear that my barrier is beginning to falter slightly. Most foes would have perished before it is weakened to this point."

"It's only slightly weakened?" Rebecca shouted, pumping her shotgun. "How the Hell is your barrier so strong?"

"Simple," Xeron remarked, "I am currently devoting three fourths of my biotics into my barrier. As a result my barrier is highly resistant while my attacks are weakened and slowed as a result."

"Weakened?" Garrus muttered as he glanced at the tree that had nearly flattened him. "This guy is holding back?"

"It would appear that you are indeed capable fighters," Xeron remarked, "if I was to continue fighting like this, there is no doubt that I would meet defeat. Be forewarned, my attacks will be much more intense from this point on, and my barrier weaker."

As Xeron spoke, a purple aura began to surrounded him, glowing brightly. In the blink of an eye, Xeron's biotics propelled him forward at an incredible speed, stopping directly in front of Taylor, a small shockwave emitting from where he landed. Slightly dazed from the shockwave, Taylor saw that Xeron was throwing a biotic punch directly at his gut. Taylor crossed his arms in front of him and created a barrier, which took the blunt of Xeron's attack. Despite this, he was still sent flying. Taylor soared a good 30 feet before hitting the ground with a loud thud.

"Impressive," Xeron said, as Taylor got to his feet, bruises forming underneath his armor. "You were able to form a barrier before my attack connected, preventing certain death, this is most-" Xeron was cut off as Jane fired three bursts into his back, Garrus fired another round, and Rebecca fired her shotgun again. All of the projectiles his Xeron's barrier at the same time, causing to flicker. Mimicking the same move Xeron had just used, Neriena propelled herself forward, stopping right in front of Xeron. She jumped into the air, and hit Xeron in the face with a biotic roundhouse kick.

Xeron's barrier shattered and the kick made contact, causing the Jiralhanae to stagger back, clutching his mouth. As he staggered, he sent a Warp at Neriena, who barely evaded the ball of dark energy. It hit the ground instead, creating a hole fifteen feet in diameter. As Xeron regained his balance and his barrier began to reform, he lifted both hands up and lowered his hood.

What this revealed was rather shocking. Xeron looked as if he was very, there was no other word for it, young. His head was completely shaved and his face was free of any facial hair. His facial features were surprisingly soft, and it seemed to almost be monk like. Xeron inserted one of his hands into his mouth before withdrawing it, a small splatter of blood present on it. Xeron stared at the blood on his hand, as if it was the most fascinating thing that he had ever seen. A smile broke across his face. "It would appear that I have underestimated you," he said, his voice still calm. "You may be some of the most powerful foes that I have ever faced, I might even have to use Serum 16."

"What's Serum 16?" Jane asked as she aimed her rifle at Xeron. Before anyone could say anything else, a faint humming reached their ears.

"Enemy dropship!" Neriena shouted. Indeed a Phantom was flying directly to their position, plasma turrets blazing, forcing Neriena and the others to take cover.

"XERON!" a Jiralhanae shouted from the Phantom, "We must go! Our job here is done! If we tarry, we will all perish!"

Xeron let out a sigh as her turned to face his opponents. "I concede," he said simply. "This fight is yours. I hope that we will meet again one day." Without another word, Xeron fired a Warp from each hand into the ground, propelling himself upwards and into the Phantom, landing neatly inside it. The Phantom curved and began to head upwards, towards the fleet in orbit.

"What the Hell did they mean when they said that they would perish if they remained?" Garrus asked, as the others began to congregate on his position.

"I don't know," Jane said, "but it looks like the Jiralhanae are pulling out, look," she said, pointing at a series of Phantoms that were taking off in the distance.

"Why would they do that?" Taylor asked, "Did they get what they came for?"

"Holy shit," Rebecca swore as she gazed at the dig site. A black, viciously curved ship was taking off from the site, leaving a trail of red smoke behind it. The ship was easily 15 km in length, but it didn't resemble Jiralhanae ship design at all. It seemed to have an almost ominous air to it as it ascended out of sight. "Was that a Geth ship?" she asked silently.

"That's impossible," Garrus said, "if it was it would use a mass effect core, and a ship of that size with a mass effect core wouldn't have survived entering the atmosphere."

"What if the Jiralhanae augmented it with their technology?" Jane said.

"That might work," Neriena said.

"Captain, we've got a load of activity going on up here," Joker said over the COM lines.

"What is it Joker?" Jane asked, putting her hand to her ear.

"The Jiralhanae and the other ships are bugging out, one's heading towards the planet though," Joker said. "It's heading low, towards your position."

"He's got that right," Taylor said, looking directly above him. A CCS-battlecruiser was descending towards the planet's surface, coming to a stop. It hovered for a few seconds, doing nothing until a bright blue glow began to form on it's underbelly.

"Oh son of a bitch," Jane said, "Joker the cruiser is charging it's energy projector, it's going to wipe out everything down here."

"Hold on!" Joker shouted. Jane said nothing as she continued to watch the cruiser, the glowing from it's energy projector growing brighter. All of a sudden there was a bang that deafened all that heard it as a MAC round slammed into the cruiser, causing it's shields to flicker. Before the cruiser could respond, a salvo of Archer's slammed into it, causing the ship to burst into flames.

"You owe me a beer Captain!" Joker shouted as the _Normandy_ soared overhead.

"I'll make sure you get one," Jane said into her COM piece, her voice softening. "Are there any other ships in orbit?"

"No," Joker said, "they all jumped out of the system, took all of their ground forces with them too, they must have just been cleaning up when we got here."

"All right," Jane said, "set the _Normandy_ down at the dig site, I want Tali to see if she can pull any data from enemy hardware."

"On it," Joker said as the _Normandy _slowed over the dig site and gently touched down.

"What hardware do you want Tali to get information from?" Taylor asked as they finally entered the dig site.

"I doubt that the UNSC gave this place up without a fight," Jane explained, "most likely a couple of Geth got taken out, I want to see if she can figure out why they're working with the Jiralhanae."

"I thought that Geth deleted all data from their memory banks when they died," Garrus said.

"They usually do," Jane said, "still, Tali's people created the Geth, she might be able to get some sort of data out of one, even if it is fractured."

As they approached the _Normandy_, they saw Tali making her way out of the cargo bay, which closed behind her. "Glad to see that you're alright Jane, you too Taylor," she said as they approached. "Who are your friends?"

"Some people we ran into on the way here," Jane said.

"Well, it's good to see that...wait...where's Jenkins?" Tali asked, scanning the crowd for the Corporal.

"He...didn't make it," Taylor said uncertainly.

"Oh," Tali said in a surprised voice. She hadn't known Jenkins very well, and had only talked to him on a handful of occasions. Still, he had seemed like a decent person and she had wished no ill will towards him. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"He'll, be missed, Jane said solemnly.

A moment of uncomfortable silence passed. "Um, you said that you had a job for me?" Tali said.

"Right," Jane said, "I want you to search around the dig site and see if you can pull any data from the destroyed Geth."

"Geth!" Tali shouted, clearly shocked, "What are they doing here?"

"We have no idea," Jane admitted. "For some reason they were fighting with the Jiralhanae. I was hoping that you could figure out why."

"I'll do my best," Tali said.

"That's all I can ask of you," Jane said, smiling slightly.

"Shepard," Garrus said, "I don't mean to be rude, but we need to check to see if the Jiralhanae took the artifact or not."

"I know where it is," Neriena said, "I can show you."

"Lead the way," Jane said, "Taylor, Rebecca go with Tali, the Jiralhanae may have left a couple of Geth behind in their rush to get out of here."

"Got it," Rebecca said, as Neriena began to head to the center of the camp, Jane and Garrus following her.

"This way," Tali said, pointing towards a set of barracks. She, Rebecca and Taylor made their way towards it, and found the remnants of a particularly brutal firefight. At least a dozen Marines lay dead on the ground, as did a handful of Jiralhanae and Geth.

"Son of a bitch," Rebecca swore as Tali knelt down next to one of the Geth.

"This one's vital systems only gave out recently," Tali muttered as she activated her omni-tool and began to type on it.

"Think that there's anything worthwhile in this one?" Taylor asked as he crouched down next to Tali.

"I think I might have something," Tali said, as her fingers danced over her omni-tool. "I don't have any idea if it's important but there's defiantly some data I can salvage though."

Taylor was silent for a second as Tali continued to work. "So how do you feel about this whole thing, I mean about the Geth being back?" he asked.

"To be honest, I really don't know," Tali replied, not looking away from her omni-tool. "What happened during the Blitz really made me think about A.I.s, especially the Geth. Now that I really think about it, it doesn't make any sense for the Geth to have wiped us out when they were gaining sentience. In addition to their total lack motivation, it would be just plain impractical for them to go to war with an entire species unless they had no other choice."

"What are you saying?" Taylor asked.

"Don't tell anyone this," Tali said, "but I'm starting to see things from Zaal'Koris' point of view."

"Why don't you want anyone to know that?" Taylor asked, "from what I heard a lot of Quarians share that same mindset."

"My father doesn't," Tali said quietly.

"Oh," Taylor said, remembering his trip to the Migrant Fleet, and remembering how adamant Rael'Zorah had been about retaking the Quarian homeworld, "I see."

"I don't even want to think about what he'll say if he finds out," Tali said, shaking her head. "Rael'Zorah's daughter, a Geth sympathizer."

"Don't you think that you're being a little hard on yourself?" Taylor asked, "I mean doesn't he understand that your views changed after what you went through in the Blitz?"

"I don't know," Tali sighed, "I never talked to him about it."

"Are you kidding?" Taylor said angrily, "he never talked to you after the Blitz? You were devastated after that."

"I know," Tali said in a depressed voice, "he's very busy, even if he isn't an Admiral anymore, he's stilly highly respected by my people and seen as a leader figure. He just didn't have the time."

'Mack found the time to check up on me and Sarah, and we're not even related,' Taylor thought, but he keep these thoughts to himself. Tali was clearly uncomfortable talking about her father and he didn't want to press the point.

"Done," Tali said, as she got to her feet.

"What did you get?" Taylor asked as he stood up.

"Oh Keelah," Tali said as she read off of her omni-tool, "it's encrypted. I got a little bit of data but I can't get anything out of it."

"We can have Richard take a look at it, he'll be able to decode it," Taylor said.

Throughout the entire conversation that Taylor and Tali had had, Rebecca had been watching them with interest. "If you don't mind me asking," she said, looking at both of them, "are you two a couple?"

"WHAT?" Tali positively shrieked as Taylor's eyes widened in surprise.

"Sorry, sorry," Rebecca said, throwing her arms up, "you two just seem really close that's all, I mean you're talking about stuff you don't just say to someone you barley know."

"Fair enough, but me and Taylor?" Tali asked clearly flustered, "That's just-I mean-he's nice but-how would that even work anyway, he's a Human and I'm a Quarian."

"Why would that be a problem?" Rebecca asked curiously, "I'm sure that you would find a way to make it work. Take my word for it, growing up with an Asari teaches you to be open minded.

Taylor kept his mouth shut, afraid that his words would get stuck in his throat. He was also glad that his helmet was hiding the bright shade of red that his face had turned. Tali on the other hand, although her face was now a bright purple, still trusted hers.

"That me be true, but Taylor and I-we don't- I mean he doesn't-it wouldn't- we're not like that," Tali blurted out.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," Rebecca said honestly, "I just really thought that you two were together."

"All right," Tali said, calming down slightly. "Just...don't tell anyone about this ok?"

"No problem," Rebecca said, smiling slightly.

XXXXX

"I don't understand," Garrus said, as he Neriena and Jane stood in front of the Prothean artifact, which was glowing slightly. "Why would the Jiralhanae go to all this trouble and not even take the artifact with them?"

"Maybe they got what they want from it," Jane said, "maybe they got what they came for and then tried to glass the planet to make sure that we didn't get it."

"Still, this whole thing is strange, what is so important about this thing?" Neriena asked.

"Something's moving over there!" Garrus shouted aiming his sniper rifle at a crate.

"Don't shoot!" a voice shouted. An Asari scientist stepped out from behind the crate, holding her hands shakily above her head, a pistol in one hand. "I'm not a Geth," she said nervously as Garrus lowered her rifle.

"What were you doing back there?" Garrus asked briskly.

"I was examining the artifact when the Geth attacked," the Asari explained, "they completely surrounded the camp in minutes, and I did my best to hide. I must have gotten lucky because they didn't find me."

"Did you see them do anything to the artifact?" Neriena asked.

"Yes," the Asari said, "a Turian walked in front of it and it did...something to him. I don't know exactly what happened, but it lifted him up into the air and held them there for a little bit. Afterwards he fell to the ground, got up and walked away. Wait, he mentioned his name when he was talking to someone else, I think it was...Saren."

"Saren?" Neriena shouted, "what the Hell was that son of a bitch doing here?"

"You've heard of Saren?" Garrus asked.

"Oh yeah, I know the guy," Neriena snarled, "fucking murderer."

"Can't say I was found of him myself," Garrus said. "He was extreme, but it sounds like he's working with the Geth. I'm going to have to tell the Council about this one."

"What's your name?" Jane asked gently, looking at the Asari.

"Liara T'Soni," Liara said nervously, "I was one of the archeologists looking at the artifact."

"You said that Saren did something with the artifact," Jane said, "what exactly did he do?"

"He...he just stood in front of it," Liara said, "and it just activated."

"Thank you," Jane said, "whatever Saren did with the artifact must have been important, we need to find out exactly what."

"What are you suggesting?" Garrus asked.

"If I do what he did, we should be able to see exactly what it does," Shepard explained.

"Are you sure that that would be a wise move?" Garrus asked, "it could be dangerous."

"I don't think so," Liara said "Saren seemed to be drained after using the artifact, but he seemed healthy."

"All right then," Jane said as she began to walk towards the artifact, "let's see exactly what this thing does."

As if it was responding to her voice, the artifact glowed brightly and pulled Jane forward and then upward, where she dangled in the sky.

"Shepard!" Garrus shouted as Jane began to thrash widely. Images began to flash before Jane's eyes, passing too fast for her to distinguish them from one another. After what seemed like hours to Jane, the force holding her up vanished as she fell to her knees. She attempted to stand up, only to fall to the ground, completely unconscious.

Author's Note: I have a feeling some people are going to be unhappy with some of the things I'm going to start doing from now on so just let me say this, the genre for this story is Adventure/Romance, it says that right on the front of the story. You should have known that I would start doing romances at some point in this story so don't complain that I'm going all mushy on you I more or less told you from the beginning. I've given you twenty chapters without it, and I think it's a little overdue.

Sit down, shut up and only complain if you have a legitimate reason to complain, it's not like I'm going to choke you with it. I like what I did with Aaron/Ahsoka in Fighting for a Purpose, but looking back I wish I had had them having a few more intelligent conversations, so that's what I'm, doing here. Well as always, tell me what you think, also check out the Human Effect, it's a story that rivals mine in popularity, and it's action scenes completely outstrip mine still, you read this story so I must be doing something right. Ok now I'm curious, please tell me why you are reading this story up to this point, what about it draws you in?


	22. Declaration

Chapter 22

Declaration

Author's Note: Well, the last chapter got a lot of good feedback, and that's always a good thing. Just so you know, this story now has over 80,000 hits, no other story of mine has gotten that many hits so fast, this is really something. This is the part of the story where I will show you just how radically different things are this time around, how different you might ask? Well, read and find out.

Jane let out a loud groan as she stirred in the bed she was lying in, feeling like she had just been hit over the head with a sledgehammer. "Feeling better Captain?" a voice asked. Jane opened her eyes to see Dr. Chakwas standing by her bed.

"Define better," Jane groaned as she lifted herself into a sitting position. She saw that she was in the infirmary and that her armor was lying at the base of her bed. "What happened?"

"You passed out after the artifact did...whatever it did to you," Chakwas answered. "The artifact began to overload and was about self destruct, but Dr. T'Soni was able to trigger it's cooling system before it did." As she spoke, Chakwas pointed across the room to where Liara was dosing lightly in a chair. "She said that she wanted to stay until you woke up, she felt responsible for what happened to you."

"Oh come on," Jane said, swinging her legs off of the bed, "how the Hell does she figure?"

"She told you that Saren used the artifact and was completely fine, afterwards, but when you used it you lost consciousness," Chakwas elaborated. "Speaking of which, what exactly did that artifact do?"

"It..." Jane said, rubbing her eyes, "I'm not exactly sure what it did. I saw...an invasion. Aliens that I had never seen in my life being attacked by...I don't know what, everything flashed by so fasted. All I know is that they were being exterminated."

"Why would the Jiralhanae go to the trouble of invading an entire planet just for an artifact that does that?" Chakwas asked.

"No idea," Jane replied, "I have a feeling that there's a lot more to this than we know. By the way, why is Liara on the ship?" Jane asked, glancing at the Asari.

"Tali managed to recover some data from a destroyed Geth and Richard managed to translate some of it," Chakwas explained. "He's still working on it, but apparently the Geth had a secondary objective to capture her. We decided to bring her along because of this, and the fact that she saw Saren using the artifact"

"Do we have any idea why?" Jane asked.

"Not yet," Chakwas answered, "Richard has only been able to uncover the Geth unit's objectives, but he also found an audio file and he says that it'll be decoded in a couple of hours."

"Good," Jane muttered, "so where are we heading?"

"We should arrive at the Citadel in about four hours," Chakwas said, "Admiral Anderson has ordered us there, he wants to prove to the Council that Saren has betrayed them and is collaborating with the Geth and Jiralhanae, and Liara said that she'll testify. Also, Neriena and Rebecca Frost are on board, they insisted on coming along and they're both requesting to serve on the _Normandy_. I suspect that they want a little bit of payback for what the Jiralhanae did to their hometown."

"Well," Jane remarked, getting out of the bed and standing up, "I can probably pull some strings to get Rebecca transferred, and I don't think that command will court martial me because I let an Asari Commando assist my crew. Though I am going to have to look at any reports that I can find on them, I need to know what their skill sets are."

"I thought that you would say that," Chakwas said as she picked a datapad off of Jane's bedside table. "From what I've been able to gather Neriena served several tours and specializes at biotics, that's why we hired her for BAaT. Rebecca on the other hand is a CQC specialist, and an expert with a shotgun and a knife. For some reason part of her service record is classified though, it says that only someone with a rank of Captain or higher can access it. I have both of their records here." As she spoke, Chakwas handed Jane the datapad.

"Thank you," Jane said as she began to scan the pad.

"Hm," Liara groaned as she began to stir and stretch her arms.

"Oh you're awake," Jane said as she placed the datapad on her bedside table, "how are you doing?"

"Oh, hello," Liara said nervously, "I'm glad that you're all right, I was worried that the beacon might have caused you some harm."

"Don't worry," Jane said, "It didn't do anything like that, all it did was give me some sort vision, I have no idea what it was supposed to be though."

"A vision?" Liara asked curiously.

"Yeah, I couldn't make much sense of it though," Jane admitted, "All I could catch was random acts of violence."

"I may be able to assist you with that," Liara offered, standing up. "Are you familiar with the Asari ability to join minds?"

"I've heard of it," Jane replied, "what about it?"

"If I was to join may be able to help you make sense of your vision," Liara explained as she crossed the room. "It's relatively simple and quick, would you like me to preform it?"

"I suppose that I really do need to understand what that vision was," Jane remarked, "but just so you know, there's certain parts of my mind that I would rather you stay away from. The UNSC has entrusted me with certain secrets that I can't let you see."

"If you do not wish me to see it, then I will not be able to," Liara said. "When an Asari melds mind with another, she can only access memories and thoughts that are open to her."

Jane looked certain for a second before speaking. "All right, how exactly does this work?"

"Relax Captain," Liara said, "let go of the physical world around you, feel the spiritual bond that tied together all living things." As she spoke, Liara lifted her hand and pressed it to Jane's temple. "Embrace eternity," Liara whispered.

Jane felt a strange sensation that was difficult to describe, it was like a cross between a light shove and a tap, but it didn't seem to be physical, it was more mental. Jane let out a gasp of surprise as a tidal wave of memories crashed down in front of her eyes. Again a series of images flashed through her head, all of them with a reddish tinge to them. Jane tried desperately to make sense of them, to grab one and hold on to it, but it was impossible. Jane felt like a dam had just broken in front of her and now she was drowning in the resulting cascade.

Then, almost as soon as it had started, Jane found herself standing in the infirmary again. Liara had taken a couple of steps back, and was looking at Jane with shock etched across her face. "By the Goddess," Liara whispered, "I have never felt anything so...so intense."

"I couldn't make anything out of it," Jane said, rubbing her temples, "it was all a blur, just like the first time. Was it clear to you?"

Liara shook her head, "I'm sorry, it was much more than I was expecting. I'm not surprised that you can't understand it, in fact it's a miracle that your mind is still intact, that vision could have easily destroyed a lesser mind."

Jane let out a small sigh, "Never mind, you did your best, there's probably something that we don't know about the artifact that's necessary for it to properly work."

"I suppose that you're ri-oh," Liara moaned, stumbling slightly and pressing her hand against the wall for support.

"Are you all right?" Jane asked, starting forward slightly.

"Yes," Liara groaned, "I'm simply tired, your vision was more draining than I thought that it would be."

"I think that you should lie down," Chakwas suggested.

"Yes, I think that would be for the best," Liara said as she slowly sat down on one of the infirmary's beds.

"I'll check up on you later," Jane said as she began to slide her armor on, "but right now I need to have a talk with our newcomers." As she finished putting on her armor, she grabbed the datapad and walked out of the infirmary.

Rebecca and Neriena were sitting outside, Neriena was cleaning her assault rifle and Rebecca was sharpening a combat knife. "Oh, you're up," Rebecca said, looking up from her knife.

"I trust that you two were waiting out her to talk to me?" Jane asked.

"Yup," Neriena said placing her rifle to her side, "I trust Chakwas told you about our request?"

"She did," Jane replied, "I seriously doubt that I'll have much trouble fulfilling it, I'll just need to fill out a couple of forms for Rebecca to be transferred here. As for you Neriena since you're officially retired and the UNSC doesn't have any laws against free agents as long as they have a clean background, all I need to do is read your file and we're good to go."

Neriena nodded as Jane began to scan the datapad again. "Began commando training at 175, graduated with high honors at 274. Served for 217 years before retiring at becoming a C-Sec officer. Offered but turned down entry into...the Spectres?" Jane looked at Neriena in surprise, who was frowning slightly. "Why did you turn down Spectre candacey?" Jane asked.

"Keep reading," Neriena snarled, "you'll see."

Jane's eyes darted back to the datapad. "Initially eager," she read, "was sent on a trial mission with another Spectre to weigh skill level. Mission was to infiltrate refinery where slavers were hiding. During mission the refinery overloaded and hundreds of workers were killed both from the explosion and from the resulting smog. The overseeing Spectre claimed that the explosion was a result of a reactor malfunction that occurred due to lack of maintenance. With this information and the slavers dead, the mission was declared a success. Plans for a second mission were being formulated when the candidate dropped out." Jane looked up, "You left because of a reactor accident?" she asked.

"Don't believe that," Neriena said, "that wasn't an accident, that son of a bitch Saren was the Spectre that oversaw that mission, he blew that refinery sky high and fed the Council a bullshit story. The Spectres are way too open to corruption, I'd be willing that half of them are willing to commit genocide to bring in one criminal."

"What about Garrus?" Jane asked.

"He's an exception," Neriena replied, "he's the rare jewel you find in a mine of rock, he actually cares about people and wants to save lives. Saren doesn't, that's why I wanted to come along. I know what that bastard is capable of and what he thinks like, I want to help put him down."

"I understand," Jane said, skimming through the rest of the report. "Everything looks clean," she said, typing on the datapad and switching files. "All right, let me just take a quick look at Rebecca's, I just need to access the restricted areas."

A look of surprise shot across Neriena and Rebecca's face as Jane typed her serial number into the datapad, unlocking the entirety of Rebecca's file. As Jane read the datapad, her eyes widened in shock. Almost absentmindedly, she placed the datapad to her right. "Are you fully aware of what happened to your daughter?" Jane asked silently.

Neriena nodded sadly. "Don't worry," she said softly, "they made me sign an oath of secrecy, I know how important that it is that it stays a secret, so does she."

Rebecca stared at the ground as she continued to sharpen her knife. "I try to forget about it," she muttered, "I got help for it and I take pills when I have to, but I don't want to think about it, it brings back bad memories."

"I don't blame you," Jane said, putting a comforting hand on Rebecca's shoulder. "If you ever have any problems, be sure to talk to our yeoman, her name's Kelly, you can find her around the control room."

"Thanks," Rebecca weakly muttered. "If you don't mind I rather not talk about it."

"Ok," Jane said, "look we've got a couple of empty rooms on the fifth deck, you can crash there if you want. Just head down there, they're the ones with the vacancy symbol on the front."

"I think we'll take you up on that," Neriena said.

"Ok," Jane said, getting to her feet. "I've got to send a couple of forms to the brass."

XXXXX

"These reports cannot be accurate," Valern said. He, Tevos and Naios were standing in their usual positions in the Council chamber, Anderson and Ramos standing across from them. "You honestly expect us to believe this? It is absurd, you claim that the Geth have emerged from the Persecus Veil and have allied themselves with the Jiralhanae, who have also been isolated from the rest of the galaxy? And if that was not ridiculous enough, you claim that Saren Arterius, a Spectre and one of our top agents, is in league with them?"

"We've received conformation from the _Normandy_ and from several of the surviving Eden Prime ground bases," Anderson replied calmly. "Eden Prime was attacked by a joint Jiralhanae and Geth fleet. 90% of the military forces on the planet were wiped out, and we have no idea how many civilians died in the assault."

"Even if what you say about the Jiralhanae and Geth is true," Naios interjected, "accusing a Spectre of a war crime is no small matter."

Ramos resisted the urge to snarl. "I assure you, this is not something that we do half heartily," he growled. "We have an eyewitness who claims that she saw Saren in collaboration with those who attacked Eden Prime."

"And who may I ask is this witness?" Valern asked.

"An Asari archeologist named Liara T'Soni," Anderson answered.

"Are you certain that that was her name?" Tevos asked suddenly, shock crossing her face.

"Absolutely," Ramos answered, raising an eyebrow in curiosity, "do you know her?"

"She is the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, a highly respected spiritual leader of my people" Tevos explained. "I doubt that someone like her would make up wild fantasies about the Council's agents."

"It doesn't have to be a fantasy Tevos," Valern countered. "She could be traumatized by the events of the attack, her testimony could be the spawn of little more than hallucinations."

"How far are you willing to go to deny the truth?" Ramos asked, barely containing his anger. "Your beloved Spectre has stabbed you in the back, if you do not act now it is only a matter of time before he rains more chaos on the universe, while he hides behind you."

Before Valern could react, the elevator leading to the Presidium chimed and the door opened. A rather slim Batarian exited, dressed in some sort red robe. "I hope that I am not interrupting anything important," he said meekly.

"If you don't mind me asking, who are you?" Naios asked.

"I am Jath'Amon," the Batarian said, bowing slightly. "I was the Hegemony representative scheduled to meet with you today. We were supposed to negotiate a non-aggression pact between the Hegemony and the Council."

"I'm sorry but we cannot do that at the moment," Tevos said, "we are currently speaking with the UNSC and RSN at the moment."

"Oh I assure you that this will only take a moment," Jath assured as he reached into his robes. In the blink of an eye, Ramos activated an energy sword, dashed forward and swung it. There was a roar of agony as Jath's arm flew through the air and he hit the floor.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Valern bellowed as Ramos slammed his foot into Jath's chest and pressed down.

"Since when does an ambassador carry something like this," Ramos snarled, as he reached into Jath's robes pulled out a thick metal canister.

Jath lifted his remaining arm to his ear and said two words, "I failed," before biting down hard. Jath convulsed violently once and his body went limp."

"What just happened?" Naios asked in a hopelessly confused voice.

Ramos deactivated his energy sword and placed it on his hip. Crouching down he reached into Jath's mouth and yanked a tooth out. "He used ocular nerve flash bangs," Ramos said as he stood up, "the detonator was in his tooth."

"But why did he have nerve flash bangs?" Tevos asked, "what is in that canister?"

"A virus," a deep voice said, emanating from around them, "it was meant to kill you."

"Who's there?" Anderson shouted, drawing a pistol as he spoke.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the voice said again and a hologram began to appear in the center of the Council chamber. It was a blood red hologram of a twelve foot tall and heavily armored Jiralhanae whose arms were folding over his chest. A massive two handed sword was strapped to his back that was nearly as long as he is. It was hardly his only weapon, he had a spiker attached to each thigh and some sort of copper colored tube was strapped to his back, perpendicular to his sword.

"Who are you?" Anderson demanded.

"Tritus," the Jiralhanae replied, "Emperor Tritus, leader of the Jiralhanae Empire."

"What Empire?" Valern asked, "it is impossible for a galactic power to develop while completely isolated from the rest of the ga-"

"Shut your trap Turian," Tritus growled, "I did not contact you to make idle talk, I contacted you to deliver a message."

"How do you know what this is?" Ramos snarled, holding the canister up.

"I ordered Jath to assassinate the Council," Tritus said calmly.

"Why would a Batarian take orders from you?" Naios questioned.

A small smile worked it's way onto Tritus' face. "And I thought that the Union prided itself on espionage, the Batarians are now our ally."

"That is absurd!" Valern shouted, "do you honestly expect us to believe that? What would the Batarians stand to gain from allying with a bunch of savages like you?"

"Much," Tritus replied, "much more than they would ever gain from a band of cowards like you." Tritus turned to face Anderson and Ramos. "I honestly thought that your kinds would pick stronger species as allies, but it matters little, your lose is my gain."

"What are you talking about?" Anderson asked.

"The Quarians were an interesting ally to pick," Tritus said, "no doubt they are very effective engineers, but the Krogan are far more sturdy, far stronger and they are much more easily swayed."

"You don't mean-" Tevos said in a terrified voice.

"Yes," Tritus said, "The Krogan tribes of Tuchanka have pledged their loyalty to me, I promised them vengeance and blood, a promise I intend to keep. Which brings me to my message." Tritus drew the sword on his back and held it over his head. "For decades we have hid within our territory, rebuilding and regrouping, but no more! As of this day!" he proclaimed loudly. "The Jiralhanae Empire and it's allies, the Batarians, the Krogan and the Geth, all declare war on the United Nations Space Command, the Republic of Sovereign Nations, the Council and all of it's member species." Tritus lowered his sword and looked at Anderson and Ramos, a grim look on his face. "You should have known that this day would come. Prepare yourselves," he said ominously as his hologram disappeared"

Author's Note: This chapter was mainly setting things up as you could probably guess, but I'm happy with the results. I think you finally understand what I said about this being radically different, this story isn't going to be about one ship flying around the galaxy, it's going to be about a WAR. Also before you fly off the hook, let me explain something. The reason that the UNSC never offered the Krogan the chance to join or bothered to cure the Genophage is because of two things. 1. The Council would no doubt see it as an act of war, Quarians are one thing, Krogan are another. 2. The Krogan are a loose canon, they'll fight with you while it serves their interest, but afterwards they'll kill you for fun, the thing is the Jiralhanae like that in an ally.

Well I hope that you liked the chapter, as always, tell me what you think.


	23. Preparation

Chapter 23

Preparation

Author's Note: Well, the last chapter got A LOT of positive feedback, that's always good. Please try and bear with me for the rest of this story, some of it might not make sense at first but I have a plan that will fit everything together. I have a rather complex plot planned, I hope that you enjoy it. By the way, one reviewer suggested that because of the course I'm taking, I should change the rating to M...I agree. Let's just say I have a certain scene in mind that will require an M rating, what is it you ask? Well, I'll give you a hint, it isn't sexual.

"Damn it this is bad," Taylor muttered as he wandered through the Lower Wards. The _Normandy_ had arrived at the Citadel half an hour ago and word had gotten around about Tritus' declaration of war. Jane, Garrus and Liara had gone to the Council in an attempt to convince them that Saren was in league with Tritus and his allies, taking the Geth data that Richard had now completely decoded with them.

Admiral Anderson had stated that the _Normandy _would be deployed to a front line UNSC fleet the next day, and in order to calm the nerves of the crew, he had given them all shore leave until then.

Taylor let out a sigh as he looked at the piece of folded printout paper in his hand. Kelly had handed it to him on the way out, saying that someone had sent him a message. "Well, let's see who it is," Taylor said as he unfolded the paper and began to read.

_Dear Taylor,_

_Sorry but I have to make this quick, Mack just gave me a call and told us what's going on. He told me that you were at Eden Prime so I probably won't have to explain it. Your mother and I had a long talk and we made a decision. We can't bear the thought of you and Sarah being out there and risking your lives while we sit nice and comfy at home, so first thing tomorrow, we're reenlisting. Mack's going to pull a couple of strings so that we skip basic, there is a process so that returning vets can do that you know. _

_Things are going to get rough Taylor, I can guarantee you that. The Second Contact War was Hell on Earth and it only lasted a couple of weeks. The Jiralhanae are back and they've allied themselves with some of the Council's worst enemies. Watch your back out there and if you run into Sarah tell her to do the same, I'm writing to her next. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to the two of you._

_From, Damon Winters_

Taylor smiled as he folded the letter and tucked it into his pocket. 'Not very surprising, I get the feeling that Mom was the one that came up that idea in the first place. I just hope that they don't get themselves killed. Maybe I should poke around, see if there's anything worth buying down here.'

Taylor turned and began to head for the nearest stand, but was surprised when he saw a familiar face standing at it. "Tali, what are you doing down here?" he asked, as he stopped next to her."

"Oh, hi Taylor," Tali said, looking up from the display stand. "I was just looking around."

"What are these?" Taylor asked, pointing at the various shelves of chips that the stand was selling.

"Programs for environmental suits," Tali replied, "the Volus are the only species that really uses them nowadays. I was just thinking though," Tali said, looking back at the programs, "my people used to use these. It's funny," Tali chuckled, "I saw these all the time when I was a child that I still remember them all. This one examines the nutrients in your body, and that one detects radiation, we didn't use it very much."

"What was it like?" Taylor asked, looking at Tali.

"What was what like?" Tali asked, looking away from the programs.

"Being forced to live in an environmental suit your whole life," Taylor replied, "I don't think that you ever told me."

"It was...difficult," Tali said. "You had to be extremely careful, the smallest puncture could sent you to the infirmary, or even kill you. I had to take at least an hour out of every day to make sure that my suit was intact and fully functional. You could never feel anything besides the inside of your suit," she said, lifting up her hand and looking at it. "For the longest time that didn't bother me at all, but now that I've lived outside of a suit for years...I can't even imagine going through that again. Back then the only time when another Quarian could feel the touch of another is when two Quarians link suit environments."

"When they what?" Taylor asked.

"It's was a practice that was used when we were still confined to the Migrant Fleet," Tali explained. "Two Quarians would enter a sterile room and they would...they would...how do I put this?" she said, rubbing her hands together nervously.

"I get the picture," Taylor said, smiling slightly, "Did you do that often?"

"No," Tali sighed, "Linking environments was considered the highest form of trust and wasn't taken lightly. I never got a chance to preform it before we made contact with Sanctuary, but if I was to, I would have done it with someone I would trust my life with, like you."

"Uh," Taylor said, his face turning a light red, "You wouldn't mind it if you and I did...that?"

"Oh Keelah!" Tali shouted, causing Taylor to jump. "I swear I didn't mean it like that," Tali stuttered nervously, her hands rubbing together so quickly Taylor was half expecting sparks to fly from them. "I wouldn't want to do that, uh the other thing not join environments, oh damn it, that's not what meant, I mean I trust you enough for you to do things that I wouldn't let other people- AGH!"

"Tali calm down," Taylor said, putting his hands on Tali shoulders. "I know you didn't mean that, it just caught me off guard that's all."

Tali's voice died and her hands fell to her side. "Thanks," she said softly as Taylor took his hands away. "Sorry, when I get nervous I talk too much, it's something I've done since I was a child."

"I can believe that," Taylor muttered, "just relax."

"Ok," Tali said, taking a deep breath "ok."

"Look, what do you say we have a drink or two?" Taylor offered, "It's on me."

"I never considered myself a big fan of alcohol," Tali remarked, "but I suppose one drink wouldn't hurt."

"All right, come on," Taylor said as walked away from the stand. Tali stood still, clutching her left arm with her right hand, feeling extremely flushed. She felt extremely embarrassed and conflicted about the conversation she had just had with Taylor and had no idea what to feel about the whole thing. "You coming?" Taylor shouted.

"Yeah," Tali replied numbly as she made to follow Taylor.

XXXXX

"I don't think that the Council is just going to swallow this Shepard," Garrus said, as he, Jane and Liara stood in an elevator heading towards the Presidium, "you know how stubborn they can be. They've already got to deal with four different factions uniting to defeat them, I doubt that they'll want to hear about one of their agents betraying them."

"There's what they want to hear and then there's what they have to hear," Jane bitterly remarked.

"I agree with Shepard," Liara added, "Saren was among the Geth at Eden Prime, if he is in league with Tritus than the Council must act. If they do not, Saren will be able to feed Council information to the Jiralhanae that could cause the deaths of countless people."

"I have no problem with Saren being punished for what he did," Garrus retorted, "I just said that the Council wouldn't be willing to do so. The things they've let him get away with in the past, I swear they don't even have a right to be surprised that he betrayed them, Saren never displayed any concern for life even when he was a young Spectre."

"If the Council doesn't believe what we have to show them," Jane said angrily, "the UNSC will take care of Saren, one way or another, they're not going to take this sitting down."

The elevator slid to a stop with a ding and the door slid open. The trio walked out, heading for the Council chambers, and found Ramos and Anderson standing right outside. "Jane," Anderson said warmly, shaking hands with the Captain. "It's good to see you again, although I wish that it was under happier circumstances."

"You too Admiral," Jane replied, "any progress with the Council?"

"Not much," Anderson admitted as the five of them entered the Council chamber, "they're pretty damn stubborn about the whole thing. Liara's testimony will be a big help, but is there any chance that you have any other evidence?"

"Oh don't worry," Jane assured, "I've got something that the Council would have to be suicidal to overlook."

"I hope that you are correct," Ramos said as they stopped in front of the Council.

"Captain Shepard," Tevos said politely, "I am glad that you were able to make time to see us, I have no doubt that you must be very busy."

"You said that you had evidence that proved that Saren was on Eden Prime and in league with the forces that attacked it," Naios stated bluntly, "is there any chance that you could show it to us?"

"With all due respect Councilor," Garrus interjected, "Dr. T'Soni here has already testified to having seen Saren on Eden Prime."

"The problem with that Vakarian," Valern countered, "is that T'Soni could have easily been traumatized by the events of the attack, and her testimony could be worthless."

"Maybe you'll listen to this then," Jane said angrily as reached for the back of her helmet and removed a chip. "Richard, you mind playing that recording that you got from that Geth?"

"Not at all," Richard said as his avatar materialized over the chip.

A faint glowing seemed to emanate from behind Richard's face wrappings as a rough voice began to emanate from the chip. "Eden Prime was a victory, the beacon has brought us closer to our goals."

"Once we have the Conduit, nothing will be able to stop the Reapers from returning," said a second, rather feminine voice.

"I ran a scan through the Council's databanks," Richard said, "those vocal patterns match up with Saren's. I'm still trying to figure out who the second voice belongs t-"

"Mother?" Everyone's head turned to look at Liara, a horrorstruck look on her face. "That was my mother," she whispered in a barely audible voice, "why is Benezia talking to Saren?"

Everyone looked confused at this revelation, with the exception of Tevos. After a moment of silence, she began to speak. "As much as I don't want to believe it, it appears that Saren as indeed betrayed us, and so has Matriarch Benezia. As of today, both of them shall be declared traitors to the Council and will be dealt with appropriately." She glanced at her fellow Councilors, "are there any objections?" Valern and Naios were silent. "Very well."

Liara gulped silently as these words hit her, a terrible feeling of dread spreading through her body. 'Benezia is in league with Saren and Tritus?' she thought, 'It doesn't make any sense.'

"What are these Reapers that they spoke of?" Ramos asked.

"Supposedly they are a race of sentient machines, some believe that they are creatures that were responsible for the destruction of entire planets. In reality they are little more than myth, I suspect that Saren is using the concept of the Reapers to draw the Geth into an alliance," Valern said dismissively."

Jane couldn't help but frown as she placed Richard's chip back into her helmet. 'Could the attackers in the vision the beacon showed me be the Reapers?' she wondered. 'I suppose I don't really know, it's still so vague.'

Jane was broken out of her thoughts by Tevos' voice. "Thank you for bringing us this information, I assure you Saren has been brought to justice."

"That will be difficult," Naios interjected, "Saren has not been seen for days, he has simply vanished."

"He bolted," Garrus said bluntly, "he must have known that we were on to him, so he cut his loses and ran."

"That would make sense," Anderson said. "Jane, thank you for bringing this to us."

"We would also like to thank you Captain," Tevos said gratefully.

"Shepard, if you don't mind I have a favor to ask of you," Garrus said, looking at Jane. "I have to say I'm impressed with the way you handle things Shepard, I was wondering if I could go with you."

Jane smiled slightly, "What would be your reasoning for that? Couldn't you just hitch a ride on a Hierarchy ship?"

"I've already given the Hierarchy the military service that I owe it," Garrus replied, "the rigid rules and regulations never appealed to me. I'm rather interested to see how you handle things, after all you not like any Captain I've ever seen, you methods are out of the norm, even by Human standards. Also, wouldn't the _Normandy _be the first candidate to run deep space recon? I get the feeling that if anyone is sent to track down Saren, it'll be you, and I want a piece of him."

"Shepard, I must ask to come too," Liara said, rather suddenly. Jane turned to face her, looking surprised. "I am not incompetent," Liara continued, rather defensively, "I have spent a great deal of time in the Terminus Systems, I have constantly dealt with mercenaries, criminals and slavers, I will not be a liability."

"Liara, I didn't doubt your abilities," Jane said simply, "Just tell me this though, why do you want to come?"

Some of Liara's resolve seemed to die as she stared sadly at the floor. "I haven't spoken with Benezia in years, but I know my mother Shepard," she said quietly. "She believed that there were many things wrong with the galatic community, but she would never do something like this." She lifted her head up and looked Jane directly in the eyes. "I need to know why she's doing this," she said desperately, "Garrus is right, your ship is the most likely to find Saren, and Benezia will probably be with him. Shepard, please I'm begging you."

Jane smiled lightly, "All you had to do was ask," she said, causing Liara to sigh in relief.

"If there is nothing else to be said, I suggest that we end this meeting," Naios said.

"That might be for the-" Anderson began, but was cut off by his COM unit beeping. "Anderson," he said, putting his hand to his ear. "WHAT?" he shouted, causing everyone to jump. "When? How long? I'll do what I can."

"What is it?" Jane asked as Anderson lowered his hand.

"The Jiralhanae have made their move," Anderson replied in a hurried voice. "They've launched an attack on the UNSC colony Feros. An Asari fleet was delivering goods at the time and the military escorts have remained behind to assist UNSC forces, but things aren't looking good. They've requested assistance from all available forces. I want you to go there Jane."

"Understood," Jane said, putting her hand to her COM unit. "This is Jane Shepard, we've received a distress signal from Feros colony and we're heading out to assist. Shore leave has been canceled and I want everyone back on the ship in half an hour. Let's go," she said to Liara and Garrus as they dashed towards the elevator."

XXXXX

Within the confines of slipspace, a single Empire Assault Carrier was hurling towards its destination. Within the confines of the mostly deserted bridge, a single Jiralhanae stood. He wore heavy dark black armor that had a reddish tinge to it. It completely covered his body, with only his face and a handful of snow white fur visible. "You wished to see me Tritus?" Tritus turned to see a hooded figure enter the bridge.

"Yes, I am glad that you are well Xeron," he said as Xeron pulled his hood back. "You did well when you led the attack on Eden Prime, especially considering that you were only given conscripts."

"Yes," Xeron said, "I must admit that must have been one of your most brilliant ideas, taking Jiralhanae criminals and outlaws and forcing them into military service. They are far more expendable than our regular military, and they are helpful should we ever have a suicide mission that needs to be completed."

Tritus couldn't help but smile slightly. "I am well aware of the point of that practice Xeron, the conscripts die on the front lines while the more disciplined and skilled warriors watch and wait. But enough of this, I summoned you here for a reason."

"Why is that?"

"I trust that you are aware that I have been running an investigation into a breach of Empire security for several months now?"

"Of course," Xeron replied, "one of the conscripts was leaking low level information to an outside source. You were so angry that you let Sukron have him."

"There is no greater scum than those who commit treason for personal gain," Tritus growled. "I have been following a trail with the little information that we were able to extract from him, and I have finally found who the information was being sent to."

"You plan to eliminate him don't you?"

"Always one step ahead," Tritus said, grinning faintly. "Yes, within a day or two I plan to do just that, and I want you at my side."

"It will be an honor," Xeron said respectfully, "but I must ask, who are we hunting?"

"I do not know his true name," Tritus admitted, "but the Council calls him the Shadow Broker. Apparently the Broker is a dealer of information of all kinds, he is able to extract information from even the most hardened of sources. I cannot allow this, it will only be a matter of time before he acquires more agents within the Empire, for all I know he already has dozens at work. If he acquires too much Empire information, he could easily sell it to our enemies and seal our fates."

"Where is this Broker?" Xeron asked.

"He hides within a ship that cruises within the atmosphere of a planet called Hagalaz," Tritus replied. "It is quite the hiding place, the planet is constantly ravaged by storms that scramble radar and make tracking impossible. In order to find a ship within the storms, you must know it's exact location. I just so happen to poses this information, it took months of tracing the Broker's agents and Sukron had to loosen a couple of tongues, but I have the information. We will board the Shadow Broker's ship, kill him, and then check his databanks to see if there are any other spies in the Empire. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly," Xeron replied.

"Good, get some rest Xeron, I doubt that this will be easy."

"Tritus, I have one more question." The Emperor raised his eyebrow. "The artifact that I had orders to let Saren access, what is it?"

"I am not sure," Tritus admitted, "Saren claims that it is important and part of a series of objects he must collect, but he refuses to tell me. It matters very little in the end, I doubt that it is has a very significant value and I have only given him conscripts to add in his search."

"Thank you," Xeron said, "if you will excuse me, I wish to mediate."

"Of course."

Author's Note: Once again, I want to get this out of the way before you fly off of the hook. I get the feeling at least one person will say "HOW CAN TRITUS TRACK DOWN THE SHADOW BROKER IN MONTHS? IT TOOK LIARA TWO YEARS?" Well folks, Liara is an archeologist that was on her own, Tritus has the resources of an entire galactic power behind him, I think that he would be able to do it in that timeframe. Well, I hope that this is emphasizing the AU ness of the story, and I hope you realize how different this story really is. As always, tell me what you think.


	24. First Blood

Chapter 24

First Blood

Author's Notes: Good feedback (for the most part) as usual, I do love it when that happens. You might notice that I will have multiple story arcs running at the same time, like in the last chapter, Jane is heading to Feros to help the UNSC and Asari while Tritus is hunting down the Shadow Broker. There's going to be a couple more things like that later on in the story, I'll be doing this because it makes things more interesting and flexible. On another note, I FINALLY BEAT REACH ON SOLO LEGENDARY, hello monument to all of your sins achievement, in part that is why this update took so long, I hope that you are happy with my excuse and that you like this chapter.

Feros was one of the UNSC colonies that had been formed after the Human-Covenant War and contact with the Council. Due to the amount of development that their colonies had undergone since the war, the UNSC had abandoned their practice of not settling new colonies and began to expand again. Feros was one of the dozens of colonies that had been established since then. The planet was well known for two-thirds of it being covered by a single Prothean city, a city that tens of thousands of UNSC citizens now live in.

The planet is not a major UNSC colony, because of the limited amount of exports. While the enough of the debris coating the planet to so that the colony could produce enough food and water to be self sufficient, the only exports that it has are goods that are salvaged from the ruins, making the colony rather poor.

The majority of the colonists lived in the skyscrapers of the city, salvaging anything worthwhile that they could find. The rest of civilians lived on ground level, farming crops and herding livestock. Life on Feros could be tough sometimes, but it was manageable.

Unfortunately things had gone to Hell when the Jiralhanae attacked, the Batarians right behind them. In orbit fifteen Jiralhanae ships and twenty five Batarian ships had clashed with ten UNSC ships and twenty Asari ships. While half of the Jiralhanae/Batarian fleet was destroyed, the majority of the UNSC/Asari fleet was wiped out, the survivors either fled the system or made an emergency landing on the planet.

After achieving victory in orbit, the Jiralhanae and the Batarians launched dropships which landed at ground level. The farmers suffered near total annihilation, only a lucky handful made it to the skyscrapers, which were fortified by UNSC and Asari forces.

The Jiralhanae then used a gravity lift to deploy a heavy field base to act as a base of operations. 24 hours have passed since the attack began and the invaders have been relentless in their attempts to take the skyscrapers, attacking with dropships from above and with soldiers from below. Despite this, the defenders have held their ground, although it unsure how much longer they will be able to hold out.

For reasons unknown, the Jiralhanae have not bombarded the colony with energy projectors. There are many theories why they have taken this corse of actions. Some said that the Jiralhanae wanted to kill their foes personally, while others believed that the Batarians wanted to take prisoners. In the end, theories took a backseat to the defense of the colony, as every able bodied colonist and soldier fights for their lives.

XXXXX

"Damn it!" a well built woman in Marine armor swore as the ground underneath her shook violently. She was Major Ashley Williams, recently appointed commander of all UNSC forces on Feros after the previous commanding officer had been killed. She was currently in the uppermost section of the skyscraper that the majority of the colonists lived in. The room that she was in had been turned into a makeshift control room with half a dozen technicians working at computers, desperately relaying orders and receiving reports.

"Winters, what the Hell are the apes doing now?" Ashley shouted, staring across the room at a Marine working at a terminal.

"Looks like they've deployed a heavy plasma turret, not too far from the base of the skyscraper," Staff Sergeant Sarah Winers replied, her fingers furiously flying across the keyboard in front of her. "They're bombarding the tower with it. One of our scouts is reporting a heavy enemy presence around the turret, looks like they don't want us anywhere near it."

"Perfect," Ashley hissed, "they're trying to flush us out. Not to mention we have half a dozen evacuation ships still waiting to take off. Do we have any forces near within range of the turret?"

"Son of a bitch," Sarah swore as she scanned the screen in front of her. "Lieutenant Jacob Taylor has a platoon not too far away with a handful of Asari huntresses backing him up, but they don't have nearly enough manpower to penetrate the forces surrounding the turret."

"How heavy are the turret's defenses?" Ashely asked, crossing the room to where Sarah sat.

"Around 30 Jiralhanae, 40 Batarians and 50 Yanme'e, they may or may not have Kig-yar snipers supporting them," Sarah replied hastily. " We'd need a company of troops to take them out and we just can't spare that many men."

'She's right,' Ashley thought, 'our lines are thin enough as it is.' "How long until reinforcements arrive?"

"It'll be a couple of hours before the fleet from Reach arrives," Sarah said as the room shook again. "It'll be a blessing if we last half that time though."

Ashley opened her mouth to speak when a rattling noise came from the ceiling. Everyone in the room looking up at the air vent at the top of the room. "Did you hear that?" Ashley asked. The worlds were barley out of her mouth when the lid was forced off from the inside and a swarm Yanme'e burst through.

"Oh fuck!" Sarah swore as she grabbed the assault rifle that was lying next to her terminal and Ashley drew an SMG. They and the half a dozen other Marines in the room fired at the Yanme'e, who were already firing their own weapons. A series of needles hit two of the Marines, exploding and sending their bodies flying. Flinching slightly from the explosion, Sarah jammed her finger down on the trigger of her rifle, taking down two of the Yanme'e swarming above her, while Ashley took down another three with her own SMG.

Lowered her weapon, Sarah shoved the terminal off of the desk and overturned it, taking cover behind it with Ashley. This was not a moment two soon, as a barrage of bright plasma hit the desk, scorching it to a charred black.

One Yanme'e activated a plasma grenade Marines as a bullet pierced it's skull. The grenade fell to the ground and detonated, sending an unfortunate Marine flying. The remaining Marines concentrated their fire on the Yanme'e, killing three. Upon seeing that they were now outnumbered, the surviving insects fled back into the air vent and out of sight.

"We can't take this for much longer," Ashley said as Sarah placed the desk back on it's legs and heaved the terminal back onto it. "They're whittling away at us, it doesn't matter if we hold the line, we're running out of men."

"Major," Sarah said as message popped up on her terminal. "I'm...receiving a message."

"What?" Ashley said, clearly surprised, "from where?"

"It's from a UNSC ship," Sarah said, "but scans aren't picking any up. Hold on I'm patching it through."

"This is Captain Jane Shepard of the _Normandy_, how can we be of assistance?" a voice nearly drowning in static crackled over the COM lines.

'_Normandy_? That prototype stealth frigate? So that's why we can't get a read on it, and it's why is hasn't been shot down,' Ashley thought. "Frankly Captain, I'll take all the help that I can get. First off, is there any chance that you have any ODSTs on board your ship?"

"I've got a platoon ready to go," Jane replied.

"Good, because I could really use them on the ground. I've got a plan."

XXXXX

"Fascinating," Xeron muttered as he looked out the side door of a the Phantom that he was in, and oxygen mask covering his face. A single Phantom was flying through the stormy sky of Hagalaz, searching for the ship of the Shadow Broker. "Tritus, is it not possible that the Shadow Broker will see us coming and attempt to escape?" Xeron asked, looking at the only other passenger of the Phantom.

"The storms of this planet work both ways Xeron," Tritus said, speaking through his own oxygen mask. "No ship could possibly detect the Broker's ship through the interference caused by these storms, yet at the same, he is as blind as a Thorn Beast, unable to see incoming ships."

"I see," Xeron said, looking out of the door again.

"We are nearing the coordinates you gave me," the pilot said from his seat. "Emperor if I may, why are you conducting this mission with no support other than Xeron? Every last warrior in the Empire knows of his power, but this is a dangerous mission. Couldn't you have at least brought a lance or two?"

"We have no conscripts on the _Vigilant Guardian_," Tritus said simply, not looking at the pilot. "The only warriors that we have are volunteers, Jiralhanae that have pledged their lives to the empire. If they were to accompany me and Xeron to the Broker's ship, they would without a doubt die."

"But Emperor," the pilot objected, "they are warriors, they know what they joined the army for, they are willing to lay down their lives for you."

"And what am I to tell their families?" Tritus questioned. "That I ordered their sons, brothers and fathers to a pointless death? The lives of warriors are not to be idly used and thrown away like trash. It is my duty to always think of those who follow me and to give them the respect that they deserve." Tritus craned his neck to look at the pilot. "If I do not do this, then the Jiralhanae will be little more than the savages we were not too long ago. Do you understand?"

"Yes Emperor," the pilot stuttered as he turned back to the controls.

'He is a little young,' Tritus thought, looking away from the pilot, 'but his spirit is strong.'

"Tritus, look," Xeron said simply, pointing out of the Phantom's door. Out of the shroud of the storms, the frame of an enormous ship could be seen. "An impressive size for a mass effect ship," Xeron muttered, as the ship emerged from the pitch black clouds in front of them. The ship was a silvery color with massive engines and stretched 5km at least. "The Shadow Broker must have a massive amount of resources at his disposal."

"Size isn't everything," Tritus pointed out. "This vessel may impress the eyes, but that does not necessarily make it a fearsome combat vessel. For all we know that ship has no combat capabilities, and even if we did it would not make it practical. The time and energy that must have been put into this oversized piece of scrap makes my head spin." He turned to look at the pilot again. "Close on the Broker's ship so that we may deploy, afterwards return to the _Vigilant Guardian_ until I contact you."

"Understood," the pilot said, tapping the control pad in front of him, causing the Phantom to accelerate. The Phantom sped over the top of the Shadow Broker's ship, slowing to a halt and hovering over it. Simultaneously, Xeron and Tritus leapt out of the Phantom, landing firmly on the Broker's ship. The Phantom made a sharp turn and began to head upward out of sight.

"Xeron move up!" Tritus barked, "Search for an entrance!" Xeron nodded as the two of them made their way forward, both of them shielding their faces from the harsh winds. There was a bang and a single bullet slammed into the barrier surrounding Xeron.

"It would appear that the top of this ship is guarded," Xeron remarked as a dozen mercenaries in black armor came into view, all of them taking cover among large towers that seemed to be drawing lighting from the storms.

"It certainly does," Tritus said calmly as he unholstered the tube on his back, raising it up to eye level and aiming down the targeting reticle. "We should introduce ourselves," he said as he pulled the trigger and a rocket soared of the end of the tube, that was not a simple tube, but a rocket launcher.

The rocket landed in the middle of the mercenaries and send four of them flying, one of them actually hitting one of the towers, causing him to scream in agony as he was electrocuted. The weapons of the remaining mercenaries burst to life as they all concentrated their fire on Tritus, who ducked behind one of the towers as the bullets whizzed by, his shields.

The mercenaries were relentless in their fire, not ceasing even for a second, forcing Tritus to remain behind the tower as they slowly crept out cover and began to advance. No sooner had they done this than a flash of purple light temporarily filled their line of vision before fading away, revealing Xeron standing in their midst. "It would appear that you are nothing more than lowly thugs," the biotic remarked as his advisories pointed their weapons at him, only to find that they had overheated from keeping Tritus pinning down. "A shame, I was hoping for a better fight."

In a flash, Xeron gathered a purple aura around his hand and slammed his fist into the hull of the ship, sending out a shockwave that blew all eight of the mercenaries off of the ship and to their deaths in the boiling sea bellow them. "Well done Xeron," Tritus said as he loaded a fresh rocket into his weapon, "but keep your guard up, more hostiles are approaching. I do believe that the Shadow Broker prefers numbers instead of quality fighters."

"It matters not," Xeron said, a purple aura appearing by his hand, "they will die and we will be victorious."

"I agree."

XXXXX

"So what's the plan?" Rebecca asked as she slid her shotgun onto the magnetic clamp on her back. She was standing in the lower decks of the Normandy, talking with Taylor by the HEV pods.

"A heavy plasma cannon is bombarding the Hell out of the main UNSC position and keeping all aircraft grounded," Taylor explained. "Those things can pluck a fighter out of the air when it's going at maximum speed, so evasive maneuvers are out of the question, that thing has got to go. We're going to drop in and support a platoon that's already on the ground, HEVs are the only things fast enough to avoid that thing. The rest of the _Normandy_'s forces are going to drop in on the top of the old skyscrapers and provide support there until reinforcements arrive."

"How exactly are we going to take that monster out? Standard issue weapons don't really pack the punch we're looking for."

"I've that that covered," Tali said as she rounded the corner, holding a large metal sphere in each hand. "Antitank charges," she said, as she attached each charge to her thighs. "Jane authorized the use of them for this mission, they should be enough."

"Wait, you're coming down too?" Taylor asked, looking surprised.

"Jane wanted a qualified engineer to place the charges, otherwise the turret could just be damaged but remain operational," Tali explained. "It's not going to be a problem is it?" There was the faintest amount of uncertainty in her voice as she spoke.

"No it's not a problem, it...it just caught me off guard that's all," Taylor said uncomfortably.

'I don't know,' Rebecca silently thought, glancing back and forth between to the two 'they seem pretty close to me.'

"This is the Captain speaking," Jane's voice crackled over the COM lines. "We're heading in hard and fast. Ground team, you'll be deploying in two minutes, I want you ready to go."

"Everyone else is already in their pods," Taylor said, looking around the deck. "Let's get moving," he said as he turned and began to climb into the pod behind him.

"Taylor wait," Tali said suddenly, causing Taylor's head to turn with a questioning look on his face. "Uh," Tali stuttered, "never mind, it isn't that important. I'll tell you afterwards." Taylor smiled slightly and nodded as he climbed into his pod, the lid closing behind him."

"Tali quick question," Rebecca said as she stopped outside of her own pod, Tali halfway into a third one. "These pods have automatic steering, so you don't need to worry about controls, but out of curiosity have you every been in an HEV before."

"No, why do you ask."

"Oh boy," Rebecca muttered. "In case you need it, there's a barf bag to your right."

XXXXX

Author's Note: Ok, not my best chapter but then again it was more of a set up than anything else. Now I have quite a few things I want to talk about so bear with me.

You might notice that my Jiralhanae OCs are a little different that the average Jiralhanae. There's a very simple explanation, practically everyone that has made a Jiralhanae OC has had them be bloodthirsty killers, with a couple of people making theirs intelligent, and that alone seems to make them radically different from the norm. I wanted to do something different from what people normally do. The concept behind Tritus and Xeron is that villains aren't people that go out and commit genocide to kill a Saturday afternoon...ok a couple do, but the idea is that Tritus and Xeron have as much personality, defining traits, motivation and backstory as the protagonists, I think it makes for a more interesting read.

Also I have come to a conclusion, after I am done with this story, I will revise the first chapter and continue with Tribal Wars, I may even start a little early. I don't want to start so soon, because as some of you might realize, there's some familiar names in Tribal Wars. Reread that chapter, see if you notice anything, if you do...I didn't do that by accident. Here's a little clue as to what I'm talking about, Jiralhanae have a very sturdy anatomy, they live a long life, a LONG life, if they don't get killed that is, which does happen a lot.

On another note, I think I finally realized why my chapters are so short compared to other's. Other writers write like they have ADD, we're here, now we're here, now we're here, and now we're here and on and on and on, while I visit a maximum of three maybe four places in one chapter. I mainly do this because I don't like to cram that much information into one read, I like to space it out, not to mention it gives off a good feeling of drama. Well, that's all for now, as always tell me what you think.


	25. Forward Assault

Chapter 25

Forward Assault

Author's Note: Not that many reviews for the last chapter, but then again that's probably because not that much happened. Hopefully this chapter will get the ball rolling again but I fell compelled to warn you about something. I have a scene planned for the next chapter that is...less than pleasant. If I go into details it will give away spoilers so I'll just tell you this. When I post chapter 26, I will also change the rating of this story from T to M...yeah, just thought that I should give you a heads up on that one. Now that we got that piece of news out of the way, here you go.

At the very base of the Prothean skyscrapers, Jacob Taylor let out a sigh as he looked down the scope of his battle rifle, scanning the area for hostiles.

"Jacob." Jacob turned around to see an armored Asari Huntress who was holding a rifle approaching him.

"Fayls," Jacob said, lowered his rifle, "how are the others holding up?" As he spoke, he gestured to the small mob of Marines and Huntress that were huddled together a hundred feet away.

"We're managing," Fayls sighed, "but morale's dropping like a rock."

"Don't worry, I just off of the radio with the Major, she's got a little mission for us to do. She wants us to take out the heavy turret that the Jiralhanae just put up."

"That monster?" Fayls shouted in surprise. Jacob nodded. Falys shook her head in disbelief. "Jacob, as much as I would love to completely annihilate that thing, we don't have the manpower."

"Don't worry," Jacob said, "backup is on the way." No sooner had Jacob spoke, than there was a series of loud cracks as several dozen HEV pods slammed into the ground, not too far away. "See?" Jacob remarked as he and Fayls made their way towards the pods. As they neared them, the lids on the pods slid open, their passengers climbing out.

"Oh, Keelah," Tali muttered as she got to her feet, clutching her chest.

"You all right?" Taylor asked as he clambered out of his own pod.

"I feel...odd," Tali panted, taking deep breaths.

"That's just the adrenaline rush that you get when you jump," Taylor remarked, "It should go away in a few minutes."

"Are you Lieutenant Taylor Winters?" Jacob shouted, causing Taylor to crane his neck to look at Jacob approaching him.

"Yeah, that's me," Taylor said as Jacob and Falys stopped in front of him, "I take it you're Jacob?" Jacob nodded as the rest of the platoon exited their pods and began to gather around them, Jacob's platoon joining them. "We've got a job to do, got any ideas?"

"One," Jacob said. "The turret isn't that far from here, it's about five minutes away. Right in between here and there there's an old barn that the apes didn't tear down. Here's what I suggest, the majority of your men will fortify and take up positions in that barn. I'll take my men and hit the turret head on, kill a couple of the chimps and then fall back to the barn. They'll most likely come after us, and when they do, they'll be walking straight into an ambush."

"You said that the majority of my platoon should hole up in the barn," Taylor remarked, "do you need the rest of us somewhere else?"

"I was thinking that you could take a small team and flank the turret and take it out once we have their attention," Jacob explained. "Just so you know, I only had ten minutes to cook this idea up, if you have any better ideas, I'm all ears."

"Sounds good to me. You four," Taylor said, pointing at four nearby ODSTs, "you'll be accompanying me and Tali, understand?"

"Got it," one of the ODSTs said, the others nodding their heads.

"Rebecca, you're a Staff Sergeant so I want you to take command of the men while I'm gone. The Russian smiled behind her helmet and nodded.

"You might want to get a head start," Jacob suggested. "We'll head out five minutes after you leave."

"Sounds like a plan, let's go."

XXXXX

"How many agents is that Broker willing to send to their deaths?" Xeron wondered aloud as he threw a Warp at three mercs, killing them.

"Let him send them," Tritus said, firing bursts from both of the spikers that he was holding, hitting two Turian mercenaries in the throat. Xeron and Tritus were slowly but steadily working their way across the top of the Shadow Broker's ship, slaughtering countless mercenaries in the process.

"I think I see a hatch," Xeron said, as he sent a Throw at a Krogan, sending him flying off the ship. Sure enough, not that far ahead of the duo was a large door the slanted down slightly. Upon seeing the entrance, Xeron and Tritus redoubled their efforts to break through the lines of the mercenaries that stood in their way.

Three more mercenaries fell to Tritus spikers and Xeron threw another Warp, killing four more of them. "Hurry, before more arrive," Tritus said, and he and Xeron sprinted forward, stopping in front of the door. "Locked," Tritus remarked, upon noticing that there was no visible war to open the door.

"More agents will be coming, cover me while I open this door." As Tritus spoke, he holstered both of his spikers and drew his massive two handed sword. As the sword was removed from it's sheath, it was revealed that it was not made out of steel, but a bright golden metal. Forerunner alloy, the hardest metal known to the galaxy.

Tritus swung his sword at the door where it loudly slammed into it, leaving a small dent. "This door is sturdy, this might take some time."

"Take you're time," Xeron said calmly, looking away from the door. In front of him, several small hatches opened and more mercenaries climbed out, the hatches sealing behind them. "I can handle them."

A purple aura surrounded Xeron as he propelled himself forward, landing in the midst of the mercenaries. "Greetings," Xeron said as the mercenaries pointed their weapons at him. Xeron extended his finger and a Warp flew from it, hitting a mercenary in the face, killing him instantly.

The mercenaries opened fire on Xeron, their bullets hitting his barrier harmlessly. Xeron chuckled slightly as he extending all eight of his fingers, a Warp shooting from each one, hitting a mercenary head on. "Fools," he muttered as all around him bodies fell to the floor. "A wise warrior would have put distance in between me and himself."

Back at the door, Tritus let out a roar as he swung his sword again, tearing a sizable hole in it. "Xeron!" he shouted, "It is open!"

Xeron nodded as he began to walk towards Xeron. Without warning, a Warp hit Xeron in the small of his back, causing him to stumble forward. Turning to see who had attacked him, Xeron saw an Asari in full armor and a breathing mask, a purple aura surrounding him.

"Who the Hell do you think you are?" she asked angrily. "You think that you can just fly around the galaxy doing whatever the Hell you feel like doing?"

Xeron raised an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?"

"Do you have any idea what good comes from the Shadow Broker?" the Asari shouted angrily.

"Who are you?" Xeron asked. "You are clearly not a mercenary."

"Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance."

"A Spectre? What are you doing here?"

"Xeron!" Tritus shouted, not even bothering to look at Tela. "I can not afford to tarry. Deal with her, I will deal with the Broker."

"No you don't!" Tela shouted, throwing a Warp at Teitus, who was calmly walking through the hole that he had made. Xeron stepped in the way of the Warp, causing it to impact on his chest, his barrier flickering slightly.

"I am sorry," he said as Tritus vanished into the depths of the ship. "But I can not allow you to interfere with Tritus."

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Tela bellowed, blindly throwing a warp at Xeron, who sidestepped it and countered with his own. Tela narrowly dodged the purple sphere, which hit a lightning tower, causing it to explode.

"I ask again," Xeron said calmly, "what is a Council Spectre doing on the Shadow Broker's ship? Why are you protecting him? No doubt he has funded countless pirates and slavers, shouldn't you be bringing him to justice?"

"You don't get it do you?" Tela asked angrily. "The Broker has no true allegiance, he'll sell to anyone including me. Do you have any idea how many lives I've saved with the information he's given me? I was able to take down entire slaver rings by myself because of him. A couple hundred people might suffer from his actions, but I'd rather have a hundred dead civilians than a hundred thousand."

"Hm," Xeron said, clearly interested. "You protect the Shadow Broker in exchange for information, and then use said information to protect civilians."

"Yes," Tela snarled. "And if you kill the Shadow Broker his empire will collapse, his agents scattered and confused, it'll take years to rebuild, if that's even possible. I will not allow you to do this!" she shouted throwing a Warp at Xeron.

"I am sorry," Xeron said, idly side stepping the Warp. "Your cause is sympathetic, but the Broker poses a threat to Empire security. I can not have him selling information to our enemies, the war effort would be jeopardized."

"Oh yeah," Tela said sarcastically, "that's makes what you're your doing alright. You're going to kill him so that you can conquer the rest of the galaxy. Don't talk to me like you're my friend!" she bellowed. "You and the rest of your kind are just a bunch of blood thirst killers, you want nothing more to slaughter every last thing in the universe. You're no better than the Krogan, it's no wonder you allied yourself with them."

Xeron let out a sigh. "You are an ally of the Broker, yet you know so little."

"Shut up!" Tela shouted as she drew a pistol and opened fire.

XXXXX

"Hold up," Taylor said, as he Tali and the four ODSTs that they had brought with them came to a stop, dropping to a prone position. They were within few of the plasma turret, no more than a minute away from it.

"So we just wait until the others draw the sentries away?" one of the ODSTs asked.

"That's the idea," Taylor replied, "just sit tight."

The minutes crept by as the group held a firm gaze on the turret, waiting patiently. Without warning, a rocket flew threw the air and impacted the ground in front of the turret, killing five Jiralhanae. Jacob's platoon had taken up position in front of the turret and was firing on it. A dozen of the defenders fell to the bullets of the Marines before the element of surprise wore off and they returned fire.

The firefight continued for around a minute before Jacob and his men abandoned the fight and ran. The defenders were so shocked at the sudden retreat that they actually gaped at the retreating Marines before letting out roars of triumph and chasing after them.

"Do you think they'll be all right?" Tali asking nervously, watching the Jiralhanae and their allies perusing the Marines.

"They'll be fine," Taylor replied reassuringly, "Rebecca's only a few minutes away, she'll cover them. Not to mention Jacob has a head start, he'll get there before they even get close to catching up."

"If you say so." Tali didn't sound completely convinced, but she did not speak any further.

"Ok, let's move," Taylor said as he and the others got to their feet and began to head towards the turret. "Tali, do your thing." Tali nodded as she ran ahead of the group, detached the charges on her back. Running underneath the turret, she planted a charge on one of the legs, before proceeding to do the same with another.

"That should do it," she said as she ran back towards the others. "We need to put some distance in between us and it." Taylor nodded as the six of them sprinted a fair distance away from the turret before stopping to turn and look at it.

"You might want to cover your ears," Tali said, as she produced a detonator and pressed it. With a deafening bang, both of the charges exploded, destroying two of the turret's legs. With only one leg left to stand on, the turret slowly but surely began to tilt over, until it finally hit the ground, exploding in a ball of purple fire.

Tali let out a sigh, clearly relieved that they had succeeded. "Hey Tali," Taylor said, causing the Quarian to look at him. Taylor smiled has he put his hand on Tali's shoulder. "Nice job." Tali smiled as she blushed slightly. "We better get out of here fast," he continued, taking his hand away. "If we stick around here, the Jiralhanae will probably find us he-" Taylor was cut off as a glowing green sphere was thrown into their midst.

Before anyone could even blink, the ball explouded, knocking all of them off of their feet. Taylor let out a groan as he made to get to his feet...except he couldn't. His eyes darted to his right arm, which was sprawled out on the ground. He tried to move it, but it simply did not respond. Panic began to flood through Taylor's body. 'What the Hell is going on?" he thought, trying desperately to stay calm.

Just when Taylor was beginning to calm himself, he saw something out of the corner of his eye that made his stomach drop. A lone Jiralhanae in gray armor had decloaked and was staring at the remains of the turret. "Incompetent fools," the Jiralhanae hissed, "abandoning their posts. I suppose I should make the best of this situation."

The Jiralhanae turned to face one of the ODSTs that was sprawled on the ground, unable to move. He adjusted some sort of nozzle on his right forearm that was attached to a tank further up his arm. Taylor was beginning to wonder what exactly he was doing when a tongue of fire leapt from the nozzle and consumed the ODST. Pain tore through the ODST, but he was unable to move. He was forced to remain perfectly still as he was burned alive, unable to move, unable to scream.

Taylor watched in horror as the Jiralhanae repeated the process on the other ODSTs, unable to help as his men were brutally murdered before his eyes. The Jiralhanae let out a content sigh as he watched the ODSTs burn. "Spirits I love doing this," he said to no one in particular. "Fire...it is such a wonderful sight." For a minute, the Jiralhanae simply watched the flaming ODSTs, positively enjoying the sight before his eyes. For Taylor it was pure torture, he had no idea if the fire had robbed them of life yet, or if they were still living a tortured existence.

The Jiralhanae turned to face Taylor, crouching down to look him in the eye. "Taylor," Jacob's voice crackled over the COM lines. "The ambush worked perfectly, those monkey bastards are running home to mama. I could see the explosion from here, nice job, I owe you a beer. You're going to want to get out of there, the apes are heading your way." The voice paused. "Taylor respond. What's your status? Taylor?"

The Jiralhanae chuckled as he flipped Taylor's COM unit off. "Are you afraid Human?" he asked darkly. "Or are you angry, angry that I killed your men? Perhaps you feel guilty that they died and you lived? Whatever you are feeling is truly irrelevant. I will not kill you and the Quarian here." As he spoke, the Jiralhanae smirked. "After I am done with you though, you will wish that I set fire to you here and now. I will redefine your definition of pain." The Jiralhanae leaned even closer. "Let it be known that your pathetic life was ended by Sukron." The Jiralhanae smirked again as his fist sailed towards Taylor's face.

Author's Note: That chapter was a little short, but I am happy with what happened in it. You know how I said that I'll be increasing the rating next chapter? Yeah, I have an extremely brutal scene planned out, the squeamish should avert themselves from it. I've been planning Sukron as a villain for a while now, and let me tell you, he is no where near as nice as Tritus and Xeron, though you probably could have guessed that by this point.

From what I've heard Jacob is a bit of a chew toy among the fandom, and I'm not that sure why. Ok his romance scene was...fucking awful, but overall he seems like a decent character. If you're going to poke fun at an ME character, poke fun at Grunt, the character with ABSOLUTELY NO PERSONALITY WHATSOEVER, yeah he's not exactly my favorite character, he just seems so...bland. He fits the stereotype of his species TO THE LETTER and...that's all you can really say about him.

Also I have decided to delete my current poll about favorite OCs, as nearly everyone has already votes and I am adding new characters, the new one will be characters from this story only, while another poll has FfaP characters. But before we do let's give a hand to the top three, IN 1ST PLACE IT'S THE COLD BLOODED FLEETMASTER VADMARE "KATAR, IN SECOND IT'S THE WISECRACKING SPECOP OPERATIVE RAMORE 'ALTRE, AND IN 3RD IT"S THE ASS KICKING CAPTAIN JANE SHEPARD. I have to say I'm surprised at Ramore's popularity, he was a fairly interesting character that sort of blended into the background as time went on, but apparently you guys really like him


	26. Cold Blooded Torture

Cold Blooded Torture

Chapter 26

Author's Note: God I'm not going to have a fun time with this one. Before I get going would like to thank Robo Reader 21 for coming up with a name for Sukron's flamethrower, you'll see it later, and TV tropes for giving me the name for this chapter because...God I don't want to do this, yet at the same time I do. Why would I want to put my characters through unbelievable torment? Well after you read this chapter...you probably won't understand, but after the NEXT chapter, you might get it. I don't want to give anything away but I'll say this, I want to get this chapter over with, and I've been looking forward to the next one since I started writing this. All right, I'm going to start now, brace yourselves.

Taylor let out a groan as a swarm of color swam before his eyes. He felt like he had been hit over the head with a sledgehammer, which wasn't that far off from what actually happened to him. As his senses began to focus, he realized that he was in a dark cool room, only illuminated by a couple of lights. Taylor tried to move but felt heavy resistance around his wrists and ankles. Glancing at his right arm, he saw that a thick metal manacle was surrounding it. Taylor quickly realized that he was strapped to a table that was tilted at a sixty degree angle. Looking down, he saw that around half of his armor had been removed, leaving him naked from the waist up.

"It is no concern of mine." Taylor's head snapped up as he realized that he wasn't alone. Directly across from him, Sukron was talking to a hologram of a scarred Turian. "Tritus only gave me conscripts, whose understanding of battlefield tactics is on par with children. Spare me your complaints Saren."

"When I ask for an update on your situation, I don't want to be told that you lost your heavy artillery because of the incompetence of your soldiers!" Saren shouted angrily.

"I do not care about what you want," Sukron said dully. "We are searching for the bunker as you requested. If you want further support on my part, I suggest you tell me what is in it."

"It is not for you to know," Saren retorted.

"Then I suggest you complain to Tritus, I have business to attend to," Sukron said, as he pressed a button on the holographic emitter, deactivating it. "I see that you are awake."

Taylor opened his hand and attempted to send a Warp at the Jiralhanae, but nothing happened. "What the fuck?" he swore, glancing at his hand.

"You may have noticed that your biotics are not working," Sukron explained, turning to face Taylor. "I ran a blood test and saw that you were indeed a biotic, afterwards it only took a simple injection to cripple your abilities. Right now there is a chemical running through your veins, disabling your biotics. It should flush out of your system in a day." Sukron smirked, "If you're still alive by then that is."

Taylor noticed that Sukron was cleaning a Jiralhanae sized knife that was stained with some sort of a dark blue liquid. Taylor's heart jumped into his throat as he realized that it was blood, Quarian blood. "Where is she?" he snarled.

Sukron chuckled lightly. "The Quarian? You should be more concerned about your own wellbeing. In case you are curious though, her screams were the sweetest music."

Taylor's face bared in anger, "You better pray to God that I don't get out of here."

"That is unlikely," Sukron sneered as he threw the cloth he had used to clean his knife to the side. "If you are done issuing empty threats, we can proceed." As he spoke, Sukron crossed the room, stopping in front of Taylor.

"Let me ask you something Human, do you have any idea how complication your body is?"

"Do you really think I give a fuck?"

Sukron chuckled. "I will take that as a no. I do happen do know how complex you Humans are, I am very familiar with you anatomy." As he spoke, he raised his knife and buried the tip of it bellow Taylor's right shoulder. He then proceeded to drag it diagonally across his chest, causing Taylor to hiss in pain. "So many blood vessels, cutting the right one would seal your fate. However, if you are very careful, you can easily work around them and avoid killing them. They will be in extreme pain, but their lives with be in no danger." Sukron pulled his knife out, admiring the thin cut he had made across Taylor's chest.

"If you think you're going to get any information out of me, you're kidding yourself," Taylor said angrily.

Sukron actually burst out laughing as Taylor spoke. "Information? You honestly think I am doing this for information? You make me laugh Human, you certainly do."

"You have got to be kidding me," Taylor said in a disgusted voice. "You're doing this because you think it's fun? You sick fuck!"

"Fun is such a childish word," Sukron remarked as he swung his knife, making a gash over Taylor's right eye. "I prefer to think of it as a recreational activity," he continuing, swinging his knife twice, and creating two more gashes, one underneath Taylor's right eye, and one that diagonally crossed between his eyes.

Taylor winced as the knife dug into him, the wounds stinging even after Sukron took the knife away. Sukron noticed this. "Don't tell me you'll already spent, I'm just beginning. Let's make this interesting Human, if you can stay silent for the next five minutes, I will tell you what happened to the Quarian. If you should happen to scream though, I hope that you are not too attached to your genitalia." Sukron smirked again. "Do we have an agreement?"

A moment of silence passed before Taylor replied. "You're on motherfucker."

Sukron chuckled, "You have guts, I like that. It makes it all the more satisfying when I cut them out!" he shouted stabbing forward with his knife and burying it up to the hilt in Taylor's chest, blood trickling out from around it. It caused him to grimace in pain, but he remained. "Interesting." Sukron twisted the knife, causing Taylor's jaw to tighten in agony. "It would appear that you have some form of will, more so than those pathetic civilians that were unfortunate enough to not reach the towers."

Sukron drew the knife out, causing the wound to bleed even more violently. "Perhaps I should attempt a change of strategy," Sukron suggested as he adjusted for the flamethrower on his right wrist. "This is caller a Scorcher," Sukron explained as he squeezed down on a trigger located in his palm. A tongue of fire arched out of the nozzle and arched over Taylor's head. "It is a very effective weapon, and it is my second favorite next to my knife. It is incredibly simple to massacre my foes with it, but it also has a second use."

Sukron released his grip on the Scorcher's trigger, causing the flames to cease. Smiling evilly, the Jiralhanae then pressed the still hot nozzle against Taylor's skin, right below his left shoulder. The ODST's entire body tensed as his flesh was burned and scorched, his hands tightening into fists as the agony washed over him. Sukron held the nozzle against him for 30 seconds before he finally took it away, leaving an ugly burn behind.

"Two minutes have passed Human, I wonder if you can hold on for three more." Sukron thrust his knife forward again, stabbing Taylor in the chest again before drawing it out instantly and repeating it. Pulling his knife out yet again Sukron began to make shallow cuts across his victim's chest.

"Two more to go," Sukron said, "I do believe that I have to change my tactics. I did not think that you would last this long, but let us see if you can handle this." Sukron's arm darted towards Taylor's left hand, grabbing his ring finger. Raising his knife, Sukron began to slowly cut through the finger.

Taylor's face twisted in agony as he bit his tongue in a desperate attempt to stay silent. He nearly lost control when he felt the knife start to scrape against the bone, but he redoubled his efforts, actually drawing a trickle of blood from his tongue. It took every last bit of his self control to keep himself from begging for the pain to stop as he knife went back and forth, back and forth. There was a loud snapping noise and Taylor barley avoid vomiting as a wave of nausea hit him. Sukron pulled his hand away, holding Taylor's severed finger.

"Very impressive Human, you lasted the whole five minutes." Sukron opened his mouth and threw the finger in, swallowing it whole.

"You're one fucked up son of a bitch you know that?" Taylor panted, as blood poured from the various wounds that Sukron had created. His eyelids were becoming heavy and his vision was going dark, the blood loss was taking it's toll.

"Perhaps," Sukron replied calmly. "I will keep up my end of the bargain. The Quarian regained conciseness before you did, so I decided to have a session with her first. Interestingly enough, she agreed to a challenge similar to the one that I gave you. It was a shame really, I did not hear even a whimper out of her after that." The Jiralhanae gave a disappointed sigh, "and she had the most beautiful screams."

"Where is she?" Taylor demanded.

A smile spread across Sukron's face, an ungodly and horrid smile. "Now, now, the agreement was if you were silent I would tell you what happened to the Quarian, not her current whereabouts and condition."

"You pile of monkey shit!" Taylor swore.

Sukron chuckled, "As your kind says, sticks and stones Human, sticks and stones." Taylor's hands tightened in anger as his eyesight continued to fade. "It is a shame, if I were to proceed any further I would kill you, and I was enjoying myself so much. Next time Human, next time." That was all Taylor heard before he blacked out.

XXXXX

Tritus snarled as he fired another pair of bursts from his spikers, blowing an unfortunate Salarian off of his feet. He had spent the last fifteen minutes working his way through the Shadow Broker's ship, leaving a pile of bodies behind him. It was beginning to take a strain on him though, he had already used all of his rockets and only had a little bit of spiker ammunition left. "Last ones," he muttered as he ejected his magazines and loading fresh ones.

Tritus heard an ear splitting roar and turned to see three Krogan charging down the hallway at him. He jammed down on the triggers to his spikers, pumping the forward most Krogans face full of spikes. Despite the heavy onslaught that it was enduring, the Krogan continued to charge forward until the spikers clicked empty and it finally fell.

Seeing that the remaining two Krogan were still charging, Tritus dropped both of his spikers and drew his sword, swinging it violently and decapitating the nearer Krogan. The last Krogan desperately to stop, but he had built up too much momentum and was helpless as Tritus raised his sword over his head and brought it down, cleaving him in two.

"Their weapons are too small for me to use," Tritus remarked, looking at the guns the Krogans had been using. "I will have to make due with my blade." Heaving his sword over his shoulder, Tritus continued to walk down the hallway, paying little attention to the two dozen bodies he had left.

"That's odd," Tritus muttered as he rounded a corner and continued to walk unmolested. "There is no one else left to face me. Have his reserves finally run dry?"

A single, rather imposing door stood at the end of the hallway. Rather hesitantly, Tritus made his way towards the door, unsure of what lay on the other side. As he neared it, the door sensed his presence an automatically opened, revealing a dark office behind it. As he entered the room, the door closing behind him, Tritus saw a large imposing figure sitting at a desk in front of him.

"So, you have found me," the Shadow Broker said in a deep voice. Initially the Shadow Broker resembled a Jiralhanae, but upon closer inspection one would realize that they were actually radically different. The Broker's fur was blood red, and his eyes beetle black. His jaw seemed to be more Sangheili than Jiralhanae, and he even had a pair of horns sticking out of his head.

"It took me a good deal of trouble to track you down," Tritus said, pointing his sword at the Broker.

"I am well aware of that Tritus," the Broker replied.

"You know my name?"

"I know much more than you can possibly imagine. You stumble and grab blindly in the dark while I watch and learn."

"Whatever you have learned, I can assure you that it is only a fraction of the truth," Tritus retorted. "The workings of the Empire are far more complex than you could ever imagine."

"I know that you want me dead in order to protect vital Empire information," the Broker replied. "I know that you are afraid I will fund your enemies with information about you, your fleet sizes, your battle plans. This fear is not unfounded, but I am certain that we can reach a compromise. I can easily supply you with information on the UNSC, RSN and the Council, all I would require is raw materials that I could trade for several fortunes. With this information the war would be in your pocket, and all I ask for is something you could easily acquire with your resources."

"There is a problem with that," Tritus retorted. "You have no allegiance Broker, save for money. I don't even recognize your species, I doubt that there is a galactic power that you have any allegiance to."

"You are correct, my race is not one that is widely known to the galactic community, but it is none of your concern. To turn me down as an ally is absurd, to declare me an enemy is suicidal."

"You have no idea what enemies I have, they all pale in comparison to you, Declaring you as an enemy is like emptying a bucket into an ocean, in the end it makes little difference. You may have infiltrated the lower levels of the Empire, but your sight still falls short."

"I have to disagree. Tell me Emperor, how is your sister?" The heaviest silence that the Broker and Tritus had ever heard filled the room. With an ear splitting roar, Tritus raised his sword and charged at the Broker, screaming a blood curtailing shriek.

Undaunted, the Broker kicked his desk and sent it flying at Tritus, who stopped to slice it in half. The Broker reached under his seat and grabbed the light machine gun that lay there, pointing it at Tritus as he charged again.

XXXXX

"I appreciate you doing this Captain," Ashley said. She and Jane were standing in the makeshift control room that Ashley was using. "If you don't mind me asking though, why did command only send one ship?"

"The _Normandy_ was the only ship within range that was available," Jane explained. "The UNSC fleet at the Citadel had to remain behind to enforce our position there. We were the only ones that could be spared."

"That doesn't matter, you've already bailed us out, with that heavy turret gone we have some breathing room down."

"Major, I've got a report from our scouts," Sarah said as she entered the room. "They reporting that the Jiralhanae and the Batarians are pulling back to their base, it looks like they plotting their next..." Sarah's voice trailed off as she looked at Jane. "Jane? Is that you?"

The Captain chuckled. "It's good to see you again Sarah," she said, reaching out her hand, which Sarah took.

"Same here," she said as she shook Jane's hand. "Taylor told me that he was serving under you how's he doing?"

"I deployed him to ground level to support the attack on the Empire turret, I haven't heard back from him yet, but I'm sure that he's fine.

"That's good to hear," Sarah said as a light lit up on her visor. "Hold on, the UNSC just sent us a message, it's addressed to you Major." Sarah walked over to her terminal and brought up the message and began to read it.

"What?" she said bluntly, looking at the message, "WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

"What is it?" Ashley asked as she crossed the room and read the message, which was oddly short.

**Major Ashley Williams**

**Several hours ago you were informed that a UNSC fleet was on route from Reach to provide support to you and your forces. It is my deepest regret to inform you that the Empire has been launching a series of attacks all over UNSC, RSN and Council territory. In an attempt to meet the needs of military forces elsewhere, the fleet that was originally intended to reinforce you has been redeployed. **

**My deepest apologies**

**Vice President of the UEA Donnel Udina**

Ashley was completely silent as she stared at the screen, her eyes blank. Without warning, she let out a roar as she lifted her leg and kicked the terminal off of the table. It hit the floor with a loud smash, it's screen covered with cracks. "GOD DAMNIT!" she swore.

"What?" Jane asked, looking shocked at Sarah and Ashley's outbursts.

"There aren't anymore reinforcements on the way," Ashley spat, "we're on our own, the brass left us out to dry. There's no way in Hell we can fight off the Jiralhanae with what we have. Even if by some miracle we could eliminate their ground forces, there's still a fleet hovering over us. Between us and the Asari, we've only got six ships on planet to fight them, seven if we throw the _Normandy_ in, they have twenty! How they Hell are we supposed to get out of this one?"

Jane looked as if she was a loss for words, she honestly had no idea what to say. Sarah's COM unit began to beep as she raised her hand to it. "What?" she snapped.

"Miss Winters?" Jacob's voice crackled over the COM lines.

"Oh Jacob it's you," Sarah said, her voice softening. "Sorry, I just got some really bad news. You're late to report in Jacob, that's not like you. Is everything all right down there?

Jacob was silent for a moment before he spoke. "I wanted to make sure before I contacted you, I checked and double checked but it all pointed in the same direction."

"Jacob what's wrong?" Sarah asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Sarah," Jacob said in a heavy voice, "I think Tali'Zorah was captured by the Jiralhanae...along with your brother...Sarah?" Sarah was silent as he hand fell to her side, a look of horror on her face.

Author's Note: I wanted to leave on a negative note for once, a real sense of hopelessness. I hope that you understand that I felt slightly unclean while writing the first part of this chapter. Well, it's done, and now I have the next chapter to look forward to. If this one depressed you slightly, I assure you that the next one will be much more upbeat, and I hope that you like it...yeah Sukron's an evil son of a bitch. Also I plan on giving some more characters some screen (sorta) time, like Neriena Liara Garrus Rebecca and Jacob. Well as always, tell me what you think.


	27. Revelations

Chapter 27

Revelations

Author's Note: As I promised, I changed the rating on this story from T to M, why you may ask? DID YOU READ THE LAST CHAPTER? TAYLOR'S FINGER WAS CUT OFF...AND THEN EATEN...sorry. Anyway, as I said before, I've REALLY been looking forward to this chapter, some of you may hate me for what I do in this chapter, but I think I can live with a couple of people I don't even know being angry at me. I hope that you do like it, but if you don't, I'm sorry, but I've been planning this scene for weeks and I don't plan on changing it. Ok, here we go.

"How the Hell did this happen?" Rebecca muttered under her breath. She Jacob and Falys were standing in front of the charred corpses of four ODSTs. When the infiltration team had not responded, they had searched the area where they had last been and discovered the bodies, with Taylor and Tali nowhere in sight.

"They must have been spotted after the turret was destroyed," Jacob said as he pulled the dogtags off of the corpses, tucking them away. "I don't like this, they didn't fire their weapons once, their gauges are still full. How do you sneak up one someone with a flamethrower?"

"I am not sure," Falys said, glancing at remains of the plasma turret. "Lieutenant, was it truly wise for us to leave the rest of our forces behind?"

"A hundred men would've drawn too much attention," Jacob replied. "Besides the three of can do more on our own than with a couple dozen others giving our position away."

"Do you think they'll be ok?" Rebecca asked as she stared at the Jiralhanae HQ. There was no way the they would be able to breach it, it would take numbers that they simply didn't have.

"I don't know Rebecca. I've heard stories from my grandfather about what the Jiralhanae do to prisoners, and trust me you be better off not knowing."

Rebecca sighed. "There's really nothing that we can do is there?"

"There's one thing that we can do, make sure that their sacrifice wasn't in vain." Rebecca smiled slightly at Jacob's comment.

"Get down!" Falys hissed as she grabbed both Jacob and Rebecca and pulled them both to a prone position. "Batarians, two of them," she whispered, pointing in the direction of the Jiralhanae base. A pair of Batarians were indeed heading in their direction, although they were apparently immersed in a conversation that not paying much attention to their surroundings.

Their conversation barley made it's way to the trio's ears. "It's hard to believe that we're actually here, finally the Humans get what they have coming to them."

"I just wish that we didn't have to take orders from that bastard Sukron, what kind of a leader is he? He's more concerned with those games of his than actually fighting this battle."

"Don't complain, with him cooped up all the time, we can do whatever the hell we feel like to any prisoners that we capture."

"If Sukron didn't reserve them all to himself that is. It doesn't help that our 'allies' aren't big on taking people alive, they seem more content to just kill them."

"Hey, killing them is better than nothing, it's only a matter of time before we hit a bigger colony. There's no way that the Jiralhanae will be able to get everyone for themselves, trust me we're going to get some nice slaves to bring home with us."

"Hold on, someone's on the radio. What is it? You found the bunker? Where is it? All right, we're heading there now."

"What the Hell is even in that damn thing anyway?"

"Who cares? They just want us to help breach it and get whatever's inside, let's do it so that we can get off of this rock." The two Batarians turned and began to walk off.

"You hear that?" Falys whispered.

"Yeah, apparently the Batarians have never heard of keeping their voices down," Jacob whispered as Rebecca raised his hand to her COM unit.

"To any friendly forces in the area, the apes are have found some sort of bunker that they were looking for. We're tailing them towards it now, any support would be appreciated."

"This is Garrus, I'm not too far away from your position. Shadow them and I'll bring what help I can."

"Will do," Rebecca said as she lowered her hand.

XXXXX

The Shadow Broker's machine gun blared as it fired at Tritus, the Emperor's shields weakening dramatically under the fire. Tritus closed the distance in between them at a lighting pace and swung his sword at the Broker. The Broker grabbed a circular object off of his belt and pressed a button in the center, causing a shield to form around the device. With his gun in one hand and the shield in the other, the Broker raised his shield and blocked Tritus' sword.

Tritus snarled as his sword clashed with the Broker's shield, neither yielding. The Broker poked his gun out from behind his shield and fired it, taking down Tritus' shields. Tritus raised his sword and struck down again, the Broker barley blocking it in time. Tritus continued to assault the Broker, making his swings as short and swift as possible, slowly forcing the Broker back.

In a move of desperation, the Broker charged forward, holding shield in front of him as he did so. Tritus swung his sword at the oncoming alien and once again, sword and shield collided. As they began to push at each other again, Tritus lifted his leg and kicked under the Broker's shield, hitting him directly in the kneecap. The Broker roared in pain as his kneecap shattered, causing him to fall to his good knee.

Tritus swung a powerful sidewards blow and knocked the Broker's shield out of his hand, leaving him defenseless. The Broker aimed his gun at Tritus and pulled the trigger but nothing happened, the weapon had overheated. Letting out a roar, the Broker dropped his weapon and charged at Tritus, tackling him head on.

Tritus was knocked off of his feet and landed on his back, his sword flying out of his hands. The Broker landed on top of him and began to pummel him, landing punch after punch on Tritus' face. Tritus let out a snarl as he grabbed both of the Broker's hands in mid punch. He then curled his legs up before kicking the broker squarely in the chest, pushing him off and forcing him onto his back. Quickly getting up, Tritus grabbed his sword and used all of his Jiralhanae strength to jump twenty feet in the air, pressed his sword downwards as he descended.

The Broker was not fast enough to dodge and the sword impaled him straight through the chest and even penetrated the floor below him. The Broker stared at the sword sticking out of his chest in disbelief, completely and utterly shocked. Tritus let out a sigh as he began to relax.

That is until the Broker's hand darted out and grabbed his machine gun and pointed it at Tritus. Tritus attempted to force the gun away as he and the Broker began to struggle for control of the gun. "How are you still alive?" Tritus hissed, "That wound should have killed you."

"Perhaps it would have killed you Emperor," the Broker retorted, "but I have no vital organs where you stabbed me. Rest assured it is **AGONIZING**!" he hissed as he slowly angled the barrel of the gun towards Tritus, "but I will make sure that you suffer accordingly to how I am." As she spoke, he pulled down on the trigger. The gun fired and a single bullet pierced Tritus' shoulder, causing him to roar in agony.

It took every last bit of Tritus' concentration to retain his grip on the gun as he slowly began to forcefully angle it towards the Broker. Slowly, very slowly, the gun turned towards the Broker. "No," the Broker hissed as the gun came to bear on him. "NO!"

Tritus gritted his teeth as he took one hand off of the gun and smashed it into the Broker's trigger finger, forcing it down. The gun went off and a single bullet pierced the Broker's throat. He began to cough and gad violently on his own blood, taking both hands off of the gun and clutching his own throat in a desperate attempt to breath. For a whole minute he desperately attempted to draw breath, then he went limp.

Tritus sighed as he wrenched the gun out of the Broker's dead hand, eyeing it with interest. "It is large enough for me," he remarked, "and it is an effective weapon." He slid the machine gun onto his back, crossing it with his rocket launcher. He then grabbed his sword with both hands and, with some difficulty, pulled it out of the Broker's body. As he sheathed it, he looked at the Broker's corpse.

"This was inevitable," he said. "When one sells to both sides of a conflict, it is only a matter of time before he his caught in the crossfire." Looking away from the body, Tritus glanced around the room. Terminals of various sized were located throughout the entire room, some of them flashing and some of them beeping."

"Well," Tritus said as he walked to the nearest one, "Let's see how much you knew Broker."

"Welcome," a cool female VI voice said, "Please state your purpose."

"I wish to access the files," Tritus said dryly, not expecting the computer to actually respond.

"Very well, please specify the file."

Tritus was surprised, the Broker had not secured his files from outside intrusion? "I suppose he thought he wouldn't need it, considering his hiding spot," Tritus muttered as he wondered where he should start. Then a thought struck him. "We have always wanted more information on the project that helped Xeron reached his potential," he whispered. "Search for files marked "Cerberus."

"There are many files marked "Cerberus," the VI responded, "please specify another tag for these files."

"Subject Zero."

XXXXX

Taylor was in a semi-conscious state as he felt himself being carried somewhere. He heard metal grinding on metal and vaguely registered being dropped and hitting the ground. He could have sworn that someone had said something before he heard metal on metal again.

He groaned as his vision and other senses began to return to him. Seeing that he was apparently in some sort of a cell with a thick metal barrier acting as a door, he began to get to his feet when he heard something move. Taylor froze as he began to slowly scan the room, looking for whatever had made the noise. His body tensed, half expecting that Sukron had put him in the same cell as a hungry animal.

Something slammed into him and forced him on his back, whatever it was wrapped two limbs around him. Thinking that something had just deemed him lunch, Taylor tightened his hand into a fist and was a about to punch his assailant when it spoke. "Oh thank Keelah you're all right!"

'That voice,' Taylor thought, completely caught off guard. "Tali?" he rasped. As his vision fully came into focus, Taylor was able fully make out the Quarian who had just tackle hugged him. "Oh thank God," he said upon seeing her, relieved that she was all right. However, as he looked closer, he saw something. "Jesus, what the Hell happened to you?" Tali's face was covered in cuts, similar in to Taylor's.

"They're just scratches," Tali dismissed as she hugged Taylor even tighter. "I'm so glad you're all right, the things that Bosh'tet Sukron told me...I thought that you might be dead." Tali's voice was high pitched and strained, it sounded like she was holding back tears.

"Keelah!" she shrieked as she looked at Taylor's chest. Taylor glanced down and saw that his chest was still bare and, with the exception of bandages that had been placed over his stab wounds, his wounds were still visible. Tali silently grabbed Taylor's left hand and brought it up to eye level, looking horrorstruck at his stump of a finger.

"It's not that bad," Taylor assured as he slid out of from under Tali and got to his knees. "They're not fatal, they heal soon enough and then we can-JESUS!" Now that he was on equal level with Tali, he saw that the upper level of her clothes had been removed and her torso was covered with cuts, stab wounds that had been crudely bandaged, and a rather nasty burn. "What the fuck did that son of a bitch do to you?"

"Nothing serious," Tali said quickly, covering her wounds with her arms. "it's not any different from what happened to you."

"Yeah, and weren't you freaking out a few seconds because I lost a fing...not any different?...he didn't." Taylor's hand darted forward and grabbed Tali's left arm, pulling it forward. While her thumb and index finger remained, Tali was missing her third finger. "What exactly did he do to you?" Taylor asked, his voice softening.

"I...I woke up strapped to an operating table, Sukron was standing in front of me. I asked where you were, well not so much as asked as demanded, but he just smiled and stared at me. He gave me these," Tali pointed at her face, "and was about to go lower when he offered me a deal."

"If you were quite for five minutes he would tell you where I was?"

Tali looked surprised. "How did you know that?"

"He did something similar with me. I'm going to take a wild stab and guess even after you were silent he didn't tell you anything."

"Not a word," Tali snarled, "I hope that Keelah has a plan for that little Bosh'tet"

"Same here," Taylor said, looking around the room. "Is there anyway that we can get out of here?"

"It doesn't look like it, I spent half an hour searching it and I couldn't find any loose panels or anything I could use." Tali pointed at the ceiling. "There's an air duct but there's no way that we can reach it, and even if we could it's too narrow for either of us to fit in."

"Crap," Taylor said looking around. Tali was right, the room was completely bare, nothing more than a square cell with a door and a single purple light twenty feet over their heads. "I guess all we can do is sit tight and hope the battle turns in our favor."

"Taylor," Tali said in a voice that had a ring of fear, "I overheard Sukron talking to one of his men. He said that if it looked like the base was about to be lost, gas the prisoners." Taylor's eyes widened. "But he also told him to keep us safe if possible...because he's not done with us. Taylor, he still wants to play that sick game of his, he probably only put us in the same cell to taunt us. Taylor, I think we might die in here." Tali sounded as if she had choked on the word "die".

"Hey," Taylor said, putting his hands on Taylor's shoulders. "Don't talk like that. We can think of something, we can get out of here."

"There's a possibility," Tali admitted, her voice choked and strained, "but just in case we don't...I want to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" Taylor asked, looking slightly confused.

'Oh Keelah,' Tali thought. "Taylor...ever since the Blitz you've always been there for me, you've always comforted me when I was upset. I can talk to you about anything and not feel self-conscious, Keelah I can talk to you about things I'm afraid to talk to my parents about. I'm always comfortable around you."

Tali's voice was growing more quiet as she continued. "We've been through so much together, the Blitz, the cure, and now this. While Sukron was torturing me," Tali whispered, "I couldn't stop thinking about you, I was terrified that you were in agony, or even worse dead. I don't know exactly when I realized it or when it even began. I know it's stupid, there's no way that it would ever work," as she spoke a pair tears began to trickle down her face.

"Tali, are you-" Taylor began, but he was cut off as Tali took his face in both of her hands and pulled it forward. Before he could speak, Tali leaned forward and captured his lips with her own, kissing him deeply.

After a few seconds, Tali pulled away, her eyes sparkling. "I love you Taylor. It took me till today to realize that, but I do and I always will. I know you can't possibly feel the same way...I just wanted to kiss you once." She looked at the floor, as if in shame. "I'm sorry that I'm so selfish."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Taylor said. Tali's head snapped up, the expression on her face unreadable as she stared at Taylor. "You risked being killed so that your entire race could break off the shackles that had imprisoned them for centuries, and you consider yourself selfish when you steal one kiss?"

"It wasn't fair to you, it was a betrayal of trust. You've always stood beside me when things got tough and this is how I thank you?" Tali looked sadly at Taylor. "You should hate me."

"I don't, quite the opposite. I love you too Tali."

Tali's eyes widened as Taylor's words reverberated inside her head. "R-really?" she stuttered, disbelief mixed with hope in her voice. Taylor nodded. For what seemed like hours, neither of them spoke, they simply stared at each other. Then slowly, ever so slowly, they leaned their heads towards eachother. Their lips met, and a soft gentle kiss was exchanged. For five seconds the stayed still, before breaking away.

"Thank you," Tali said softly. "I...thank you."

"Anything for you," Taylor said, a small smile on his face. Tali blinked. Was it a trick of the light, or were Taylor's eyes a little misty. "By the way Tali, I really need to teach you about bras."

"About what?"

Taylor chuckled. "Never mind."

Author's Note: Wasn't that a nice change of pace? Like I said in another chapter, this story clearly has romance on the front, and the story has already passed the 80,000 word mark, I don't think that it's unreasonable for me to introduce this pairing in at this point. I like getting pairings together at the halfway point, because most shows/books play it like this, "After all this time they finally share their first kiss...and now you're never going to see them again, you followed this pair for years and you get a kiss, bye". I would like to point out that I've been implying that these two like each other since I introduced Tali in this story, and they've known each other for years, I really don't think that this is that unrealistic. Not too mention they both were tortured and lost a finger last chapter, so I think that this is rather needed. Let's not forget that Shepard and Tali get together after an incident that traumatized Tali (The Neema/The Blitz) had someone comfort her (Shepard/Taylor) and then could be romanced by having a few of conversations with her, (A handful of casual conversations/being cured, Quarians joining the UNSC, several years worth that I didn't show, Eden Prime, the Citadel and now this.) I rest my case. I'm not saying that mine is better than Bioware's version (We all know mine's much worse) I'm just pointing out that it's realistic.

Anyway, I hoped that you liked it, tell me what you think. By the way, is it me or are not that many people reviewing as of lately. Seriously the number of reviews per chapter has been cut in half for me. Am I doing something wrong?


	28. Uncovering

Chapter 28

Uncovering

Author's Note: I'm glad to see that people are all right with the Taylor/Tali paring. Someone asked if I would be doing anymore pairings...I dunno. Anyway, Someone mentioned that I was dragging this battle out, so I'm going to try to wrap this up, I'm estimating that this won't take more than three chapters. Also, I am sorry to say that Taylor and Tali will not be rescued this chapter. Ok, let's get going. By the way, if any of you want to play some Halo Reach, my gamertag is macdonald210, before you ask, MacDonald is my last name (I've got Irish ancestors) and 210 is my house number. Also, this one took awhile because, well I've been having a couple of family issues, and my family takes priority over this, please don't ask, telling more people about it will just make it worse, I just wanted to let you know.

"You certainly are a persistent one," Xeron said calmly as he sidestepped a ball of dark energy. He and Tela were still continuing their fight, with neither of them having gained an advantage so far.

"Just stay still and die!" Tela bellowed as she sent Warp after Warp at Xeron, who either sidestepped them, dodged them with a Dodge, or blocked them with his barrier.

"I will not die, my death would be a major loss to the Empire," Xeron deadpanned as he sent a Warp at Tela, hitting her head on and sending her flying, her barrier collapsed.

"Yes, and what a shame that would be," Tela hissed as she got to her feet, aiming her pistol at Xeron and firing five shots. All of them hit their mark head on and impacted Xeron's barrier, leaving him unharmed.

"Do you truly believe that we are waging this war for revenge? Do you think that we are doing it for power?" Xeron asked as he walked forward, throwing another attack at Tela, who rolled behind one of the lightning towers to dodge.

"You expect me to believe that you have good intentions?" she shouted as her barrier reformed. "I've read about what you people did in your war with the Humans, you wiped out the population of entire planets because your god damn religion told you too, how are you any different now?"

"We have been in self imposed exile for decades," Xeron replied as he sent a Warp at the tower, blowing it sky high and forced Tela out of hiding. "Circumstances have changed, as have our motivations."

"I don't care about your motivations!" Tela sent a Warp at Xeron that hit him directly in the chest, causing him to stager back. "You're invading our territory for your own needs, you're committing genocide, and you're my enemy, I don't give a crap **ABOUT WHY YOU'RE DOING THIS!**" she shouted, shrieking the last part as she threw two more Warps at Xeron, the seconds forcing him back even further, and the last causing his barrier to shatter. Raising her pistol, Tela fired three shots at Xeron, all of him hitting him in the chest.

She was beginning to smile in excitement when Xeron extended his hand and a glob of dark energy flew from it, hitting her head on. Xeron flexed his arm and Tela flew high up in the air, completely helpless as she floated in the sky like a rag doll. "We do this not out of spite or greed!" Xeron shouted at Tela, "We do this out of necessity!" he shouted as he flexed his arm again.

Tela came crashing down, right onto one of the lightening towers. She let out a scream of agony as the tower impaled her and electricity coursed through her body, writhing in pain as she did. Xeron watched the Spectre with a look of sadness on his face, apparently unaware of the three bleeding bullet holes in his chest as the Asari's body went limp.

"The world will be lesser without you," he muttered as he tore the right sleeve of his robe off and tied it around his chest, staunching the bleeding. Xeron let out a sigh as he looked at his now bare shoulder. Several syringes were strapped to it, all of them filled with a venomous looking black fluid. "Serum 16," he muttered, taking on of the syringes and looking at it closely. "For the briefest of moments, I thought that I would have to use it to win this battle, I am grateful that I did not have to." Xeron reattached the syringe to his arm.

"Xeron." Tritus' voice was speaking over the Empire Battle-Net into Xeron's ear piece. "Have you finished the Asari?"

"Yes...she is dead."

"Good, come below deck, I have uncovered some information that I think that you will find interesting."

XXXXX

Within the confines of the Empire HQ, a lone Jiralhanae Major holding a pair of spikers stood in front the entrance to a cell. He was looking rather bored when his communicator beeped. "What is it?" he asked.

"It is me," Sukron said over the Empire Battle-Net, "We have reached the bunker, we should breach it and take what is inside soon. I want you to take one of our guests and prepare them for my arrival. They have been in there for an hour, I do believe that they need some time out of their cells."

"I feel compelled to tell you commander, I gave them something to eat," the guard said.

"Oh, and what would that be?"

"A thorn beast...one of the ones that had begun to rot."

Sukron let out a bark of laughter, "Very good, now prepare one of them, I do believe I would like to see the Quarian again."

"It will be done," the Major said. The Major hit a button by the cell door, causing it too open with a grind. Taylor and Tali were sitting against against the far wall of the cell, their heads tilted towards the ground. A rotting carcass was lying in front of them, a horrible stench emitting from it.

"I hope that you enjoyed your meal," the Major said as he walked froward, "because Sukron wants to have a little-" without warning Taylor threw himself at the Jiralhanae, hitting him as hard as he could with his shoulder. Caught off guard, the Jiralhanae overbalanced and fell backwards as Tali dove forward. She landed next to the Jiralhanae, and brought her hand down on the Jiralhanae's throat. The Major was about to laugh, thinking how absurd it was that the Quarian thought it could hurt him with her minuscule strength, that is until he felt a sharp pain in his throat.

Glancing at his throat, the Major's eye's widened in horror. Tali was holding a sharpened bone from the thorn beast in her hand, the end of it buried in the the Major's throat. Tali drew the bone out and struck down again and again, killing him almost instantly.

Taylor quickly grabbed the Major's spikers and handed one to Tali. "Do you have any idea where they're keeping our gear?" Taylor hissed as they both bolted out of the cell, gripping their new weapons. "We won't last long without shields."

"I think I saw it in the room where Sukron tortured me," Tali muttered. "I didn't lose consciousness when he threw me in that cell, so I remember the way, stay close." The two of them dashed through the base, praying that they wouldn't run into any guards.

"The place seems empty," Tali whispered as they continued to run, "where are all the guards?"

"Sukron said something about looking for a bunker," Taylor replied. "All of his forces are probably out in the field or guarding the base from the outside." He smirked. "They probably didn't expect two helpless little prisoners to break themselves out now did they?"

Tali couldn't help but grin as they rounded a corner. "Hold on, this is it," she said, slowing down, Taylor following her move. Two Jiralhanae Minors were standing outside, deep in conversation. "You take the one on the right, I'll take the one on the left," she muttered. Taylor nodded as they slowly crept forward, holding their spikers.

"Now," she hissed, as they both opened fire. The spikes from their weapons slammed into the guards, killing them before they even knew what had happened. Taylor and Tali moved over the corpses of the guards, opened the door and stepped in.

The room was very similar to the room that Taylor had woken up in, a single operating table was at the far end of a room with a table at the other. It looked like an infirmary that had been stripped of most of it's interior.

"There!" Tali exclaimed, pointing at the table. The two of them quickly crossed the room and reached the table, dropping their spikers as they did. "Oh I'm so glad to have this back," Tali said as she took the upper section of her clothes from the table and slid them over the head. "While we have a minute, what did you mean back there?" She glanced at Taylor who was hastily slapping his armor on. "What is a bra?"

"A bra," Taylor said as he slipped his helmet on, "is something Human women wear to cover their breasts."

"To cover their...Oh Keelah." she said, her face turning a bright shade of violet. "I didn't even think about it...you saw my...oh Keelah."

"Relax," Taylor said as he slapped his pistol on his thigh, then grabbed his DMR. "I found the view to be very enjoyable."

"Bosh'tet," Tali muttered as she grabbed her shotgun. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"On foot is out of the question, we won't last thirty seconds once we get outside," he explained as he reached for his COM unit, only to find that it had been ripped out of his helmet. "Damn it. What we need to do is find the vehicle depot and steal a ride. We should try the far side of the base, that's where the RSN keep the vehicles. I just pray to god that this base uses the old Covenant design like RSN ones do. Let's go."

XXXXX

"This was everyone that could be spared?" Rebecca asked. She Falys and Jacob were still shadowing the Batarian soldiers, and had recently been joined by Jane, Garrus and Liara.

"I'm afraid so," Jane replied as they crept along. "Jiralhanae skirmishers keep launching attacks at the base of the skyscrapers, chipping away at the defenses. Major Williams has everyone, including your men, defending them, and even then they're barely holding on."

"Let's hope we actually get something useful out of this then," Jacob muttered as they continued to follow the Batarians, easily half a mile behind them.

"Hold on," Garrus said, as he gazed down the scope of his sniper rifle. "They're coming up on something... It looks like some sort of hatch. They're going in to it."

"Double time," Jane ordered, as the six of them abandoned their air of caution and began to sprint towards where the Batarians had disappeared. When they reached it, they found and metal door that looked like it had been forced open that slanted downward into a passage that led underground. The door was made out of a bright golden metal.

"What is this?" Fayls said, crouching down by the door and rubbing it. "I've never seen anything like it."

"It's...it's Forerunner metal," Liara said, looking at the door with shock in her eyes. "I've studied them, there's no mistaking it, there isn't another metal like this in the galaxy."

"What the Hell is a Forerunner bunker doing in the middle of nowhere?" Rebecca asked. "How come we didn't notice it when we cleared the rubble from here?"

"Look," Liara said, pointing to mounds of freshly dug earth that surrounded the entrance to the bunker. "Topsoil builds up over the years, often covering things as it does. 100,000 years is a long time for topsoil to build up, so unless you knew exactly where to look, finding a buried bunker would be next to impossible."

"That would explain why the Protheans just built over it," Jacob said. "This whole area was completely covered with rubble when we got here, there's no way that they could have known that it was here."

"Which begs the question," Rebecca interjected, "how did the Jiralhanae know that it was here?"

"The Covenant used to use a computer called a Luminary to scan for Forerunner artifacts," Jane explained, "it wouldn't surprise me if the Empire still had a couple of them lying around."

"So that's why they attacked Feros?" Falys asked, "To take this bunker? But what's in it?"

"They're probably hoping that whatever's in there can boost their technology forward decades or even centuries, either that or they're looking for something specific. In the end it doesn't matter, if they're willing to attack us to get it they must want if pretty bad, and nothing that the Jiralhanae want that bad can be good for us." Jane glanced at the others. "We're going in, any objections?"

"Normally I would suggest waiting for backup," Garrus interjected. "But seeing that there's no one avialable, I guess it's up to us. You do know that you probably dragging us to our deaths right Shepard?"

"If you don't want to go down there, I won't make you," Jane replied as she walked into the bunker, her rifle in her hands.

Garrus let out a sigh, "If it was anyone else I'd go get a drink," he muttered, "but there is something about that woman." As he spoke the he followed Jane into the bunker, the others right behind them.

The ground slowly slanted under their feet as the headed deeper underground. There was little to no visibility, the Forerunners lights were barley functioning, flickering as if they were about to go out at any seconds. After several minutes of walking, Liara spoke. "This is fascinating," she whispered, excitement present in her voice. "The length of this tunnel suggests that it leads to a much larger instillation. To think that such a marvelous piece of history was hidden underneath the Prothean city this whole-" Liara broke off as a noise tore through the air.

It was difficult to describe, it sounded like a cross between a scream and a roar, though it was impossible to say what had uttered it. It had come down from further in the tunnel, distant, yet extremely powerful. It had an ominous ring to it, as if something that should not have been disturbed. There was a clatter as Rebecca dropped her shotgun, a look of pure terror on her face.

XXXXX

"You wished to see me Tritus?" Tritus looked up from the terminal that he was typing at to see Xeron enter the room. "I take it that is the Shadow Broker?" Xeron asked, pointing to the corpse in the middle of the room.

"Yes, I went through his files and found some very interesting. Apparently he is a Yahg, a Tier-5 species native to the planet Pamack. The Council initiated contact with them fifty years ago, but they were denied entrance to the galatic community after they slaughtered the Council representatives. This might be for the better, from what I can see they are highly aggressive as well as intelligent. If they were to spread throughout the galaxy, they would behave the same way the Krogan did and conquer all around them."

"I take it that we will not be recruiting them as allies?"

"It's too likely that they will turn on us. You also might want to know that he wasn't the first Shadow Broker, the first Broker took him as a pet, and it didn't exactly end well for him."

"He killed the old Broker and took over his empire?"

"Exactly, you see the secrecy that the Broker thrives on turned against him, and he was able to assume control without any difficulty."

"Tritus, do you intend on taking over the Broker's empire?"

"Certainly not," Tritus said, causing Xeron to blink. "It is too risky," he explained, "The UNSC and RSN could just as easily assume control and use this network to spy on me as well, and from what I can gather the Broker was unsuccessful in infiltrating the UNSC and RSN with the exception of very low positions."

"Then what will you do?"

"What I already have done. I have sent messages to the UNSC, RSN and Council leaders that contain lists of who leaked information to the Shadow Broker." Tritus smiled. "I will let those traitors be punished by their own leaders, it matters very little to me, there is all ready a treasure trove of information for me to use here."

"But this isn't why I contacted you. I have found several files on Subject Zero." Xeron's eyes widened in shock as Tritus continued to speak. "The data matches, what we know, it directly states here that she went through a series of experiments at a Cerberus facility on Pragia, the same one we found and held the data the we used for our own biotic project."

"I know," Xeron said, smiling slightly, "I am the result aren't I?"

A small grin spread across Tritus' face. "Moving forward, eventually she broke out and destroyed half of the facility in the process." He let out a sigh, "I cannot help but wonder if the UNSC realizes that Cerberus as been running programs that they would never approve of decades before it defected. I suppose it does not matter. After her escape, Subject Zero adopted a life of crime, violence and the name Jack, leaving a trail of blood where ever she went. She is currently wanted for piracy, kidnapping, murder and...vandalism?"

Tritus looked at the terminal with a puzzled looked as he typed in a command. "Ah, I see, she defaced a moon. The Hanar certainly are strange. More importantly though, I have discovered where she is. She was captured not too long ago and is being held in a Blue Sun prison starship."

"What are you suggesting?" Xeron asked.

"You were the only candidate to survive receiving his implants, all of the others died a painful death that they did not deserve. The data that we do have is fractured, it was heavily corrupted when we found it. We must find her, take her alive and study her. Rason will be able to find a way to do so without us worrying about her killing us all."

"If we did that, we would be able to restart our biotics program," Xeron commented, looking interested.

"Exactly," Tritus said, "with luck, we will also be able to cure the condition that your implants gave you, we just need to-" Tritus trailed off as he glanced back at the terminal. "That is odd," he said as he looked more closely. "According to this the Broker recently sold information on Subject Zero to someone else."

"Is someone else looking for her?" Xeron asked.

"Hold on," Tritus said as he scrolled down, reading off of the terminal. As he did, his eyes widened in shock. "XERON, BACK TO THE SHIP!" he bellowed as he got to his feet. Xeron looked startled as he stared at Tritus, clearly confused. "We are not the only ones looking for Subject Zero," Tritus said darkly, "the Broker sold her location...to the Marauders."

"Spirits," Xeron muttered, "what could they want with her?"

"I don't know," Tritus growled, "maybe they plan to use her as a weapon, whatever they plan we must reach her first!"

Author's Mote: Hey I said that they wouldn't be rescued, I didn't say anything about them busting themselves out. Another thing you might have noticed is that the Jiralhanae have a motivation that I have yet to reveal, and I'm willing to bet that you can't guess it. Let's play a little game, if you can guess the Jiralhanae's motivation for waging this war, I will answer one question about this story, please only one guess per user, this contest will remain open until the posting of the next chapter. If someone wins, his answer, question and the answer to this question will be posted next chapter, if no one wins, then I'm going to pretend that this challenge never happened. Let's have some fun. Also who are the Marauders you might ask? Win the contest and I'll tell you if you want.

In other words, I just broke the 90k word mark...and I'm just getting warmed up.


	29. Unearthed Horrors

Chapter 29

Unearthed Horrors

Author's Note: Just so you know, Dr. Anthony won the contest. His answer wasn't 100% on the button and missed some of the inner motivation, but I decided that it was close enough. I answered his question, but to keep the mass spoilers to a minimum, I'm keeping it private knowledge. All right, let's get this show on the road.

XXXXX

"What exactly made that noise?" Jacob whispered as he stared into the depths of the tunnel, looking rather uneasy.

"I have an idea," Jane said grimly as she raised her rifle. "Pray to God that I'm wrong though."

"Rebecca?" Liara said, slowly approaching the ODST. Rebecca looked like she had seen a ghost; she was visibly trembling as she knelt down to pick up her shotgun.

"Yeah," she muttered her voice shaky as she got to her feet. "Just claustrophobic, that's all."

"You seemed fine until we heard that noise," Liara pointed out, "Do you know what made it?"

"We need to keep moving," Jane said, glancing at Rebecca. "If you don't think that you can handle this than-"

"I'm fine," Rebecca said her face hardening. "I'm not going to let a noise slow me down." Jane nodded as the six of them continued downward.

"Shepard," Garrus whispered so that only she could hear him. "After your kind made contact with the Council, they start issuing Spectres…interesting information. Is this what I think it is?"

"I think it might be Garrus," Jane replied, "but we need to know for sure. If it is, we'll have to take drastic measures.

"I think we're coming up on something!" Falys called from the front. Sure enough the ground was beginning to level out underneath their feet as they walked. "Can anyone else hear that?" she asked. In the distance, shouting could be faintly heard, accompanied by inhumane roars and explosions.

"Move it!" Jane shouted as she and the others sprinted forward, weapons in hand.

"It's not them," Rebecca muttered under her breath. "It's not them, it's not them, It's not them, It's not them, It's not them." Liara looked at Rebecca with concern. From what she had heard about ODSTs, they were supposed to be hardened soldiers, yet Rebecca looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Liara gulped silently as she looked in front of her again. "What could possibly do that to a person?"

An explosion lit the area in front of them and a mangled corpse flew from the ball of fire landing in front of him. The group slowly approached the corpse, examining it. It looked like a Jiralhanae, except that a massive yellow growth coupled with small red tentacles had sprouted out of it's neck, covering most of it's upper torso, tentacles dangling from the side as a makeshift arm. Rebecca's face turned pure white as a feeling of terror crept over her.

"Son of a bitch," Jane whispered in a barley audible voice. "I was afraid of this."

"What the Hell is that thing?" Jacob asked, gawking at the massive amount of yellow flesh that was attached to the Jiralhanae.

"Later!" Jane said quickly, "everyone fall back now, we need to get out of here!" After a few seconds of confusion, Jane began to run for the entrance, the others behind her as her hand snapped to her COM unit. "Major Williams, we have a situation down here, initiate Hood Protocol."

"WHAT?" Ashley roared. "The Flood is on Feros? How did-never mind, Captain we don't have the manpower necessary in order to properly exterminate them."

"Then abandon the colony."

Ashley was silent as Jane's words reverberated in her ears. "Yes," she said softly, I suppose there is no other way. Civilian evacuation was completed the second the AA was taken out, but I'll need half an hour to get all of my men on the ships that we do have. But Jane didn't you say that several members of your crew were taken prisoner?"

Jane resisted the urge to bite her lip as she spoke. "As much as I want to, there's no way that we can possibly get them out without risking the Flood spreading. Just...just do me a favor and don't tell Sarah, I should be the one to tell her that her brother isn't coming back."

"I understand," Ashley said sympathetically. "I've got a read on your position, there's a Pelican en route. I'll relay the order to retreat to the _Normandy_."

"Thank you," Jane whispered as she and the others cleared the bunker and found themselves outside again.

"Captain, what exactly did we encounter?" Falys asked.

"All I have time to explain is that the greatest threat that we have ever encountered is down there, we need to either destroy it or contain it at all cost." Falys, Liara and Jacob all looked at Jane with shock and dread.

Before anyone could say anything, there was a scream of terror from the entrance to the bunker, followed swiftly by a brutally slashing noise. A body of a Jiralhanae flew out of the bunker, landing firmly in front of them. The corpse had nearly been torn in half by a single stroke, it was still in one piece by a mere thread. There was a shallowly rasping noise as a figure stepped out of the bunker.

It was a relatively small Flood, no larger than a Human, but it was a pure form, not a combat form. It's hands were little more than blades, blades that were coated with Jiralhanae blood. Two large bundles of flesh were tucked neatly together on the Flood's back, a rather bulbous sack in between the two. It had two feet, both of which were clawed, much like an eagles, with the exception of looking much stronger, strong enough to rip steel like it was tinfoil. Apart from that the Flood had no disguising features, with the exception of a handful of red tentacles where a Human would have a face.

"SHOOT IT!" Jane roared as six guns were pointed at the Flood, all of them bursting to life. The two bundles on the Flood's back unfolded and revealed themselves to be wings, wings that were as big as the rest of the Flood. Both wings curled around the Flood, bullets bouncing off of them, leaving the Flood completely unharmed.

Everybody continued to fire the weapons, not ceasing until their guns overheated, forcing them to stop. "_Do you believe me to be a lowly pure form?_" an unworldly and powerful voice asked, not originating from anywhere but the minds of the people that heard it. "_I am far more than a pawn to be used and sacrificed when my usefulness has ended_."

"What the fuck are you?" Rebecca whispered. "Not even a tank form could survive that."

"_I see that you are familiar with the specific castes of my kind. Yes, it is true that the pure form you call tank would have succumbed to blood loss had one been in my place. As you have probably guessed, my hide is many times thicker than any other Flood, my entire body cannot be harmed by anything, save the most powerful of attacks. As for what I am, I have no name, save for the meaningless titles you lesser beings give me. However, if I was to describe myself, the word in your kind that would best serve that purpose is...Acolyte. Yes, that name suits me rather well. My role among my kind is second only to the Gravemind, and I am but a humble servant to the leader of all Flood." _

"_I do believe that there has been enough talk." _As the Acolyte spoke, he unfurled his wings and began to flap them rising off of the ground. _"I care not what your purpose is here, like the ones that came before you you are a threat to my kind's survival, no doubt you will try to kill those who dwell bellow. This I cannot allow."_ The Acolyte let out a high pitched shriek that deafened all who heard it as he dove at his foes, his blades bared.

XXXXX

"Heads up," Taylor whispered as he and Tali raised their weapons and opened fire. An idle guard who was standing in front of a door was dead before he even knew what had hit him. "This should be it." he muttered as they crept over the corpse, the door opening for them.

They stepped through and found themselves standing on a catwalk that was looking over a massive, mostly empty storage area with wide open doors on the far side. "Looks like most of the vehicles aren't here, they must have already been deployed," Tali whispered as they descended from the catwalk to ground level. "Shame, I hoped that there would be a Scarab here."

"I like the way that you think," Taylor said as they reached ground level, "but I think that something with speed is what we need. Like this," he said as he approached a Reverent, climbing into the driver's seat and Tali the passenger's. "Hope I can remember the simulations on this thing," he said as he began to press a series of buttons on the Reverent, causing it to come to life and float a few inches off of the ground.

As it did, a loud voice roared over the intercom. "ALL FORCES, THERE HAS BEEN A PRISONER ESCAPE! HUNT DOWN AND KILL THEM BEFORE THEY ESCAPE THIS BASE, UNTIL THEN WE ARE UNDER LOCKDOWN!"

"Fuck," Taylor swore as he gripped the Reverent's controls. "Hold on tight!" Taylor slammed the acceleration and the Reverent sped forward, out of the base.

"Where are you even going?" Tali shouted as the Reverent sped forward.

"Right now? Back to the skyscrapers. Sukron tore my COM unit out so there's no way for me to contact-" Taylor was cut off as a massive green ball of plasma flew over the Reverent, barley missing it as it hit the ground and exploded. Craning their necks, Taylor and Tali saw a Chopper was directly behind them, and apparently the 35mm cannons had been replaced with fuel rods.

"I'll give this back," Tali quickly said as she grabbed Taylor's DMR off of his back. Aiming the rifle over the rear of the Reverent, Tali began to take shots at the Chopper, the bullets hitting the front of it. "Damn it, I can't get a clear shot at the driver," Tali swore as both of the Chopper's cannons fired, forcing Taylor to swerve the Reverent to avoid them.

"If you can't get a shot, let's see if I can," Taylor said as he spun the Reverent around to face the Chopper. The Reverent's cannon fired a ball of pink plasma that arced at hit the Chopper head on, sending it flying through the air, the driver falling from the seat as it hit the seat. Accelerating, Taylor fired the cannon again, the Jiralhanae dove out of the way as the ball hit his Chopper sending it up in flames.

Looking at the burning husk of his vehicle in shock, the Jiralhanae turned and ran for his life, heading for the base. "No you don't," Tali said as she raised the DMR and took aim for several seconds before pulling the trigger. In the distance, the Jiralhanae collapse, a bullet hole in his spine.

"Nice shot," Taylor complimented as he spun the Reverent, continuing to head for the skyscrapers.

"Thank you," Tali said as she placed the DMR on the ground in between them. "How are your biotics?"

"They haven't come back yet, Sukron said that the drug wouldn't be flushed out of my system for a whole day."

"You know he could have just been messing with your head, making you think that your biotics couldn't work for 24 hours as a form of physiological torture."

"Fair point, still I doubt that I'll be using my Biotics and time so-PHANTOM!" Tali's head snapped in the direction that Taylor was facing and saw that an Empire dropship was heading right towards them. "There's no way the Reverent's cannon can take that thing down," Taylor muttered as the Phantom bore down on them, "HOLD ON!" he shouted as he slammed on the acceleration, the Phantom turning to pursue them.

The gunship's main cannon fired at the fleeing Reverent, Taylor wildly swerving from side to side in a desperate attempt to avoid the blasts. The gun carriage bucked wildly from the shockwaves of the explosions, barely staying upright. "Got any ideas?" Taylor hissed as the Reverent narrowly avoided another blast.

"What do you want me to do? Hack it?" Tali said dryly as she hung on for dear life. "Even if you could stay still enough for me to properly use my omni-tool, it would take me hours to get through it's firewalls."

"Then what the Hell are we supposed to do? Just-oh fuck, JUMP!" The Phantom had fired another shot, this one was head on. Both Tali and Taylor jumped from the Reverent as the blast hit it, causing it to explode violently. Tali hit the ground with a painful groan as she saw the Phantom closing in out of the corner of her eye.

As she got to her feet, she heard a cry of agony from the direction of the Reverent. Her heart sank as she saw that the wreckage had landed directly on Taylor's right arm, completely crushing it and pinning him to the ground. "Oh Keelah," she swore as she reached the Reverent in the blink of an eye.

"Son of a bitch," Taylor swore as he tried to pull his arm out with no success.

"Hold on," Tali said as she unholstered her shotgun and fired it three times , hoping that the force would push the remains of the Reverent off of Taylor. To her great disappointment however, it barely bugged. "Damn it!" she shouted, kicked the Reverent in frustration.

"Don't bother, this thing weights a ton and a half," Taylor hissed in pain, a jagged piece of metal was buried in his arm underneath the mass of metal.

"What am I supposed to do then just leave you here?" Tali snapped. "I don't know if you noticed but we're in the middle of a field around ten miles from the nearest friendly with a hostile gunship floating over our heads. If we're going to even think about surviving, I need to get you loose so that there's two of us instead of one."

"How very touching." Tali froze, she knew that voice, she knew it all too well. Turning very slowly, she saw Sukron standing fifty feet away from her, having jumped out of the Phantom. "I was supposed to support the team at the bunker," he said as he loaded a belt of ammo into the grenade launcher in his hands. "But I suppose that I can spare some time to take care of you two. Hold your fire," he said.

On board the Phantom, a Jiralhanae that was lining up a shot with a turret paused. "But Commander, I have a clear shot, it will only take seconds for me to kill them."

"I SAID HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Sukron bellowed, his normally cool voice sounding rather animal like. The Jiralhanae operating the turret seemed to shrink under Sukron's words as he lowered the turret. "No one has ever escaped from my clutches before," Sukron said, mostly to himself, "this is unacceptable, I will kill the two of you myself. Oh, but how should I do it? Blow you to pieces? Set you on fire? Disembowelment? So...many choices."

Tali was deeply disturbed at how Sukron's voice had changed from uncontrollable rage to such a deadpan tone. He seemed to be mentally unhinged the way that he was insulted by their escape and was compelled to hunt them down. Even more disturbing was the way that he talked about it, as if it was an idle pastime.

"Now then," Sukron said as he raised his grenade launcher. "I have given you more life than you deserved, it is time for me to take it back."

Tali drew her pistol and squeezed off four shots, all of them hitting Sukron on the chest, causing his shields to falter. Snarling, Sukron fired all six shots of his grenade launcher's belt, Tail diving out of the way to avoid them. Tali fired three more shots from her pistol and a blast from her shotgun, causing Sukron's shields to flicker weakly.

Loosing all patience and abandoning all reason, Sukron let out a roar as he charged forward, hitting Tali head on, throwing her flat on her back, her guns flying out of her hands. Scrambling to her feet, Tali jumped back as Sukron swung the blade of his grenade launcher, which was buried in the ground where she had been a second ago.

Taylor grimaced in frustration as he watched, angry that he was unable to do anything. His DMR had fallen out of reverent and was not that far away, but with his arm trapped it was firmly out of reach, leaving him with only his knife as a weapon. Taylor snarled, unless he gained unrealistic knife throwing powers within the next thirty seconds the blade would be completely useless. Glancing back at Sukron, Taylor's eyes widened in horror as he flipped a switch on his Scorcher, causing the igniter to burst to life.

Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait, I just haven't been able to get around to writing that much, once again this chapter is mainly just building stuff up, which lead to some things that you might praise me for, and things that will make you want to rip my balls off.

By the way I want to get this out of the way, yes I know that it's unrealistic for people to talk this much during the middle of a battle, but people, I need to do stuff like that in order to build the plot, add character development and add a bit of life to what is otherwise pointless violence. To be fair, only one or two people have complained about this, also I would like to point out that EVERYONE DOES THIS! I can literally think of dozens of examples in a climax where there is a good chunk of dialogue. Is it unrealistic? Yes. Does it distract from the story? Not really. Well I hope that it doesn't bother you, and I'm sorry for ending on a cliffhanger again.

P.S. I'm really not.

P.S.S. I opened a new character poll on my profile, please check it out and cast your vote.


	30. Move of Desperation

Chapter 30

Move of Desperation

Author's Note:Wow I must really be doing something to disappoint my audience, I know some of you said you don't always get around to reviewing but six? I know you have lives to live, but if it's not too much trouble could you just take three minutes to scribble out a comment? And if I am doing something wrong, could you please tell me what it is so I could fix it...aw screw it you've got better things to do than listen to my bellyaching.

Tali ducked her head as Sukron swung his grenade launcher again, the blade just skimming the top of her hood, forcing it to fall back and reveal Tali's violet hair. Tali swore under her breath as she dove to the side to avoid another swipe from Sukron, his blade nicking her face as she did. "Keelah," she whispered as she recovered her balance. Her heart was beating so fast she thought that it would burst out of her chest at any moment, she was simply terrified. She had every reason to be too, Sukron seemed to be foaming at the mouth as he swung his blade again, determined to rip her head off. It was frightening, Sukron had been completely calm every other time Tali had seen him, he had been completely in control. But losing control, not having every variable under his thumb, seemed to have driven him over the edge.

"You think that you have suffered?" Sukron roared as Tali jumped back to avoid getting her legs chopped off. "You have only had a taste of what I have in store for you Quarian! You know nothing! I have cut limbs off my victims piece by piece, pierced their bodies with so many sharpened darts they went mad from the pain, gorged out their eyes, doing it oh so slowly, relishing their anguish. What you experienced was nothing more than a warm up, my sloppy work, AND I WILL NOT HAVE YOU ESCAPE WITH NOTHING MORE THAN THAT!" he roared as he lifted his weapon over his head and brought it down. Tali barely avoided the blade as it slammed into the ground, burying itself there.

Losing patience with the weapon, Sukron took one hand off of it and swung his fist at Tali. His fist connected with her chest and sent her flying onto her back, a horrible cracking noise ringing in her ears. Tali attempted to get up, but an intense pain shot through her chest causing her to wince in agony. Before she could even blink, Sukron's fist slammed into her chest again. Tali let out a cry of pain as another ear splitting crack tore through the air.

Pouncing on top of her, Sukron grabbed Tali's throat, both of his hands tightening as he began to choke her. "TALI!" Taylor bellowed as Tali desperately tried to force Sukron of her, thrashing violently against his grip, but both of her legs were pinned underneath Sukron, making them useless to her.

'He's too strong!" she thought, fear flooding through her, 'I can't get him to stop!' Her hands, which were clenched around Sukron's wrists in a desperate attempt to pull them off, began to slacken as her strength began to leave her. 'No no NO! I'm not dying like this!'

Tali took one hand off of Sukron's tree trunk thick arm and desperately reached for the knife she had strapped to her ankle. Her teeth gritted as she stretched her arm to the point where it felt like it would snap, desperately grasping for the hilt of her knife. 'Almost,' she thought as she desperately grasped for the hilt of her knife, 'Almost.'

Taylor watched Sukron choking Tali in agony, bitting his lip so hard that blood was beginning to trickle down from it. He felt absolutely helpless as he watched Tali's struggles slowly grow weaker. "Damn it," he hissed as he violently pulled his trapped arm, only to dig the shard of metal that was buried in it deeper. "It's happening all over again, he's murdering her and I can't do anything to stop him, just like he did with my men. All I've got is this thing," he remarked sourly as he glanced at his knife, "and I can't use it for jack sh-" Taylor stopped abruptly as a thought struck him. "That...that just might work," he whispered.

Sukron did not seem to notice what Tali was doing, instead focusing on squeezing the life out of Tali, murder mixed with insanity in his mind. Tali tried desperately to reach her knife but found that her fingers still came up a few centimeters short as the edges of her vision began to go dark.

Doubling her resolve, Tali forced her arm forward with even more strength, causing a a fire like pain to shoot from her arm. The tips of her fingers reached the hilt of her knife. In one fluid motion, Tali drew her knife, pulled her arm back and swung it at Sukron. The knife buried itself in Sukron's eye.

The Jiralhanae let out an animalistic roar as he pulled his hands back and grasped the wound, staggering backwards as he did. Scuttling out from underneath him, Tali felt a rush of relief as she took a breath and air flowed into her lungs. But as she got to her feet, something didn't feel right. Despite the fact that Sukron was not longer strangling her, Tali still found it hard to breathe, her breaths coming in short rasps. Reaching for her throat, Tali squeezed it lightly and recoiled when pain shot through it.

"Damn it," she swore as Sukron stopped staggering and glared at her, his left hand still covering the eye she had stabbed.

"I have had enough of this," he seethed as he raised his scorcher, aiming it at Tali, who took up a combat stance, holding her knife in front of her. Without any warning, there was a loud bang, and the scorcher's tank exploded. Sukron shouted in surprise at the fluid in the tank caught alight, burning his arm. He violently ripped the Scorcher off and threw it on the ground before attempting to violently beat out the fire that was consuming his fur.

Seeing an opening, Tali lunged forward, her body roaring in protest all the way, grabbed Sukron's arm, used to to propel herself upward and drove her knife into the back of Sukron's neck. The Jiralhanae roared in agony and snapped his head around to face Tali, murder in his eyes. Her knife still lodged in Sukron's neck with her holding onto it, Tali braced herself for the blow she was sure was coming.

It never did. Tali looked at Sukron in surprise, as he began to tilt forward and them simply fell over, where he was sprawled on the ground in a heap. "My...my body," he croaked, the faintest trace of fear in his voice. "It...it won't move." Tali glanced at the knife still embedded in the back of Sukron's neck and understood. She had hit his spinal cord.

Taking the knife in both hands, Tali pulled the knife out of of Sukron's neck. "That was a gunshot that make the tank explode," she muttered to herself, "but who could have-" the answer struck her with the force of a block of cement.

Turning to face the remains of the Reverent, Tali's suspicions were confirmed. Taylor was lying with his back to the Reverent, his DMR in his hand. Tali smiled for a second, then she saw what he had done to get loose "TALYOR!" she shrieked, limping across towards him as fast as her damaged body would allow.

Taylor's combat knife was lying next to him on the ground, stained with bright crimson blood. His right arm was still wedged underneath the remains of the Reverent. He had cut it off to get loose and had then cauterized it with the burning Reverent. Tali reached Taylor and dropped to her knees so that she was on level with him.

"Why?" she asked softly, dropping her knife as she stared at Taylor's severed arm, "why did you do that?"

"He was killing you," Taylor replied weakly, he was clearly having trouble staying conscious, "I...I had to do something."

"So you cut off your arm?" Tali said, her voice shaking. "How could you do something like that to yourself? I'm not worth it."

"I disagree," Taylor said, reaching forward with his remaining hand and softly stroking Tali's cheek.

"Please," Tali half asked half begged as she gently pushed his hand away "Please Taylor, never do anything like this again." Taylor was silent for a second, before he nodded his head in agreement. "Thank you," Tali said as she hugged him, Taylor doing the best he could to return the favor.

A roar of pure suffering caused both of them to crane their necks. The fire on Sukron's arm had spread to the rest of his body and he was screaming in agony as the flames ate away at him. The Phantom, which until this point had been circling the fight, was hurriedly landing, with three Jiralhanae jumping out, one of them holding a blue canister. The Jiralhanae with the canister aimed it at Sukron, and shot a yellow paste like substance that doused the flames, causing Sukron to stop thrashing and lie eerily still. The same Jiralhanae crouched down and felt Sukron's pulse. "He's alive," he announced to the other Jiralhanae, "but just barely. If he doesn't get medical attention immediately he will die, and even if he does." The Jiralhanae gazed a Sukron's motionless figure, "his chances of survival are low."

"What about the Human and the Quarian?" one of the other Jiralhanae asked. Upon hearing this, Tali grabbed Taylor's DMR and aimed it at the Jiralhanae, her throat dry.

"We do not have time to tarry," the first Jiralhanae said. "If Sukron dies, all of our plans will come to nothing, and I will not have years of plotting come crashing down around us. In the end it doesn't matter, now that we have what we came for we will cleanse this planet and they will perish. Now help me!" he shouted as he grabbed Sukron's arms, the other Jiralhanae grabbing his legs as they slowly lifted him onto the Phantom. "Besides, even if by some miracle they live, what difference will they make in the end?" the Jiralhanae asked as the Phantom's doors closed and the dropship took off, heading for orbit.

Tali let out a sigh of relief as she lowered the DMR, in her current state she would have been lucky to have gotten one of them before she and Taylor both died. "Is it over?" Taylor asked, looking at Tali.

"I...I don't know," she replied. "They said something about plotting and cleansing the...oh Keelah," she whispered, realization shooting through her eyes. A quick glanced at Taylor told her that he was thinking the same thing, the Jiralhanae were going to glass Feros.

"We need to move," Tali said as she gingerly got to her feet and began to revertive her weapons "Can you walk?" Taylor staggered to his feet, pushing off of the Reverent with his remaining arm to help.

"Barely," he muttered as Tali grabbed her shotgun and pistol, holstering them.

"Here," Tali said as she approached Taylor again, drawing his good arm around her shoulders so that she was supporting him.

"Thanks," Taylor rasped as they began to move at an incredibly slow pace.

"Don't mention it," Tali replied as she gently kissed Taylor on the cheek. "It's the least I could do."

XXXXX

Jane barely avoided the Acolyte's arm as it flew past her, the Flood arcing upwards and hovering above them, eyeing them up. "_Are you in allegiance with those who disturbed our sleep?"_ he asked. It did not actually speak, yet it's words reverberated in the heads of those below him. _"Why have you returned? You have already taken what you have come for._"

"What the Hell are you talking about?" Jacob shouted, "You think we're allies with the apes?"

The Acolyte passed, staring blankly at Jacob. _"You are not?"_ it asked, sounded slightly puzzled. "_It would appear that there is much that I do not understand here, this must be remedied_."

In a flash the Acolyte swooped downward, heading towards the person that was nearest to it, which happened to be Rebecca. Her face paling, Rebecca raised her shotgun and fired it as the Acolyte drew nearer, aiming for it's face. Undaunted, the Acolyte raised one of it's arms in front of it's face, the pellets hitting it harmlessly. Before Rebecca even had time to pump her shotgun, the Acolyte hit her head on, it's arms wrapping around her like a bear trap, pinning her arms to her sides and forcing her shotgun out of her hands.

"REBECCA!" Jane shouted as the Acolyte began to ascend, Rebecca trapped firmly in it's grasp.

Desperately trying to break free fro the Flood's iron grip, Rebecca brought her head back and slammed it into the Flood's face. The Acolyte didn't even flinch as, to Rebecca's horror, the tentacles on it's face began to extend, tiny appendages on it's end ripping Rebecca's helmet off and casting it aside. _"I require information." _the Acolyte said calmly as it's tentacles slowly began to slither across her face. As the tentacles moved they knocked the band keeping Rebecca's hair in a bun away, causing her fiery red hair to fall down to her shoulders. They slowly approached her ears, stopping just short of them almost as if they were examining them. Suddenly, they arced backwards and then plunged into Rebecca's ears.

Rebecca let out a shriek of pure pain as the Acolyte's tentacles probed into her, pain like she had never known before coursing through her body. "NO DON'T!" Jane shouted as Jacob, Falys and Garrus all raised their rifles, aiming at the Acolyte. "It won't do a damn thing, our weapons aren't heavy enough to hurt it, and there's too much of a risk that you might hit Rebecca!"

"What are we supposed to do then?" Falys shouted as Rebecca's screams intensified. "Just stand here and watch?"

"What would you suggest that we do?" Jane bellowed. Rebecca's cries climbed another pitch as the Acolyte loosened it's grip on her, causing her to fall towards the ground.

Instinctively, Liara extended her arms an a light purple aura surrounded the ODST, slowing her fall. As Rebecca continued to fall, Liara positioned herself underneath her and caught the slowed Russian and caught her gently in her arms.

Liara glanced down at Rebecca and felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Rebecca's face was stained with tears as she sobbed uncontrollably, her head held in her hands. "It-it-it," she blubbered, "It was inside my m-mind...it...it...it," Rebecca was unable to complete her sentence as she began to cry again.

Looking horrorstruck, Liara quickly laid Rebecca on the ground where she curled into a fetal position, crying harder than ever. "Goddess," Liara whispered as she looked on, unsure of what to do."

"What the Hell did you do?" Garrus barked as the Acolyte, who was overing high above them

"_I joined her mind with my own_," the Acolyte replied emotionlessly. "_I needed to understand the full situation, and her mind contained the information that I needed. Our way joining of minds however, is not as...elegant as the Asari's method, yet it is much more effective. Every last thing she has ever known, every person she has ever met, every thought she has ever had, I have seen all of it, and now I know it. It is completely painless and harmless...for us_."

The Acolyte turned to face Jane. "_I saw in her mind's eye that you were touched by the mind of another, a memory was transplanted into your mind that was not of your race._"

"What does the beacon have to do with anything!" Jane shouted angrily.

"_More than you could possibly imagine Human_," the Acolyte replied coldly. "_It is the whole reason this planet was invaded in the first place. The one you call Saren was touched by the same memory, and seeks to understand it, but that is impossible in his current state. The memory is that of a Prothean, one that cannot be understood without the Cipher_."

"Cipher?" Jane questioned, looking distrustfully at the Flood flying above her.

"_You could never truly understand what it is, it is like describing taste to one that was born without the ability to do so. The Cipher is a mindset that was common to all Protheans, without it, it is impossible to understand Prothean thought_." The Acolyte pointed to Rebecca, who was still sobbing on the ground. "_We Flood have had many encounter's with the Protheans although they were on a small scale and we were never given a chance to spread. Nevertheless, many Protheans were infected by us, and they became us, their mindsets becoming a part of ours. I have given the Cipher to her, one of your Asari companions should be able to transfer it from her mind to yours._"

"_Be warned Human, you have no idea how high the stakes are. The race you call Jiralhanae brought an Asari with them. She was able to pluck the Cipher from my mind while I slept, and then escaped while the others fought me, no doubt she has already escaped to orbit. You should escape as well, now that your foes have what they seek, this planet holds no value to them, most likely they will destroy it."_

"Why are you telling us this?" Jane shouted.

"_Simple. With the knowledge I am giving you, your kind will be more fit to fight the true threat that lurks in the dark. Know this Human, Saren's ship which he calls Sovereign...it is not what it seems. Be cautious Human, I only do this for the future of the Flood." _As it spoke, the Acolyte turned and began to fly away. "_After this has ended, I will hunt you down personally._"

Author's Note: I imagine (one of) the first things your going to ask me is Sukron going to die? Well...I haven't really decided yet, that's why I ended this chapter so that it could go either way. Tell me what you think I should do, I'll listen and take it into account. Also, about the Acolyte, I would like to point out that this guy only cares about the Flood, anything else is a lesser species to it. It only let the others live because it thought the Flood would benefit from it, and as you clearly saw, it can cause an unbearable amount to pain to someone and not care less...yeah, not really a nice guy.

That more or less wraps up all of the action on Feros, all the fighting is over, the next chapter will just be dealing with the aftermath. I'm pretty proud of this chapter, please leave a comment if you thought that it was a good one In terms of plot advancement I mean, I'm imagine some of your are starting to think I have it in for some of these characters, personally I think a dark tone like this makes for a more interesting read, if you disagree, please tell me and if enough people do so, I'll ease up and make future chapters lighter. If you stay silent, I'll assume you like the story the way that it is.


	31. Falling Back

Chapter 31

Falling Back

Author's Note: Things seem to be going smoothly, as I promised this chapter will wrap up the events of Feros, I think that we've been here long enough. I really don't have anything else to say, so I'm not going to keep you waiting.

"We're conducting our last sweep Major, but we need to leave after this, if we don't we'll be sticking around for the fireworks."

"Understood." In the back bay of a Pelican, Ashley and Sarah sat across from each other, Sarah typing slowly on her omni-tool, not looking at Ashley. They had boarded the last Pelican to leave the skyscrapers, which was conducting a quick search for any survivors of the invasion, although hopes were not high. All of the other ships had already taken off and exited the system through low orbit slipspace ruptures, the _Normandy _was the only UNSC ship left in the system, as it had remained behind to pick up stragglers. Most of the Pelicans, including the one that picked up Jane and her squad, had already boarded it. "Are you all right?" Ashley asked, looking at Sarah with concern.

Sarah did not speak for a few seconds as she continued to type on her omni-tool. "I don't know," she said in a hoarse voice, looking up at Ashley. Right away Ashley noticed that her eyes were raw red, she had been crying. Ashley couldn't help but wonder when exactly she had been crying, for she certainly hadn't let it be seen. "I mean, what the Hell am I supposed to feel?" Sarah croaked, "my brother's been captured, he's probably being tortured right now, I don't even know if he's alive or not, what am I supposed to feel? What am I supposed to tell our parents?" she asked, her voice shrinking.

"I don't know," Ashley replied honestly. "I know that they'll understand though, this was completely out of your hands...I'll tell them."

"What?"

"I'm the one that requested support in taking out the Empire's artillery, and Jane deployed your brother in response to that request, and it's my fault he was captured for nothing."

"That's ridiculous!" Sarah snapped. "You did what you had to do. What happened to Taylor was completely out of control, and it happened after he and the others saved the lives of a couple thousand civilians and I'm damn proud of him!"

Ashley gave a small smile, Sarah seemed to have broken out of her stupor. "I know exactly what I'm going to say to them," she said as she relaxed back into her seat.

"I'm glad to hear it," Ashley said.

"Major!" the pilot shouted. "The motion tracker is picking something up!"

"What?" Ashley yelled.

"I can't make out exactly what what's making them, but I'm picking up two movement signatures and they're too small for the chimps to be making them. I'm not getting anything on the COMs but that could be because it's a pair of farmers that didn't get caught, on the other hand it could be Jackals or Drones, the size is close enough. Orders?"

Ashley paused for a minute. "Take us down, if it's civilians I don't want to risk leaving them behind, and if they're not friendlies it'll only take us five seconds to take them out anyway."

"Roger," the pilot said as the Pelican began to descend.

"Be ready," Ashley muttered as she rose to her feet and maned the turret, Sarah raising her assault rifle and aiming it at the door as she did so. There was a faint hiss as the door slid open, Ashley and Sarah tightening the grips of their weapons.

"Can you please not point guns at us? In case you haven't noticed we've had a long day."

Sarah's eyes widened as she saw the two people standing in front of her. "Tali?" she said, looking at the Quarian who had just spoken to her with shock in her eyes.

"Nice to see you too Sarah," Tali rasped, smiling weakly.

"But I though that you..." Sarah's voice drifted off as she saw the figure that Tali was supporting. "Taylor?" she asked, her voice small and shaking. Smiling softly, Taylor nodded. Glancing back and forth between the two standing in front of her, taking in Taylor's missing arm, the way Tali held herself gingerly, and the cuts on both of their faces. "Wha-what happened to you two?"

"You can do all the talking that you want later," Ashley said hurriedly, "the Jiralhanae are moving to glass the planet and we need to get out of here." Tali nodded as she helped Taylor into the Pelican, the door closing behind them. "Get us out of here!" she shouted to the pilot as Tali lowered Taylor into a seat. "Head for the _Normandy_!" Acting on her words, the pilot pulled back on the controls and the Pelican began to ascend.

Sarah stared numbly at Taylor and Tali as Tali sat down next to Taylor, wincing slightly as she did. "Taylor...your arm...your face," Sarah said bluntly, her voice cracking slightly as she did. "How did this happen?"

Taylor and Tali glanced at each other before looking back at Sarah. "We got captured...and were tortured," Taylor said softly. "A Jiralhanae named Sukron used some sort of device that inflicted temporary paralysis or something, then dragged us back to the Empire's base."

"What did he want, Information?" Sarah asked as she sat down across from her brother and Tali. Without any prompt, Ashley stood up and walked towards the cockpit, leaving the trio alone.

"Hardly," Tali said, her brow narrowing, "the bosh'tet did it for his own pleasure."

Sarah bit her lip as she clenched her hands together. "How did you escape?"

The next ten minutes were comprised entirely out of Taylor and Tali describing in detail how they had killed the guard of their cell, gotten their weapons, stolen a Reverent and their second encounter with Sukron. As they finished their description, Sarah's throat tightened as her mouth began to mist over.

"Let me summarize," she croaked. "You've both been stabbed, burned, cut and had a finger cut off, Taylor, you had a Reverent crush your arm before you cut it off, and Tali, half of your ribcage is probably broken and you've got a bruised larynx?" Silently they both nodded. Sarah gave a strained gulp as she looked at both of them, clearly blinking back tears.

"I-I just...I'm just glad that your both still alive," she said quietly as she crossed the bay and pulled both Taylor and Tali into a hug. By some miracle, she managed to hold her tears back.

From where she stood in the cockpit, Ashley smiled as she watched the scene unfold before her. "We docking with the _Normandy_," the pilot muttered as the Pelican flew into the frigate, the bay doors closing behind them. "Just in time too, the Jiralhanae ships were moving glassing positions."

Ashley nodded as she raised her hand to her COM unit. "Shepard, I picked up a couple of strays from your crew. They're pretty badly beat up but they'll live."

"Chakwas can patch them up," Jane replied, her voice rather gravely.

Ashley frowned. "You sound depressed, are you all right?"

"Ashley, the Flood it...it did something to one of crew members."

Ashley's eyes widened. "Tell me everything."

XXXXX

Rebecca's hands shook violently as she raised a burning lighter in her hands, attempting to light the cigarette wedged in between her lips. After three attempts to do so, she managed to light the end of the roll of tobacco, taking a long drag on it. As he placed the lighter on the table in front of her, she glanced across it where Kelly was sitting. "You don't mind if I smoke do you?" Rebecca asked gesturing to her cigarette.

Kelly shook her head as Rebecca lay down on the couch that she was sitting on. "Shepard told me what happened down there," Kelly said in a consolidating voice. "What exactly did the Acolyte do to you?"

For a minute Rebecca did not speak as she continued to smoke, her hands shaking less violently. "It...it's hard to describe," she muttered. "Have you ever joined minds with an Asari?"

Kelly nodded her head. "Once or twice."

"So have I," Rebecca whispered, "just with mum though. It was kind of like that but..." Rebecca's hands began to shake as her cigarette fell from her hands. "It was...forceful, unwelcome, intruding...a violation. If joining minds with the Asari was sex then this would be ra...it would be ra...it would be..." Rebecca struggled to say the word "rape" be her lips refused to form the shape required to do so.

"I understand," Kelly said softly.

"It was inside my head," Rebecca whimpered, clutching her head with both hands. "It said that it knew everything that I knew, it was fucking everywhere. Every last memory and thought, that thing probed them all."

"I know that this has been a trying experience for you Rebecca," Kelly said, "but I need you to talk to me, if I'm going to help you I need to know the exact specifics."

Rebecca nodded as she lowered her hands, taking a deep breath as she did so. "The Acolyte grabbed me and flew up so the others couldn't do anything. He ripped my helmet off and knocked the band keeping my hair in a bun off."

"If it's any consolation I think you look better with your hair down."

Rebecca gave a weak chuckle. "Thanks," she muttered. "After that the Acolyte's...face tentacles stretched forward and went in my ears." Rebecca looked at Kelly, a pained expression on her face. "It hurt so much," she said weakly, "I felt like every nerve in my body was on fire and my head...oh god... I could feel him inside my mind, ripping his way through." Rebecca clutched the side of her head with her hand. "The rest of the pain was a cakewalk compared to that. I...I just..." Rebecca's words failed her as tears began to streak down her face.

Silently, Kelly crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Rebecca, who was now sobbing silently. "There there," she said in a comforting voice, "I know that was hard for you but you took a big step. The first step to recovering from trauma is to confront what happened to you, and you did a very good job."

"Th-thanks," Rebecca blubbered out as Kelly released her grip on her. "Sorry about your carpet," she muttered, glancing at the butt she had dropped on the ground.

"Oh don't worry about it, I was planning on getting a new one the next time we docked." Rebecca knew that Kelly was lying through her teeth, but couldn't help but chuckle wetly as she brushed her hair out of her eyes.

Kelly's eyes suddenly focused on Rebecca's forehead. "What?" Rebecca asked, noticing Kelly's stare. "What?" she repeated as Kelly moved closer to her, starting to feel nervous.

"You went to see Dr. Chakwas before you came here right?" Kelly asked as she pushed Rebecca's bright red hair back, baring her forehead.

"Yeah, she said all my vitals checked out, my heartbeat was a little fast and my brain activity was higher than usual but she said that I would be all right and that she would take a more detailed look after my session with you. Why what's that matter?"

Kelly reached for a mirror that was set on the table in front of them and handed it to Rebecca. "Check the base of your hair." Rebecca nodded and held up the mirror as she pushed her head back. At the very base of her hair, just barley visible, her hair stopped being red and became a mystical silver.

"What does that mean?" Rebecca asked as she looked at Kelly.

"I...I don't know," Kelly answered honestly. "It could be completely harmless or it could be the start of something bigger. I think you should head back to the infirmary and get a full body scan." Rebecca nodded as she ran out of the infirmary, a feeling of dread in her stomach.

XXXXX

Within the depths of the Osun system a slipspace rupture opened and the _Vigilant Guardian _exited it. On the bridge of the Assault Carrier, Tritus and Xeron stood in front of the view screen, which was displaying an image of the Blue Sun prison ship _Purgatory_. "Are long range communications being jammed?" Tritus asked a nearby technician.

"Yes Emperor, the Blue Suns won't be calling for help as long as we're on the same side of the sector."

"Good," Tritus said as he looked back at the viewscreen. He frowned as he realized that fifteen other Blue Sun ships were surrounding the _Purgatory_, ten frigates and 5 destroyers to be exact, which might be enough for them to overwhelm the _Guardian_. "Open communications."

There was a crackle of static before an angry voice was broadcasted across the bridge. "This is WardenKuril, you are trespassing on Blue Sun territory, identify yourself or we will open fire!"

"Warden, this is Emperor Tritus of the Jiralhanae Empire," Tritus said calmly. "I am not here to fight. I have learned quite a bit about your prison ship and what you do to bring in funds, such as selling your inmates. I am interested and would like to make a purchase."

"You've got to be kidding me, I may hate hate Council with a burning passion, but I rather have them around than you animals. Since I don't want you marking the Blue Suns as enemies, I'll give you thirty seconds to warp out before I order my escorts to take the shot."

"I tried to be friendly," Tritus muttered, "but it never works." He turned to face the technician. "Proceed with our backup plan." The Jiralhanae nodded as he pressed a series of buttons on the panel in front of him. The _Vigilant Guardian_'s forward pulse laser banks charged and fired. They hit the _Purgatory_'s engines at the speed of light, melting the hell and causing the engines to die. It was now impossible for the _Purgatory _to move, and by extent jump to light speed.

"If you will not be swayed by bargains," Tritus said, "Perhaps you will be swayed by forces. You have a certain prisoner that I wish to obtain, either give her to me, or I will board your ship and take her buy force."

"Are the scanners on that ship of yours broken?" Kuril said spitefully. "You're outnumbered. I don't care out advanced that ship of yours is, it'll go down after two salvos, three at the most."

"How far out is he?" Tritus asked, ignoring Kuril's words.

"He's entering the system now," the technician answered. Tritus smiled as he looked at the viewscreen. A series of slipspace ruptures opened in front of the _Vigilant Guardian_ and an Empire Fleet of fifty ships exited.

There was a crackle as another voice began to speak. "I apologize for my tardiness Tritus," a gruff voice said. "The Human defenses at Frontier where stronger than we estimated, nonetheless we were able to destroy all major shipyards before they began their counterattack and we fled."

"Very good Ultimas," Tritus said. "Now then Warden, I suggest that you prepare your airlock for docking, dropships will be boarding your ship soon, and when they do I want Jack ready for transport."

"J-JACK!" Kuril shouted, "You're here for Jack? You must be out of your mind if you think I'm going to hand her over to you for free!"

"You had an opportunity to make a profit out of this situation, you turned it down."

"Tritus I have a concern," Xeron remarked. Tritus turned his head, silently asking Xeron to continue. "You plan to be on the dropship heading for retrieve Jack, I am worried that the Blue Sun escort ships will engage in a suicide mission to eliminate you and hamper the war effort."

"You make a fair argument," Tritus remarked. "Ultimas, I want your fleet to destroy the _Purgatory_'s escorts."

"At once," Ultimas remarked. Tritus watched as the viewscreen showed Ultimas' fleet firing a salvo of plasma torpedos and pulse lasers at the Blue Sun ships. They never stood a chance. The Empire ship's burned their hull away, exposing the crew to the harsh vacuum of space if the ship didn't simply explode. The fight only lasted twenty seconds.

"You-" Kuril stuttered, "You monster."

"If Jack is not ready for me when I arrive," Tritus threatened, "I will take her by force and then decompress your ship. Xeron, come with me." Xeron nodded as he and Tritus made for the exit for a bridge.

"Emperor, if you have a moment, I have a question," one of the technicians said.

Tritus came to a halt and craned his head. "What is it?"

"You never said the commander of the reinforcement fleet was Ultimas, how is this mission so vital that the Emperor and two Supreme Commanders must be dedicated to it?"

Supreme Commander, a rank designed by Tritus after his rise to power. It was a very high position, with all Supreme Commanders junior only to Tritus himself. Only four Supreme Commanders could exist at a time, but all of them had the same authority as a four star General, and made up the leadership of the Empire in addition to the Emperor. On the off chance that anything should happen to the Emperor, a predestinated Supreme Commander would take his place. The four current Supreme Commanders were named Xeron, Ultimas, Sukron, and Rason all of them having been chosen for their leadership abilities and fighting capacity.

Tritus stared at the technician before answering. "One that could usher in the strongest warriors that the Empire has ever seen. Are you aware of how formidable Xeron is?" The technician nodded. "If all goes according to plan, we will be able to make an army of warriors that are all equal to him." The technician's eyes widened as Tritus said, "Tell Ultimas that I want him to accompany me on this mission," and left the bridge.

Author's Note: Sorry about the wait, you know how things can go sometimes S#$% comes up in your life and you don't always have time to write, the good news is my grades are looking much more promising this time around, Hell come the end of the year I might even be able to exempt an exam. By the way, Rebecca's hair is indeed changing colors, and I want to be able to scientifically explain how that is possible, but the best explanation that I have so far is that the Acolyte messed up her nervous system slightly so know impulses sent to her hair follicles tell it to produce a type of pigment that it didn't produce before. If you think that is inadequate, please PM me, don't put it in a review, PM me about what it should be, I would really appreciate the help. FYI her condition isn't life threatening, I decided to NOT leave this one on a cliffhanger so I'll let you know that.

In other news, I JUST BROKE 100,000 WORDS! Jesus this is a long one, and I've still got half a dozen sub plots planned and the main plot is only a third of the way done...I'd get comfortable if I were you people, we're going to be here awhile. As always, tell me what you think. Also if you spot any grammar errors, PM me and I'll fix them in a jiffy.


	32. Scars

Chapter 32

Scars

Author's Note: Well, time to get the ball rolling again and get some new sub-plots going, or at least set them up. Also in this chapter I will introduce...nah I'm not going to tell you yet.

Rebecca silently took a drag on the cigarette wedged in between her lips before letting out a puff. She was sitting in the starboard observation deck, staring out into space. Chakwas had just examined her and had informed her that her hair had stopped forming the pigment that had given her hair it's red color and had started to produce a new one that was causing her hair to turn silver. Chakwas was at a loss to explain what had caused this change, the only explanation that she could come up with was that the Acolyte had affected her brain when he had joined with it and had accidentally rewired a neuron, causing it to send out a different signal than it was supposed to.

"I suppose that it doesn't really matter," Rebecca thought as she took another puff. "My hair's changing, that's that." She couldn't help but feel slightly saddened though, she liked her hair red and had taken great pride in taking excellent care of it.

The door to the deck hissed open and Rebecca turned to see Liara standing there. "Um, hello," the Asari said uncertainly, rubbing her arm in discomfort. "Do...do you mind if I sit with you?" Rebecca shook her head as she took her butt and pressed it into the ashtray in front of the couch she was sitting on. Liara sat down as Rebecca lit another cigarette and took a puff.

"I didn't know that you smoked," Liara remarked.

"Only when I need to take my mind off of something."

There was a brief pause as Rebecca stared into space, not making any attempts at conversation. Liara broke the silence. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap," Rebecca answered honestly. "Chakwas told me that I should get some sleep but I can't." She shook her head, "bad dreams."

"Can't you take pills for that?"

"We don't have any on board, Chakwas is equipped for keeping people alive, not helping them cope with trauma." Rebecca turned her head. "Why are you here anyway?"

"I...I was worried about you," Liara answered honestly. "You seemed upset in the tunnel, like you knew what was waiting for us."

"You don't know what you talking about," Rebecca said coldly. "You have no idea what those things are, or what they're capable of do-"

"Actually I do," Liara said.

Rebecca blinked. "Enlighten me."

"They're called the Flood, a parasitic life form that infects other intelligent life, gaining control of their bodies and the information in their minds." Rebecca looked completely shocked at Liara's knowledge. "Shepard told me," Liara explained. "She took Jacob, Falys and I into a room and told us about them, after she made us sign an oath of secrecy that is. If I talk about this to anyone who doesn't already know it, the UNSC can legally execute me. I suppose she didn't want us jumping to conclusions and spreading rumors."

"Oh," Rebecca said, looking rather ashamed of her rudeness moments prior. "Sorry."

"So, was this your first encounter with them?"

Rebecca paused, then shook her head. "Elysium," she muttered.

"The planet the UNSC bombarded?" Rebecca nodded "They did it because of them?"

"Yup."

"But how is that possible? Elysium was a charted garden world for years before it was bombarded, surely if the Flood were on it, they would have spread to every corner."

"They...they weren't native, someone brought them to that planet." A spike of rage shot across Rebecca's face as her hands tightened into fists. "Cerberus was experimenting on the Flood, I guess they thought that Elysium would be a good hiding place."

"What?" Liara shouted. "But Elysium happened years before Section 4 defected."

"Funny story," Rebecca said darkly. "It turns out that Section 4 was running black operations that the UNSC would never approve years before it splintered. We cracked down on a couple illegal operations but we only put the dots together recently. A platoon was sent to investigate a tip we got."

Rebecca's face slouched in sadness as she continued. "We still don't know exactly what happened, but a firefight broke out in the lab, and the Flood got out. They...they overran the entire fucking planet," Rebecca whispered, her voice cracking. "The UNSC tried to get the scouting parties that it had on the planet off, but...but..."

"You were the only one that made it off?" Liara asked silently.

Rebecca nodded silently as she snubbed out her butt in the ashtray. "So many good people, dead," she whispered. Elizabeth Conner, my g...my friend..." Rebecca teared up as she spoke. "The best friend I ever had...d-died in my arms. It wasn't fair, she made it to the Pelican, I thought she was going to make it...she was stabbed through the back and it...it killed her."

"I...I could help you," Liara said hesitantly. "I could preform the meld and-"

"NO!" Rebecca shouted, causing Liara to jump. "No one else is getting inside my fucking head!" she swore, glaring angrily at Liara before she realized exactly what she was doing. "I'm...I'm sorry I snapped at you," she said quietly. "I just...I don't think I could handle anyone besides my mom being inside my mind right now."

"I understand," Liara said, still shocked at Rebecca's outburst. "Is there anyway I can help you through this?"

"Just...just stay here, I could really use someone to talk to."

Liara smiled. "Of course. So what's it like having an ex-Asari Commando for a mother?" Glad that Liara had changed the subject, Rebecca began to describe her mother to Liara, glad that they were on a lighter topic.

XXXXX

"What exactly do you plan on doing with Jack?"

"That is none of your concern Warden, just focus on making sure we get her." Tritus was following Kuril through the depths of the _Purgatory. _Walking alongside Tritus was Xeron and a heavily shaved Jiralhanae that wore dark blue armor. He was Ultimas, one of the Supreme Commanders and head of the Jiralhanae shock troops, a dozen of which were accompanying him. Every Supreme Commander had specialized division of the military that reported only to him and no other Supreme Commander, only the Emperor could override that Commander's orders.

Ultimas commanded the shock troops, Rason the Chemical Corps, and Sukron Metal Fist, the Empire's shock and awe division, notorious for their use of flamethrowers and fear tactics. Xeron had no specialized division as his had not to be formed, but that would all change if this mission went according to plan. Currently the majority of these divisions were still within Empire space, as Tritus had not wanted them to be on the front lines, preferring to send in the conscripts and the regular military before he sent in his specialists.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you looked at it, the first wave of conscripts had taken heavy casualties, with only minor to moderate damage being done to their targets while they suffered complete annihilation. When he really thought about it Tritus wasn't surprised, after all the convicts had only had a week of training before he deployed them. With no tactical knowledge they had merely charged forward to meet the defensive fire of their opponents, suffering 70% casualties on average.

The regular military was faring much better, but the conscripts failures had left several holes in the main line. Tritus was not worried, no doubt their enemies would be too busy scrabbling to assist planets that were still under fire to even consider going on the offensive. In the end the convicts had done their part, which was to soften up enemy defenses no matter how lightly, and within a week, maybe two, the holes they had left would be filled with regulars and specialists. Tritus smirked, with any luck their foes would be expecting the stupidity of the conscripts while they were fighting the Empire's best and brightest.

"If you think that you can control her, you're out of your mind," Kuril said, breaking Tritus out of his thoughts. "Jack is violence given mortal form, all she wants to do is kill and whatever she doesn't kill she fucks and I get the feeling she won't do the latter to you."

"We appreciate you're concern," Ultimas snarled, "but we know what we are doing. I suggest that you remain silent unless you want me to decide that we can locate Subject Zero without your assistance." To emphasize his point, Ultimas pointed his rifle at Kuril. Ultimas' rifle was not the high power, highly accurate semi-automatic spike rifle that his shock troops used, no Ultimas was using an Empire prototype weapon, a high powered lighting gun that ended not with a barrel, but two prongs.

Kuril eyed the weapon with distrust as he continued to lead the Jiralhanae through the ship, cursing his inability to act. As they walked, they passed one of the many cells that lined the ship, an armored Turian was relentlessly striking a helpless Batarian within it. "I take it you are not well known for your hospitality," Xeron remarked.

"The most innocent prisoner here has the blood of a dozen people on his hands," Kuril retorted, "would you suggest I issue massages every other week?"

"Summary executions would be more effective," Xeron said bluntly, either not noticing the Turian's sarcasm or simply not caring. "I do not understand why you go to such great lengths to sustain a prison aboard a starship, the expenses must be great."

"Money, Xeron." Xeron glanced at Tritus, clearly confused as to how prisons and money went hand in hand. "He sells the prisoners, mainly to criminals who have use for their talents; I pulled the records of several transactions from the files on this ship." Tritus' head snapped to face Kuril, "Which reminds me, have any other Jiralhanae made contact with this vessel?"

"Can't keep track of your own soldiers can you?" Kuril asked scathingly. "No, you're the first one I've ever met." Tritus let out a sigh of relief, they weren't too late. "What are you all worked up about?"

"Never you mind," Ultimas snarled as they walked pass the last set of cells and entered a control room.

"This room controls every cell on this block, including Jack's."

"Good, kindly retrieve her and then have your men transport her to-"

"EMPEROR!" a voice roared over the Empire Battle-Net. "We're picking up slipspace ruptures! It-IT'S THE MARAUDERS!" Tritus felt his stomach drop as the words reverberating inside his head.

"What are their numbers?" he demanded, quickly regaining his composer.

"Twenty ships, but they have their capital ship with them, it's enough to take out half of our forces."

"Understood, break formation, don't let them catch you in a group. Focus fire on the cruisers, you won't be able to pierce the shields on the capital ship unless you all focus on it, and we can't afford that. Be ready to exit the system at any moment, we will be leaving as soon as we can."

"Yes sir!" the Jiralhanae yelled as the line disconnected. No sooner had he done so than a blaring alarm went off, a bright red light accompanying it. Unholstering his new light machine gun, Tritus wielded around and pointed it at Kuril who was standing at the control panel, Ultimas doing the same with his lighting gun and the shock troops with their spike rifles.

"What did you do?" Tritus asked coldly.

"Warning, all cells in this prison block have been opened, warning all cells in this prison block have been opened," a synthesized voice said over the intercom, repeating the same message over and over. For a brief second, the fifteen Jiralhanae stared at the Warden, a slight smirk playing across his face. With a blinding flash, lightning arched from Ultimas' rifle, striking Kuril head on and sent his sparkling and limp body flying.

"So much for that," Ultimas muttered as his lighting gun's cooling system activated, propelling steam out the sides. "We will have to find Subject Zero on our own, Tritus what does she look like?"

"Human, bald, rather thin, majority of body covered in tattoos, chest is bare with the exception of a thin strip of cloth."

"Is that her?" Xeron asked, stepping up to the control panel and pointing at the glass window behind it. Tritus approached him and saw where he was pointing. The control room was overlooking a circular room with a cryo-tube opening in the center, three hulking mechs surrounding it. A rather thin and heavily tattooed Human woman was making her way out of the pod, rather groggily. Upon seeing the mechs though, the woman snarled as a biotic aura surrounded her and she charged forward. There was a blinding flash as she sent a warp at the mech, completely obliterating it.

"Ultimas," Tritus said, turning to face the Commander, "take your shock troops and clear a path to the Phantom, Xeron and I will secure Subject Zero."

"Tritus, would it not be for the best if we were to assist you?"

"If you were to do that, after we subdue her we would have to fight our way through the Blue Suns and escaped criminals with the wounds we will no doubt gain. I need a cleared path."

Ultimas paused for a moment before nodding. "With me," Ultimas said as he charged out of the room, lighting gun in front of him and the shock troops behind him.

"Xeron," Tritus said as he fired a single shot from his machine gun at the window, causing it to completely shatter. Xeron nodded as both he and Tritus walked towards it and jumped down, landing firmly on their feet.

"Warning, warning," the synthesized voice said, "the _Purgatory_ is being boarded, repeat, boarding pods have breached the _Purgatory_."

"The Marauders are attempting to capture Subject Zero as well, we must hurry." Xeron nodded as they passed the remains of the mechs that had once guarded the room, following the trail of destruction Jack had left in her wake.

As the left the room that had once been Jack's cell, they entered one of the main prison blocks. Everything was in chaos, walls had been smashed, fires were burning, and the guards and former prisoners were battling fiercely. "Xeron do not let her escape!" Tritus bellowed. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a biotic aura surrounded Xeron and he propelled himself forward, completely ignoring the firefights and he landed on the far side of the room, heading through a hole that had been left from Jack's rampage.

"Xeron can move faster than I can," Tritus muttered as he opened fired on the guards and criminals alike, killing five of them before they began to return fire. Tritus ducked behind a collapsed bridge as his gun cooled. Tritus was about to lean out of cover to open fire when he heard an earsplitting shriek created from metal grinding on metal. Tritus peaked out of cover and saw a boarding pod drilling into the side of the room.

Before anyone could point their weapons at the pod, a deafening screech tore through the the room and a group of convicts hiding behind a generation simply exploded, sending blood everywhere. The air was shimmering violently between where the convicts once where and the pod and Tritus understood what had happened, the convicts had been hit by sonic based weaponry, a favorite of the Marauders.

The sonic weapon fired two more times, eliminating the remaining hostiles, minus Tritus. After a moment of silence, the Marauder that was inside the pod walked out. He wore the traditional Marauder armor, a dark onyx color that was completely featureless with the exception of a glowing green line where the Marauder's eyes where. The Marauder carried his sonic emitter in his hand, rifle like in shape with a circular speaker at the end instead of a barrel. He also had a heavy pistol on each thigh, and a black cylinder shaped weapon on his back that Tritus guessed was some sort of heavy weapon.

Tritus frowned, it was impossible to tell Marauders apart due to the fact that every Marauder from lowest to highest wore the exact same armor and used a voice changer to hide their ranks. Tritus was about to fire it when he saw what his opened held in his other hand. A Jiralhanae sized machete was in his hand, made out of a bright golden metal. The same metal that Tritus' sword was made out of. Tritus only knew of a handful of people that had a weapon like that, and his eyes widened as he realized the identity of the Jiralhanae in front of him.

Despite it defying common sense, Tritus stepped out of cover to face the Marauder, who raised his sonic emitter, aiming it at Tritus. "Hello Marton," Tritus said calmly.

Marton looked startled, as if he had not recognized Tritus. Marton stared for a few seconds before replying, his voice deep and mechanical due to his voice changer, "Hello Tritus."

"Exactly how much longer do you plan on waging this revolution? Do you really believe that we could possibly coexist with the rest of the galaxy peacefully?"

"I do."

"DAMN IT MARTON!" Tritus bellowed. "You mean well but open your eyes! The rest of the galaxy fears and hates us, this is the only way for us to survive!"

"By wiping out every intelligent species in the galaxy?" Marton retorted. "Those are the old ways Tritus!"

"I know that! I have no intention of wiping out any species, I merely to conquer them. The species of the galaxies will be allowed to live and thrive, but under the rule of the Jiralhanae."

"Under you, you mean."

"What would you have me do?" Tritus demanded. "The only reason the UNSC and RSN did not venture into our territory is because they believed that we were embroiled in civil war, not rebuilding and expanding. Both of them view us as nothing more than savages who live for the thrill of killing. The Council can not be trusted either, if their attitude towards the Krogan is anything to go on. If any of those three powers have discovered that we were rebuilding, all three of them would have launched an invasion and bombed us back to tier-7, weather we attacked them or weather we left them completely alone."

"That is why I suggested to you that we make peaceful contact, extend the hand of friendship."

"How naive are you Marton? Do you honestly believe that anyone would even consider making peace with us? That they would even consider it plausible? We have come far since the end of the war Marton, but the rest of the galaxy will never believe that, to them we will always be the monsters who incapable of doing anything but murder, and that is why I struck, it's us or them Marton. I give you one last chance, order your men to stand down, bring your revolution to a stop and you will be welcomed back with open arms, all will be forgiven."

"We have had this conversation many times over, you know the answer."

Tritus sighed "I know." Without warning, Tritus raised his machine gun and opened fire, as Marton fired his sonic emitter.

Author's Note: And now you know the truth, the real reason the Jiralhanae are fighting this war, survival. By the way don't even point out how unrealistic the fact that two people would have a conversation that long in the middle of a battlefield is, I KNOW that it's freaking ridicules and that no one would ever do that, but I feel like I got some major information out there and I doubt that it'll kill this story for anyone so...just roll with it.

FYI Marton and Tritus know each other, they know each other very well, how well? You'll learn that later. You also might have noticed that I am using a rotation policy to make sure that all of my characters get enough time to be developed. I feel like Taylor and Tali have been developed enough, so I'm pushing them to the background for a bit and letting Rebecca, Liara and a couple of other characters come to the front. I'll still visit the new couple, but the spot light is off of them for now. Well, I hope that you liked it, tell me what you think.


	33. Clashed Blades 

Chapter 33

Clashed Blades

Author's Note: I think that I might get going on Tribal Wars again soon, mainly because anyone who had read it probably saw a couple of familiar names last chapter. If you're still out of the loop, Tribal Wars is a prequel to this story and follows several of the Jiralhanae characters in this story, including Marton, Tritus and a couple of others. All right, let's go.

"Shepard, do you have a moment?" Jane turned in the hallway that she was in and saw Garrus walking towards her.

"What is it?" he asked as Garrus fell in step with her.

"The Flood," the Spectre muttered, careful to keep his voice under control. "Do you think that this infestation will pose a threat in the future? There is a chance that it is still alive."

"I don't see how that could be," Jane said, "The Jiralhanae glassed Feros, not even the smallest of bacteria could've survived that. I see your point though, after we exit slip space and can send messages again, I'm going to talk to the brass about sending ships to make sure that the job was done. I wouldn't hold my breath though, they might just blow me off and say that a glassing is more than enough to enforce the Hood Protocol, but I'll do what I can."

Garrus nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, where exactly are we going?"

"Here," Jane said as they stopped in front of the entrance to the observation deck. "I asked Neriena and Rebecca to meet me here," she said as the door opened. Inside Rebecca and Liara where still sitting at the couch there, Neriena standing nearby. "Are you feeling better Rebecca?" Jane asked warmly.

"A bit," the Russian muttered, "I still feel shaken though."

"Understandable. Rebecca I don't want to push you too far, but the Acolyte said that he gave you something called the Cipher. Apparently it is absolutely required to understand Prothean thoughts, such as the one in the beacon. Whatever was in that beacon must have been important if Saren is going to all of this trouble in order to understand what it was."

"You need the Cipher to understand the message the beacon imprinted in your brain," Rebecca said, rubbing her arm uncomfortably. "So you need someone to transfer it from my mind to yours."

Jane nodded. "That's the idea. I imagine that you're uncomfortable about joining minds after what happened to you, that's why I asked Neriena to come down here."

One cue, Neriena sat down, looking her daughter directly in the eye. "Whenever you're ready sweetheart," she said gently, stroking Rebecca's cheek.

Rebecca paused before taking a deep gulp and saying, "All right...I'm ready."

"Wait," Liara interjected. "Shepard, isn't there another way to do this, one that is more elegant? I know how important it is that you understand the message but-"

"Liara, I appreciate the concern," Rebecca said, "but I need to do this. Kelly said that if I want to make a full recovery that I need to be able to open up to people." She turned to face her mother. "Mom and I used to join minds all the time, she always understood me better than anyone else and I was never afraid to go to her about anything."

She let out a sigh of sadness. "But the concept of it now it...it scares me. I don't want to be scared of that, I want things to go back to the way they were. If I can get over this fear, then I'm one step closer to that." She looked at Neriena. "Please mom, do it before I lose my nerve."

Neriena nodded, smiling sadly as she reached out and touched her daughter's temple. "Embrace Eternity," she whispered in a barely audible voice. Rebecca let out a gasp as she felt Neriena's mind impact with her own.

Two things happened in very quick succession. First, she felt a soul piercing fear, and for a second, she thought that the Acolyte was violating her again. Rebecca was just able to register her fear when it was replaced with pure undiluted rage. She felt her jaw clench and her hands tightening into fists as she tenses herself, planning to pounce and attack. Just when she was about to do so though, she felt a cascade of warm familiar memories and felt her anger fade away. Rebecca felt a smile spread across her face as she let herself get lost in a typhoon of memories, not even bothering to direct herself as memory after memory passed by. Then, all too soon, it ended.

Rebecca looked at Neriena with sadness as she pulled her hand away, not wanting the joining to end. Neriena smiled and whispered "Later," before getting to her feet and walking towards Jane.

"Did you get it?" Jane asked. Neriena nodded. "I imagine you want to spend some time alone with Rebecca, so let's make this quick."

"Sounds like a plan," Neriena said as she pressed her palm against Jane's head. "Let your mind wander Shepard, feel the spiritual bond that ties all living things together. Embrace eternity." Jane jumped as she felt a cascade of thought crash over her, not used to Neriena's mind, unlike Rebecca. Jane felt her thoughts clash with Neriena's and could faintly feel a third presence, which felt nothing like the Asari's thoughts at all.

Then with a sudden jerk, the images from the beacon flashed in front of her eyes again. This time was different however, as image after image flew by, Jane was actually able to grab a couple and hold onto them, identifying them. One was of a spindly alien running, another one firing some sort of weapon at the first. Another was of a series of circuit boards, an animal like roar faintly present. Finally, Jane saw what looked like a system, a planet orbiting around a pair of suns.

With a sensation similar to pulling your head above water, Jane resurfaced from Neriena's memories, panting slightly.

"The vision, did it make any sense?" Garrus asked.

"A little," Jane said honestly, "I was able to make out bits and pieces of it, but it still didn't make any sense." Jane sounded rather bitter, clearly upset that she had hit a dead end. "Well, we've done all we could, Garrus I'd like to speak with you in private." Jane turned and left the observation deck, Garrus right behind her.

"I'm proud of you Rebecca, that was a very mature thing oyu just did," Neriena said, looking at the other woman with beaming eyes. The look faltered when she realized that Rebecca was staring sadly at her knees. "What's wrong?"

"Mom," Rebecca said shakily, "just now, when you joined with me...for a second...I wanted to attack you."

Neriena paused for a moment before drawing Rebecca into a hug. "Don't worry about it," she whispered soothingly.

"But mom," Rebecca said, choking on her voice slightly, "I could have seriously hurt you, if I didn't recognize that if was you-"

"Rebecca, don't worry about it," Neriena said comfortingly. "You're still on edge from what you've gone through, no doubt the next time we join the impulse will be less violent and will continue to lessen every time we do so. Also, there is a part of you that will always recognize me when I join with you, there's nothing to worry about."

Rebecca bit her lip before hugging Neriena back, silently whispering "Thank you."

Liara could not help but smile as she watched.

XXXXX

Tritus grimaced as he hammered down on the trigger of his machine gun, sending a spray of bullets as Marton, forcing him behind a collapsed bridge. The two of them had been exchanging fire nonstop for the last ten minutes neither of them gaining an edge. Neither of them had used their blades, preferring to attack from a distance with their firearms.

Marton stuck his sonic emitter, known to Empire warriors as the screecher, and fired it, Tritus dodging it before it even got close to him. Tritus was very cautious when his opponent used a screecher, it was a very deadly weapon. Not only did it take one hit to rip a fully shielded warrior to shreds, an indirect hit could be just as deadly. The screecher was infamous for devastating the body's internal fluids, causing a complete loss of balance, vomiting and bleeding from the ears if it nicked you. Most warriors who suffered from these effects were unable to walk, making them helpless to prevent the Marauder that had stunned them from finishing them off.

Tritus fired another burst of bullets, forcing Marton back into cover. 'A change of strategy is in order,' he thought as he slip his rocket launcher off of his back. Popping out of cover, Tritus fired a rocket at the debris Marton was hiding behind, sending it flying and creating a screen of smoke.

Marton dashed out of the smoke, aiming his screecher at Tritus, but the Emperor had already had his gun pointing at the smog. A dozen bullets flew from Tritus' gun and hit Marton's body head on. Marton stumbled before his body disappeared in a shimmer. "A hologram?" Tritus shouted, caught completely off guard. No sooner had he spoken, a ball of green plasma flew out of the smoke, heading straight for Tritus. Tritus jumped back as the ball hit the ground where he had been moments ago, but was blown off of his feet by the shockwave, his shields wavering.

The real Marton stepped out of smoke, holding one of his pistols in each hand, opening fire at Tritus. Tritus' shields fully collapsed before he was able to roll behind a fallen support beam, Marton's bullets strafing over him and barley missing. "Always the pragmatist Marton," Tritus muttered as he slid a fresh rocket into his launcher and his shields recharged.

Leaning over the beam, Tritus fired his rocket launcher, Marton narrowly avoiding the rocket as it sailed over his head, hitting the wall behind him. Marton holstered his launcher and drew his spikers, firing both as Marton fired his pistols. Both of them strafed across the room, their weapons blazing as they both barely missed each other, diving into cover as their weapons clicked empty.

"This is pointless Marton!" Tritus yelled as he slapped fresh clips into his weapons, Marton doing the same with his pistols. "The Empire outnumbers the Marauders 100 to 1, your use of guerilla tactics are the only reason that you've survived these ten years. Do you really think that you can win?"

"I haven't come this far just to give up!" Marton shouted, firing bursts from his pistols at Tritus' hiding spot, his shells clinking as they hit the floor.

Tritus snarled as he sent half a dozen spikes at Marton, forcing him to put his head down. "Why do you insist on fighting me? For years you stood by me, why now do you attempt to destroy everything we've built?"

"Because this isn't what Kalta wanted Tritus!" Marton roared.

For the briefest of seconds, Tritus' face faltered and his grip on his weapons slacked, but for only a second.. "I doubt that we ever knew what she truly wanted, she never talked to us, and when she did we never listened. All she ever told us was that she hated the way things where and that she wished that things were different, we have already done that Marton, the Jiralhanae now know unity. Yet that is still not enough for you!"

Marton was silent as he holstered his pistols and drew his screecher in one hand and his machete in the other. He was about to act when a sound tore through the air that resembled metal snapping. A hole was blown in the far wall and Xeron was thrown through, landing on his back near Tritus.

"Xeron?" Tritus said, worry heavy in his voice as he saw that a trickle of blood was running down Xeron's face, originating from a brutal gash right over his right eye. Tritus had never seen an opponent inflict damage on Xeron, even the most minor of scratches.

"Forgive me Tritus," Xeron said as he got to his feet. "My opponent was far more powerful than I expected."

"Had enough you overgrown ball of shit?" a female voice shouted as a Warp flew through the hole that had just been made, Xeron ducking it just in time. Jack stepped through the hole, a biotic aura thick around her.

'Tritus, I do believe I have no other option,' Xeron thought as he reached under his sleeve, drawing out the syringe of Serum 16 strapped to his shoulder.

"XERON DON'T!" Tritus bellowed, but he was too late as Xeron slid the needle into his neck and pressed down on the plunger, injecting the pitch black liquid into himself.

Jack snarled as she prepared another Warp and sent it flying at Xeron, hitting him head on, a satisfied smirk spreading across her face. The smirk quickly slid away as she saw that Xeron was completely unharmed as his biotic barrier grew even thicker, going from a shade of purple to dark black. Xeron's face seemed to tighten, his normally calm demeanor dropping away. In it's place, an angry and animalistic look was taking place. Xeron let out a blood hungering roar that made Marton and Tritus' fur curl as he charged at Jack, an enraged look on his face that would scare even Sukron.

XXXXX

"Shipmaster what is the point of remaining here?" In orbit of the now glassed Feros, a single CCS-battlecruiser, the _Iron Wraith_, was patrolling the planet, searching for survivors. On board the bridge one of the navigators was talking to the Shipmaster.

"Hold your tongue wretch," the Shipmaster snarled, "It is standard procedure for a ship to scan a planet after it has been glassed to check for survivors. If that means that we must wait several hours for the Phantoms to finish their sweeps than we must do it." The Shipmaster let out a snarl, he clearly despised his objective as much as the navigator did, but he was not about to admit that anytime soon.

The navigator snarled as he turned back to his console, slighting adjusting the _Wraith_'s corse to maintain orbit. "One of the Phantoms is heading back," he muttered as he pressed a button in front of him. "Gunboat GT-57 you are not due back for another hour and a half, why have you disobeyed orders?" No response. The navigator paused for a second before pressed the button again, "Gunboat GT-57 respond." Again, there was no response.

"I don't like this," the navigator muttered, "Why aren't the responding? Shipmaster they are approaching the hanger, should I open it?"

"Of course not," the Shipmaster snarled, "If they can not obey my orders than I have no use for them. Power up rear pulse lasers, destroy that ship."

"What?"

"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME!" the Shipmaster roared. "Destroy that ship! I don't care if it's manned by conscripts or volunteers, if they disobey my orders than they are worse than useless."

The navigator was speechless, while it was not against Empire law to execute those who had committed insubordination, there was usually a trial first, even if it was a quick one. The navigator had half a mind to protest, but swallowed his words upon seeing the Shipmaster snarl and reach towards his gravity hammer.

"Understood," the navigator said as he turned back to the controls. If he Emperor had heard about what the Shipmaster had order, he would no doubt order his death, but the navigator doubted that anyone would be reporting him out of concern for their lives. Half a century ago, when the Jiralhanae Civil War had ended and Tritus had risen to power, he had had no choice but to make alliances with factions that he was less than fond of. The result was that many of the high ranking officials and officers had ideals that completely contrasted from Tritus'. Admittedly many government officials had died from mysterious "accidents" but corruption was still prevalent in the military.

"Them or me," the navigator muttered as he typed into the control panel in front of him. "Rear pulse lasers are charging, target locked, firing in three-SHIPMASTER!"

"What?" the Shipmaster asked, uninterested heavy in his voice.

"The Phantom, it...it rammed into the hanger bay. There's been a hull breech, no survivors."

The Shipmaster let out a groan. "Morons," he muttered. "Very well have damage teams report to the hanger, we've already lost everyone there, no point in losing the hardware as well."

"Done, damage teams are on their...Shipmaster I'm picking up movement."

"I thought you said that everyone in the hanger was dead."

"They are, I'm not picking up any Jiralhanae life signs, same for Kig-Yar and Yanme'e. Whatever it is, it's what flew the Phantom into the hanger."

The Shipmaster paused, boredom slipping away from his face. "Cancel damage control, have combat teams report to the hanger, bring breathing equipment. Open an active channel."

The navigator nodded as static crackled through the bridge. "We have your orders sir," the voice of a Captain over the Battle-Net. "We're outside the hanger and we're about to-wait a moment the door's opening, I see some sort of-" the Captain was cut off by a violent ripping noise that was followed by a sickening gurgling as if the Captain was choking on his own blood. "Sir the combat's life signs are gone! Whatever killed them is moving towards engineering."

"It's trying to cut off life support!" the Shipmaster shouted. "Decompress the area the intruder is in, close emergency blast doors, I don't want that thing getting anywhere else."

"Blast doors down, life support off," the navigator muttered. "The hostile has stopped outside of engineering. It isn't moving, it's life signs are still showing but it should go away within a couple of minutes." The Shipmaster nodded and leaned back in his gravity chair looking smug.

The navigator was smiling when something struck him. "Sir?" he said hesitantly. "If the intruder was able to survive in the hanger, wouldn't it be able to survive now?"

"Fool," the Shipmaster muttered. "Whatever is down there is clearly using breathing equipment, but as any idiot knows breathing equipment can only last for so long. Keep that area sealing and eventually the intruder will suffocate."

Before the navigator could speak, his console began to beep. As he turned to face it his eyes widened in horror, engineering as been breached. He opened his mouth to shout, but no words came out. With a pang of panic, the navigator realized that there was no oxygen. All of the Jiralhanae on the bridge scrambled out of their seats and desperately tried to force their way out of the bridge, but the doors had been sealed, leaving them to claw helplessly against the doors until air left their bodies.

For several minutes, there was no movement on the bridge as the corpses of the Jiralhanae lay motionless. Then the door opened, and the one who had decompressed the ship stepped in. "_A valiant effort, but futile,"_ the Acolyte said, looking at the corpses around it. _"Unfortunately for you, I do not require air. I do, however require information."_ His bladed hands began to ripple and, the same way that Pure Forms did, transform into hands with three fingers each. Reaching around to it's back, the Acolyte opened it's right hand underneath the sac between the two folded wings. The sac bulged and began to squirm, until it spat out an Infection form with a rather wet popping noise.

Placing the Infection form on the ground, the Acolyte watched as it scurried towards the body of the Shipmaster and scrambled into it. Almost instantaneously, a massive growth of yellow flesh and tentacles burst out of the infection point as life returned to the corpse. The Acolyte watched in satisfaction as it reached towards it's back and produced another Infection Form. The Acolyte had completely destroyed all life support systems, killing every last thing on the ship except itself. With that in mind, the Acolyte knew that it was only a matter of time before enough corpses were infected to fully crew the ship.

"_For the time being I must not disturb the water, our numbers are too thin. In the meantime the Humans will fight our battle for us. But our time we will come, and we will have our revenge on those who used used us as tools. Harbinger, the days of your kind are numbered."_

Author's Note: Rebecca is taking baby steps towards recovery, Marton and Tritus are motivated by someone else, and the Acolyte is making is move. Like I said, this story is going to be a long one so get comfortable. Well, that's all I got for now, please tell me what you think.


	34. Inner Beast

Chapter 34

Inner Beast

Author's Note: Xeron took a little bit of happy medicine in the last chapter, and by happy medicine I mean a stimulant that makes him...well I imagine that you know already or will figure out. I'm going to try and conclude the events on Purgatory with this chapter...that's all I have to say really. Oh, by the way I finally got around to updating my Codex, check it out on my profile.

Tali let out a groan as her eyes fluttered opened. She was lying on a bed in the infirmary, a respirator over her mouth and her chest completely covered in bandages. Chakwas had given her stem cell grafts for the wounds on her chest, those would be gone in about a week. The other injuries would take longer, it would take a week for Chakwas to clone a replacement for Tali's severed finger and another two weeks for her broken ribs to heal, even after Chakwas had injected her with chemicals to accelerate the process. Tali sighed as she relaxed into her pillow, three weeks in bed didn't sound appealing to her at all, she wasn't the type to just lie around while everyone else worked around her, a side trait she had gained from growing up on the Migrant Fleet.

"Well," she muttered to herself, speaking silently to avoid to her throat from burning in agony, "it could be worse." As she spoke, she glanced at the bed next to her. Taylor was fast asleep in it, like Tali, with a respirator over his mouth and bandages all over his chest. Chakwas had informed them that it would take an entire month to grow him a fresh arm, possibly longer.

Tali frowned as she looked at the cuts that were still fresh on Taylor's face. Both of them were going to walk out of this with noticeable scars, mainly the knife wounds they had on their faces. There was also going to also be a cluster of noticeable scars on both of their chests, but it was unlikely that many people would see them. Still, their faces would be forever defaced unless they received an operation to have them removed, and that would cost money that they didn't have and money the Tali doubted the UNSC would be willing to spend on them. "I'm getting all of my body parts back," she muttered scolding herself.

"Anyone home?" Tali looked up to see that the door to the infirmary had opened and Ken and Gabby were stepping over the threshold. "How are ya feeling boss?" Ken asked.

"Like I just took a trip through a meat grinder," Tali answered honestly. It was true, it felt like ever nerve end was aching, making it impossible for her to do anything strenuous without tensing up in pain. Tali couldn't help but wonder how she had survived on Feros like this. She could only assume that her body had drowned itself in adrenaline on Feros in order to keep it going.

"Well look on the bright side lass, you can still beat Gabs here in a beauty contest any day of the week and twice on Sunday." Ken's comment earned a chuckle from Tali and a punch in the arm from Gabby.

"Jackass," she muttered as Ken rubbed his arm. "So how's Taylor?" she asked, looking at the one armed ODST.

"Not good, he's going to be here a week longer than I am, cloning an arm takes awhile."

"I can't believe that we were sitting up here safe and sound while you two were being cut open like sacks of meat," Gabby said, looking at Tali sadly.

"What exactly would you have done?" Tali asked. "No offense, but you two aren't exactly much help in a fight." Gabby gave a weak smile. "So what was it like sneaking around a hostile fleet."

"Intense," Ken answered. "I was on edge every second, wondering if someone would look out a window and see us. It didn't help that heat in the _Normandy_'s engines started to build up in the engines from me keeping the stealth system online. I'm pretty sure I was giving it all she's got."

"I know what you mean, if we had stuck around just for another half an hour, we would've been cooking in radiation."

"Shame, I would've liked to be there," Tali said. "Three months I've been on this ship and I've only overseen the use of the stealth systems once, and the Geth only stuck around Eden Prime for half an hour before they left."

"Yeah," Gabby muttered. "Well we just wanted to make sure that you're all right."

"Oh yes, I've never felt better," Tali said dryly, holding up her two fingered hand.

"Heh, sorry."

"It's no problem. By the way would you mind sticking around? I'm going to be here awhile and it's going be be awfully boring if I have no one to talk to."

"No problem."

XXXXX

Letting out a roar, Iasa charged forward swinging both of her energy swords, intending to cleave her foe in half. Ready for her, Demas swung his own sword, parrying Iasa's attack. Undaunted, Demas launched his own assault, raising his sword above his head and swinging it downwards.

Using both of her swords, Iasa blocked the attack as their blades clashed. For a minute they struggled, each one attempting to overpower the other. The struggle ended when Iasa brought her foot up and kicked Demas' head, knocking his helmet askew. Unable to see with his helmet crooked, Demas ripped it off and cast it aside. As he held his blade in front of himself again, he realized that Iasa was no longer there.

Demas turned widely, scanning the room for Iasa, desperately trying to see where she had gone. "You lose," a very quite voice said from behind him. Before he could react, a pair of energy swords had crossed in front of his throat. Demas froze, staring at the blades. A second passed, and then Iasa began to laugh. "A very good spar," she said as she took her energy swords away and deactivated them.

"Indeed," Demas said as he deactivated his own sword before retrieving his helmet. "A very impressive use of active camouflage."

The was a soft hissing noise as the door to the _Righteous Justice_'s training room opened. A Sangheili Ultra named Viluse entered, his helmet underneath him arm. He only had one eye, having lost his right one in a duel with a rival family, and was a rare biotic Sangheili, one out of around fifty. He was slow to trust others, but once one gained it, they were guaranteed it for life. Iasa and Demas were one of those uncommon few.

"I trust that you two have finished your training?" Viluse asked. "If so I have some interesting news for you two, we will be deployed in a week once a fleet has been amassed."

"A mission?" Demas questioned as he slid his helmet on.

"Yes, yesterday an RSN scout corvette engaged and destroyed a Jiralhanae frigate. The majority of it's data was deleted but we were able to discover that it was delivering supplies to Noveria."

"Noveria? But that planet is an independent colony, not to mention we've had no word of Jiralhanae or their allies in that system."

"It makes sense though, if the Jiralhanae took Noveria, no body would be any the wiser except the corporations that have a foothold on the planet, and from what I've seen, those companies would never go to governments for assistance."

"Do you really believe that?" Demas asked.

"It is either that or the dark alternative," Viluse remarked. "They could be helping the Empire willingly."

"If they are, they will burn," Iasa hissed, "what is our mission?"

"It will take some time to prepare one, especially with our forces fighting on multiple fronts, but we will deploy an expedition fleet to Noveria to discover the planets fate, as well as deal with any hostile forces that we find." Viluse sighed. "But as I said before our forces are running to deal with more important situations, it will be some time before we are deployed."

"What would the Jiralhanae be doing on Noveria?" Demas asked. "The planet is little more than a ball of ice."

"There are several high tech labs on the planet, if the Jiralhanae are indeed occupying the planet, they were no doubt for them. Perhaps they wished to use the planet as a remote research base, far away from their territory so that we would not find it should we launch an invasion of their territory."

"Research?" Iasa questioned. "What could they possibly be researching?"

"Anything, cloning, some sort of super soldier program, or even a virus that they plan to use as a bio-weapon. Whatever it is, it is no doubt to assist their war effort, and must be stopped."

"Well said." Viluse turned to see Isonia standing behind him, smiling slightly. "Good to see you Viluse."

"Fleetmistress," Viluse said, covering his chest with his hand, "it is an honor to speak with you."

"You as well. You did very well when you assisted Iasa and Demas clear that hidden Geth base." The _Righteous Justice_ was currently orbiting an unnamed moon on the brink of RSN space. The Geth had built a listening outpost on the moon and had been feeding RSN fleet reports back to the Jiralhanae. 48 hours ago however, the RSN had discovered it and had launched an invasion, storming the base with the hope of gaining valuable information. The Geth had foreseen that however, and although the outpost had been destroyed, all valuable data had been destroyed.

"Do what do I owe the pleasure Fleetmistress?"

"I wanted to speak to the three of you. In the event that the Jiralhanae are indeed on Noveria, I want you to be among the strike force that drives them off." She frowned, "Our standing with the Council at the moment is less than friendly at the moment. While the RSN has no intention of apologizing for what we've done, least of all The Stab, we do not wish for the Council to hate us. The Salarian Union will be joining us on our trek to Noveria."

The trio in front of Iasa was silent, fidgeting slightly. "Does something bother you?" Isonia asked. "Speak freely, we are all brothers and sisters here."

"With all due respect Fleetmistress, Salarians?" Demas asked. "We are to rely on Salarians to aid us. Forgive me for saying so but they are unbelievably..." Demas paused, clearly searching for the right word "fragile," he finished. "They are the most fragile race we have ever encountered, even an Unggoy could overpower a Salarian."

"I understand your concern, Salarians are not well known for fighting bravely on the front lines like Humans and Turians, but we must cope with the situation. The Union will be joining with us in a matter of days, the RSN strike force will be working directly with a Special Tasks Group under the command of Professor Mordin Solus in order to eliminate any hardened positions."

"I understand, who will be leading the ground assault?"

Isonia smiled. "I had planned to keep it a surprise but I see no point in not telling you. Your father will be joining us on this mission."

XXXXX

"What the shit?" Jack shouted as she sent a pair of Warps into the ground, propelling herself upwards. Xeron barely missed Jack as he streaked underneath her, hitting the opposing wall with the force of a rocket. Xeron left a massive dent in the wall, nearly tearing right through it. He glanced at where Jack had landed, snarling as he sent a Warp in her direction.

Jack neatly slid under the Warp and fired her own off as Xeron's hit a bridge that had yet to be marked, completely destroying it. He attack his Xeron right in the face, but the black cloak of energy that now surrounded him didn't even falter as he flexed his fingers. The remains of the bridge floated up into the air and flung themselves at Jack with the speed of a bullet. With a series of quick concentrated Warps, Jack blew the pieces of rubble out of the air, all but the last one, which was the size of a massive boulder. Concentrating on the chunk of debris, Jack gripped it with her biotics and sent it at Xeron.

The Jiralhanae made no attempt to dodge as it projectile hit him head on, leaving no damage whatsoever. "Pathetic," he growled in a scathing voice. "Are you trying to fight me or are you merely wasting my time?"

"Don't get too cocky you son of a bitch!" Jack screeched as she sent a ball of biotic energy, which exploded into a Singularity in front of Xeron. He watched in disinterest as the Singularity began to rotate, gathering debris which swung around it violently. Xeron resisted the pull with little effort, walking through the vortex, not even reacting as debris hit him in the head with enough force to take it off if it wasn't protected.

"God damn it! And they call me a monster!" Jack bellowed as she grabbed an SMG from one of the dead firing at Xeron until it overheated. Once again, Xeron made no attempt to avoid the attack, and once again, his barrier didn't even slightly flicker.

"Monster?" Xeron sounded like he was resisting the urge to laugh. "You call me a monster? I fight for a greater cause and the future of my race. How many lives have you taken for your own pleasure and gain."

"Shut up!" Jack shouted as she threw another Warp at Xeron, achieving no results.

"I do believe that I have played with you for long enough." Without any warning, Xeron propelled himself forward with a Charge, heading straight for Jack. Jack threw herself to the side, but an agonizing pain tore through her side as Xeron passed. As Xeron landed, he glanced at his right hand, smirking as he saw that it was stained in blood. Jack cussed under her breath as she clenched the gashes Xeron's claws had made in her.

"Now to end it." Xeron raised a single finger, his biotics focusing around it. There was an earsplitting screech as Xeron felt something hit his barrier. Letting out a rather bored sigh, Xeron turned and saw Marton facing him, his screecher in hand. "I can not have you interfering," he said, as a beam of biotic energy flew from his finger. It only skimmed the side of Marton's helmet, but that was more than enough to completely shatter Marton's shields.

Swearing underneath his breath, Marton used his Jiralhanae strength to leap across the room, landing next to Jack. "You are Jack correct?"

"Get the fuck away from me dick weed," Jack swore preparing a Warp that she clearly intended to throw at Marton.

"I am not your enemy here," Marton said hastily. "The Empire hunts you, I am willing to offer you sanctuary."

"Exactly why should I trust you?" Jack snarled. Instead of answering, Marton grabbed Jack and jumped upwards, barely avoiding a blast of biotic energy.

"It is either that or you continue your fight with him, and the way I see things you were losing by a massive margin."

Jack bit her lip as Marton landed and she got to her feet, still clutching her side. "If I find out you have some sort of experiment planned for me I'll fucking kill you. So how exactly are we supposed to get out of here?"

Marton glanced at Xeron and Tritus, the latter of whom had climbed out of cover and was approaching them with Xeron. "Adolas, bring the_ Salvation_ close to the prison ship," he said into his COM set, "I'm going to need a ride." Marton wrapped one arm tightly around Jack and grabbed his plasma cannon with the other, aiming it at the one wall that was badly damaged from the battle, the wall that separated them and the vacuum of space. "Hold your breath."

A ball of green plasma flew from the weapon and hit the far wall. The wall collapsed under the strain of the blast, the room decompressing as it did. Marton gripped Jack tightly as the two of them were sent out into the vacuum of space. As she resisted the urge to open her mouth, Jack saw a sight that made her eyes widen. The _Eternal Salvation_, the flagship of the Marauder fleet, a massive dreadnought measuring 50 kilometers was hovering over them, as least what Jack felt like was over her. With a purplish glow, a gravity beam activated and pulled the two of them into the main hanger of the ship. It's mission completed,the _Salvation_ activated it's slipspace drive and exited the system, the other Marauder ships following it's move.

Back inside the _Purgatory_, emergency force fields had been deployed, compressing the interior of the ship. Xeron looked out of the ship, staring at the depths of space, rage etched across his face. He raised his hand as if to latch out, but he faltered, the black of his aura fading, purple replacing it. "Xeron!" Tritus shouted, crossing the room to where Xeron stood.

"I am sorry Tritus," Xeron muttered, his face softening, "I should not have used the serum, it clouded my judgement."

"Your judgement was not the only thing affected," Tritus scorned, "your condition will only continue to deteriorate. Did you not listen to what Rason told you? He cannot give you any more organ transplants, they would be infected within hours and you will be right back where you started."

"Forgive me, I-" Xeron coughed loudly, a glob of blood flying from his mouth.

"Damn it, your lungs are already weakened, who knows what this dosage will do to them."

"I will be fine, I just need to take my medicine." As he spoke, Xeron slipped his hand into his sleeve and withdrew another syringe, this one containing a crystal clear liquid.

"That will only slow the virus down," Tritus scolded as Xeron injected the liquid into his neck. "Your days are numbered Xeron, Rason only gave you five years to live, now you most likely only have two, or possible even one."

"Does it matter? The mission was a failure."

"Not exactly," Tritus said, grabbing a hold of Xeron's bloodstained arm and holding up. "Rason can work wonders with blood samples."

Author's Note: Before you say anything, if you have a Scottish engineer on a starship, you owe at least one Star Trek shout out, it's like having a two feet tall green and furry alien mentor and not having a Star Wars shout out. By the way, I think that it's fair to tell you that I've almost introduced all of my OCs, just a couple are left. Let me think...that fourth Supreme Commander, a couple of Marauders, yeah only three or four left, and I think I'm doing a good job of balancing them out and developing them.


	35. Operation

Chapter 35

Operation

Author's Note: After this chapter I will have a time skip of a couple of weeks, fast forward to Noveria in a manner of speaking. By the way I need to talk about something, I just read a Game Informer article about Mass Effect 3. "Sigh" I'm up to my neck in shit right now. I really need to get this out there, this story will not have a sequel, everything that I want to use to tell this story will all be squashed into this fic. I hope that you understand that I don't plan on waiting half a year for ME 3 to be released, because when I starting writing this story, I formulated a plan to conclude this story without ME 3. You might have figured this out but this story is mainly ME 1 with ME 2 elements thrown into the mix, and crossed over with Halo along with my own personal style and plot twists. What I'm trying to say is...this is going to be as non-canon as fuck. After ME 3 is released, everyone is going to laugh at how stupid my story is or be angry at how I didn't put in the new squad mates, plot twists, settings, motivations, cultural ideals, you get the idea. I just wanted to let you know that this story will wrap up on it's own without any influence from ME 3, purely the first two MEs the Halo games and my own imagination. I have created my own conclusion to the Reaper conflict (I'm still polishing the edges) and I hope that you enjoy it, despite the fact that knowing my luck it's probably going to be the complete opposite of what actually happens. I hope that you will enjoy this story, even after the trilogy is concluded, and if you don't when this story is over you can crucify me if you want. Dear God what a mess, and everything was going so well too. Well I hope you don't mind that ME 3 is going to completely destroy the credibility of this story...let's just move on.

Jack let out a deep gasp as the floor beneath her closed and she and Marton fell to the floor with a thud. "Are you all right?" Marton asked.

"If you ever pull shit like that again," Jack hissed, a biotic aura flaring around her, "I'll rib out your intestines and strangle you with them."

"I would not recommend that," a soft yet strong voice said. A helmetless, snow white furred Jiralhanae in Marauder armor approached them, dual curved swords strapped to the back of the armor. "Marton is the leader of the Marauders a rather influential resistance group fighting the Empire. If you were to kill him, every last one of us will be out for your head, all 30 million of us."

"Thank you Adolas, but I am more than capable of handling myself." He turned to face Jack, "That is Rutherforae, the commander of the _Eternal Salvation_, the ship we are on and the flagship of the Marauder fleet. You have her to thank for the fact that you are still alive."

"She?" Jack shouted, staring at Rutherforae, "That thing's a bitch?"

Rutherforae's eyes narrowed, clearly not knowing what a bitch was but knowing from the tone of Jack's voice that it was an insult. "Hold your tongue before I decide that you are better off without it," she snarled, partially drawing one of her blades, revealing the bright glint of Forerunner alloy.

"Both of you compose yourself!" Marton snapped. "We have enough problems to deal with, the last thing we need is for us to bicker among ourselves."

"What's this we shit? What makes you think I'm in this with you?"

"Oh, you are in this with us, weather you like it or not," Rutherforae snarled. "Do you have any idea what risks we took to save your sorry hide? We risked the core of the Marauders, if we had lost the _Salvation_, the entire organization would have been compromised. We saved you from the Empire, they planned to take you apart and make even more biotics with the pieces."

"The biotic you fought, his name is Xeron," Marton explained. "Two decades ago an Empire scout ship came across a devastated Human base, from which they were able to salvage a sliver of data. Twenty Jiralhanae biotics entered a program to create the ultimate warrior, he was the only survivor."

"What makes you think I give a shit?"

'She is certainly fond of profanities,' Marton thought. "The program was a failure because of fractured data, but if the Empire was to capture you, and every Jiralhanae biotic would gain the same strength as Xeron."

"I don't get it, why the fuck are they hunting me down? There's plenty of biotics out there."

"Because, the base that the Empire found is one that you are familiar with. It is the one that you were given your biotic abilities at, the one where Cerberus experimented on your and so many others."

"What?" Jack's voice was not earsplitting as Marton had expected, quite the opposite. It was a soft deadly tone that made Marton's fur stand on end and sparked a speck of fear in the bowls of his stomach. "Let me make sure I have this straight. This Tritus fucker wants to take my and cut me open, so he can perfect his own fucking biotic program that he started? A program that he bases off of my pain and suffering?"

Marton nodded. "Which is why I suggest that you stay with the Marauders. You are wanted for too many crimes in Council space and the RSN and UNSC would never take you in."

Jack paused. "Two conditions," she said, a rather commanding tone to her voice. "You seem to know a lot about me, I want access to every last bit of data that's got information on me, the experiments that Cerberus ran on me, and anyone that was involved."

"We have extensive files on that, I used to be high up in the Empire before I defected."

"Good," Jack sneered. "One more thing, this Xeron guy, I want his head."

Marton raised an eyebrow, "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me, I want to be the one that kills that fucker. The bastard is thriving off of what happened to me."

"That will be rather difficult. Xeron is known to the Marauders as Black Death, only a handful have faced him and lived to recount the battle. His power is unreal and he may very well be the most powerful biotic alive."

"How the fuck does that work? Are you apes naturally powerful biotics?"

Marton shrugged. "Element Zero is scarce in Empire space, so we have no way of knowing for sure."

"Fuck it," Jack said dismissively. "If he's so powerful, I guess that you're going to have to give me a hand." Matron paused, clearly torn between tow decisions. "Look on the bright side," Jack said, rather tauntingly, "if he's such a big threat than you should be more than happy to get rid of him."

Marton hesitated before speaking. "If the opportunity presents itself we will assist you in doing so."

"Marton think about this!" Rutherforae shouted. "If killing Xeron was an easy task we would have done it long ago."

"I know Adolas, but with Jack on our side we stand a much better chance."

"Fine," Jack said, folding her arms. "I'll tag along with your little resistance, not like I can go anywhere else."

"Marton, you're back." Heads turned to look at an armored Krogan that had just entered the cargo bay that they were in. "I heard you had a little scrape with the emperor, I wish that I had had been there."

"I apologize Wrex, I will make sure to bring you next time."

"The fuck?" Jack swore, looking at Wrex. "I thought the Krogan were with the Empire."

"No, only the tribes of Tuchanka," Wrex corrected. "Those morons honestly think that they have a chance at overthrowing the Council, with the Humans and RSN backing them up no less. It's pointless, they'll be crushed and our race will be that much closer to extinction."

"Then why the fuck are you here?"

"Because I want to shut these idiots up personally," Wrex growled. "Can't go to the Council or any other of the powers fighting the Empire, they'll just think I'm an underground agent. I was starting to consider launching a solo suicide mission when I happened to run across Marton on Omega. I thought that he was with the Empire, so we fought for about an hour until we worked things out. He offered me a spot in his Marauders." Wrex smiled. "Being feed, not worrying about money and all the mentally challenged Krogan I can kill? How could I say no?"

"Hm, the more the merrier I guess." Jack turned to Rutherforae. "So where the fuck am I staying?"

The Jiralhanae snarled before gesturing to Jack to follow her. "We have plenty of space that isn't being used at the moment," she said as she exited the cargo bay, Jack following her.

"Rutherforae doesn't seem to like our new guest," Wrex mentioned, looking at Marton.

"Adolas is rather hesitant to trust people like that," Marton said as he took off his helmet with a hiss as his suit was depressurized. Like Rutherforae, his fur was snow white, and one of his eyes was a silvery metal with a green lens. "Mainly because had the circumstances been different she would be trying to kill them."

Wrex chuckled. "Same here."

XXXXX

"The Council isn't going to like this Shepard," Garrus said as he and Jane stood in an elevator. The _Normandy _had arrived at the Citadel an hour ago and Jane and Garrus were heading to the Presidium to speak with the Council.

"It seems like every time we talk with them they're touchy about the subject," Jane said, her voice scathing.

"Are you all right?" Garrus asked. Jane had been rather upbeat when the mission to Eden Prime had started, but since then Garrus had been seeing less and less of that side of her.

"I'm a little on edge," Jane half snarled. "My Chief engineer and one of my Lieutenants were both captured and tortured and will be in the medical bay for the better part of a month, another one of my soldiers was traumatized in a way I can't even imagine, the Flood is still kicking and I still don't know what that God damn vision means!" Jane blinked as she glanced at Garrus. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's the war, it's stressing you. I've seen this happen all the time in the Turian military, what you need to do is find a way to deal with it."

"What do you recommend?"

"Probably nothing that would work for you, Turians deal with anxiety differently than Humans do. We exercise, drill and even do full contact sparing."

Despite her mood, Jane smirked. "Beating the crap out of someone, interesting. You ever do anything else?"

"Well there was this one time I was on edge with a recon scout..." Garrus' voice trailed off as his eyes widened, as if he had just remembered something. "You know what never mind," he said rather hastily.

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Was the scout someone close to you that died?"

"No, nothing like that. Just something embarrassing that I rather not have going around. Why did you think it was something like that?"

"People don't like to talk about people that they've lost," Jane said as she took her dog tags in her hand and gripped them tightly, "I thought the same thing might have happened to you."

As Garrus watched Jane grip her dog tags, he realized that she was wearing not one set of tags, but two. He frowned. "Who did you-" but he was cut off as the elevator slid into place and the door opened.

"Shepard, I'm glad that you could join us," Anderson said as she and Garrus exited the elevator and stopped next to Anderson, in front of the Admiral.

"Likewise Admiral," Jane said as she glanced around. "Where's Ramos?"

"Fieldmaster 'Mortam left the Citadel yesterday," Valern said calmly. "He said that the RSN needed him on the front lines. Rather understandable of him...for once."

Jane frowned but didn't say anything, no point in starting a fight. "We received your report Captain," Naios said, "Is it accurate?"

"It is Councilor; I saw them with my own eyes." The eyes of the entire Council focused on Garrus. "The Flood were on Feros, and from what I saw they're a force to be reckoned with. In reality the Jiralhanae did us a favor by glassing the planet."

"Is the extermination of the biosphere of an entire planet truly a necessary act?"

"With all do respect Councilor, if I were in command of a fleet I would order the destruction of the entire system just to be safe."

"Do you truly believe that to be necessary?" Tevos asked.

"You have not seen these creatures first hand. I have heard tales of the Rachni Wars that pale in comparison to what I saw on Feros. The Rachni tore away at the bodies at those who fought them, but they left their minds untouched. The Flood were not so generous."

"He is right," Jane said. "One of my crew had her mind probed by the Flood and was severely traumatized by the experience. She's yet to fully recover."

"We will keep her in our thoughts," Tevos said. "Is there anything else you wish to share with us Captain?"

Jane paused for a second before beginning. "Saren's after something, but I have no idea what. He went to the trouble of releasing the Flood just so that he could understand the message that the beacon gave him. There's something else. The Flood, it said that the flagship Saren is using…" Jane paused as she remembered the 15 km long ship that she had seen on Eden Prime. "It said that is wasn't what it seemed."

"The Flood was most likely just trying to confuse you," Valern said dismissively. "It was sealed within Feros, how would it even know what Saren's ship looked like." Jane said nothing, as she could not think of any counter to Valern's argument. Still there was something about that ship that made Jane uneasy. Everything about this made her feel that something was horribly wrong.

"That's all I have to say Councilor," she said dully, as if she had already detached herself from the conversation.

"Very well," Tevos said. "Thank you for your time Captain. We understand things have been difficult for you."

"I know," Jane muttered as she looked at Anderson. "What's our status on the war?"

"We've repelled the first wave of Jiralhanae, it didn't seem like they were the main invasion force though, they went down too easily. Things are quite right now, everyone's regrouping to that we're ready for the next wave, or a counter attack if we can pull one off. By the way the stealth plating on the _Normandy_ needs to be maintained, I'm sorry but your going to have to stay here a week while we take care of that."

Jane smiled weekly. "Don't worry about it, my crew could use some shore leave."

XXXXX

On the icy planet of Noveria, within the confines of Peak 15, a Jiralhanae wearing silvery armor and a gas mask worked at a terminal. "Rason's record," he said into a recorder in his helmet. "Rachni Subject 57 is showing increased amounts of aggression and hostility." As if on cue, a massive insectoid creature in the see-through containment unit in front of him thrashed wildly at the glass, shrieking as it attempted to free itself.

"Prolonged absence from the Queen seems to be the cause. Returned proximity to the Queen has not reversed subjects condition, neither has signals forged in an attempt to mimic signals that the Queen produces."

The Rachni screeched even louder as it slammed against the walls of it's cell, wounds opening on it's head as it continued to bash it. "Subject is apparently so blinded by rage that all pain is drowned out," Rason droned on. "Could possibly cause it's own death if unrestrained." The Rachni screeched as it slammed it's head against the cell, a small crack appearing in the glass. Rason let out a sigh as he pressed a button on his terminal. Jet's of crimson fire shot out of the sides of the cell, engulfing the Rachni. The insect screeched as it continued to break free from it's imprisonment, thrashing against the sides of it's cell as it's movements slowed before slowly sliding to the bottom of the cell where it ceased to move.

"Subject 57 terminated, became to violent to safely contain." Rason let out a sigh as he stared at the charred corpse of the Rachni.

"Rason, I need to have a word." Rason turned away from the Rachni to see an Asari entering the room.

"What is it Benezia," he asked impolitely. "More wisdom that you wish to share with me?"

Benezia frowned. "A species as young as yours can use all of the advice that you can get."

"What makes you think I want guidance from you, in case you failed to notice my kind has done very well on it's own."

"You take pride on your works, but in reality you are like an overgrown child pushing around others without truly understanding what you are doing."

Rason snarled. "My kind isn't the one that spends three centuries going through puberty before we finally begin to be productive."

"But we are the ones who guide others for the next seven, and with words, not force. Before you continue I am not here to give guidance to those who it is lost on."

Rason frowned, "What is it than?"

"You would have heard it yourself if you had left you COM unit on. You have a visitor from the Empire."

"Who?" Rason snapped. "What fool came here? Doesn't he know if more Jiralhanae come to this planet it becomes more likely that the corporations will discover our presence and contact the Council?"

"Be at ease, your guest used a neutral freighter to arrive, not doubt one that the Batarians built. He landed outside the facility using a cloaked dropship. He is waiting for you in the medical bay. He…needs your attention."

Rason walked past Benezia without a word as he exited the room. For several minutes he walked through the Peak 15 facility, not stopping until he entered a dimly lit room with several operation tables. One of them was occupied by a badly burned Jiralhanae that wasn't moving, two Minors on either side of him. "Sukron?" Rason asked as he approached the table "Sukron?"

"Commander Sukron has suffered third and second degree burns all over his body," one of the Minors explained. "He also received a knife wound to the top his spinal cord that rendered him a quadriplegic."

"Why did you bring him here?" Rason questioned.

The Minor hesitated before speaking. "Conventional Empire medical technology is not enough to heal his wounds. All our doctors were able to do is heavily sedate him and stabilize him, but if he does not receive treatment soon he will die within hours."

Rason let out a sigh. He had heard rumors that the UNSC and RSN posses technology that allowed them to create fresh limbs and stem cell grafts for their wounded. Unfortunately the Empire did not poses this technology and were forced to take alternative means to heal wounds. "You are the greatest medical mind in the Empire, if anyone can save him it's you."

"Very well, Tritus would kill me if I didn't anyway. Get out, I need my privacy." The Minors looked startled but filled out of the room as ordered.

"Well, well Sukron," Rason said, a trace of amusement in his voice. "It seems that your little games have backfired on you." As he spoke, he closely scanned Sukron's body, taking in the damage. "It's only a matter of time before these wounds become infected," he muttered, "I may have to amputate." Rason looked around the medical bay. As he had ordered, his medical equipment now lined the room, various instruments of various size and purpose. He would be needing them.

But there was something else that caught his eye, a thin datapad placed on a lone table. Crossing the room, Rason picked up the datapad and looked at it. As he did, his a look of regret and sadness crossed his face, hidden by his mask. On the pad was a picture of five Jiralhanae, all of them standing in a group and holding a blade made out of Forerunner alloy. One had a massive two handed sword, one a machete, one two viciously curved blades, one a rather brutal looking knife and the last one a thin sword that looked like a cross between a Human katana and a long sword. All five of the Jiralhanae had victorious smiles on their faces, as it they had just accomplished some impossible feet. The Emperor and his original Supreme Commanders.

"Why does it have to be like this?" Rason muttered as he placed the datapad on the table. "We were comrades, we still are, yet we grasp at each other's throats. Marton, Adolas, Tesueg, why did you abandon our cause?" Rason stood still for a second before turning to face Sukron again. "No point in dwelling on the pass, I have work to do." He approached Sukron, drawing a bright golden knife as he did. "First thing's first, that arm can not be saved."

Author's Note: Making forward progress, introduced Wrex another Marauder and the final Supreme Commander. Yeah, Sukron isn't dead yet, I decided that I have some more uses for the guy, and I think that you would be annoyed if I came up with another villain to replace him. Needless to say, his appearance is going to change radically, but I think I'm going to keep the specifics under wraps for awhile. Well if you haven't already, scroll around the internet, there's a new article out about ME3 with a ton of info, and as always, tell me what you think.


	36. Icy Touchdown

Chapter 36

Icy Touchdown

Author's Note: Sorry that this took so long, but I have a good reason. I was playing the Gears of War 3 beta and I kind of lost track of time. Seriously, I did way better than I ever did in Gears 2 (I sucked). I actually have a positive ratio. The retro lancer is pretty sweet, as are a lot of the new guns, the digger launcher and the one shot in particular. Can't say I'm a fan of the sawn off shotgun, you have to be standing right next to someone in order to do any damage, you get one shot, and it takes 8 seconds to reload, give me the gnasher any day. So yeah, if you happen to own bulletstorm, I recommend playing the beta the second you finish this chapter, if you pre ordered Gears 3, trust me, the wait will be worth it. Oh yeah, I had to work too.

Two weeks later

"I trust that you are settling in well?" In the depths of the _Eternal Salvation_, Marton stood at the entrance to a miniaturized cargo bay, speaking to Jack.

Jack glared at Marton from the makeshift bed she was lying on. "What the fuck did I tell you about coming down here? I like to be alone."

Marton folded his arms. "You've been doing quite a bit of that recently, simply staying in the unused sections of the _Salvation_."

"Yeah well, blame yourself for having so much free space," Jack said dismissively. "The Hell is up with that anyway?"

"The _Salvation _serves multiple purposes in addition to that of a capital ship. That is not why I came down though, I wanted to talk to you."

Jack frowned, "Make it quick, I've got better things than sit here and talk to you."

"I highly doubt that. In fact, can not help but notice that you have not done much since you have come onboard this ship."

"Your point?" Jack asked, clearly not in the mood to be talking to Marton.

"I can't have you sapping away at our limited resources without contributing to our cause in some way."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"We're responding to a report from a deep space scout probe. It discovered an ancient starship that predates any known civilization. The technology on that ship could catapult our's forward by centuries. I want you to accompany the ground team."

"Exactly why do you need me?" Jack asked impolitely. "You've got a couple hundred thousand cronies on this ship alone, why not use one of them?"

"None of them are biotic super soldiers," Marton replied simply. "I have no idea what kind of defenses that ship will have, I want to take in a small yet effective team so that we are maneuverable yet deadly. We will arrive in five minutes, you will accompany Wrex and I to the starship and you will provide support should we need it."

"And what if I say no," Jack asked, her voice challenging.

"Then you are no longer welcome on this ship," Marton replied coldly. "I am fighting a rebellion where my forces are massively outnumbered, liabilities are unacceptable."

Jack paused. "Fine," she said, reluctance heavy in her voice.

There was a clang as Marton threw a Blue Sun submachine gun at her feet. "Marauder weapons will most likely be too large for you to properly handle, this is all I have." Jack said nothing as she picked up the gun and flipping the safety off. "Come." Marton gestured to Jack to follow him. Looking as if she would much rather be doing something else, Jack got to her feet and followed Marton.

"So, how long have you been fighting this little insurrection?"

Marton paused a moment before speaking. "Ten years. Sometimes we go entire months without making moves though, mainly so we can reposition ourselves and lure the Empire into a false sense of security." He sighed. "That last one rarely works anymore. It's becoming harder and harder to attack Empire convoys, they almost always have an armed escort nowadays."

"Fascinating," Jack muttered in a tone that suggested that she couldn't care less. "Just one question, why haven't you gone to the UNSC or one of the other galactic powers for help?"

Jack was surprised when Marton let out a bark of laughter. "Very humorous," he said. "Go to the Humans for help? Go to the Sangheili for help? How much have you forgotten in prison? They hate my kind with every fiber of their beings, as soon as they saw our ships they would open fire on us without any hesitation."

"So that's your ingenious plan, take out the Empire so everyone else can come in and kill you all."

Marton's fingers tensed as if they were about to tightened into a fist, but quickly relaxed. "Our current objective is to topple the Emperor's regime and establish a new form of government in it's place. The best that can be hoped for is that peace can be maintained until bridges can be built."

"You honestly expect that a plan that shitty will work?"

"What choice do I have?" Marton snapped, his voice rising. "Go back to Tritus like a misbehaving child and beg for forgiveness? Would you rather I help him wipe out your entire race?"

Jack shrugged. "Do whatever the fuck you want, it's not like I care." Marton gapped at Jack before turning to look in front of him again.

"I need to remain calm," he muttered, speaking so quietly that Jack could not hear him. "I cannot afford to become angry."

The two of them entered the hanger bay, which was packed to the brim with various machines of war, ranging from Ghosts to Banshees, to Wraiths, a massive Scarab that sat isolated in the middle. Jack whistled. "Not bad. You know, you could carve out your own little place in the galaxy with this kind of firepower. Form your own little Empire in the Terminus Systems, build up your own forces." Jack gave a smirk that would send chills down the spine of any sensible Human. "Maybe work your way up."

"Interesting concept," Marton said dismissively. "But I would rather put a decades worth of building to good use."

"Suit yourself."

Marton said nothing as he lead Jack to a Phantom where Wrex was waiting, his assault rifle hanging lazily in his hand. "About time you two showed up," he said as the climbed into the drop ship.

"Right," Marton said as the Phantom slowly lifted off of the ground and closed it's doors as flew through the plasma barrier that pressurized the hanger. No sooner had the Phantom left, than it began to rock wildly. "I want this mission to be fast and clean, the ship internal systems should be completely inactive, but as I said earlier there could be some sort of security system that has lasted over the years. Not to mention we have detected signs of life support still functioning, so who knows what else could still be online. All I want you two to do is watch my back while I gather what data I can, any questions?"

"Yeah, why the fuck is this ride so bumpy?"

"The ship is in orbit of a brown dwarf, I can only assume that it's mass effect field is keeping it from being pulled in." As Marton spoke, the Phantom suddenly became still, as if all outside forces had suddenly vanished, they had entered the ship's mass effect field. "I rest my case."

"Marton, are you there?" a voice crackled into Marton's COM unit.

Marton lifted his hand to his ear piece. "I'm here Adolas, what is it?"

"I just ran some more scans on the ship and I picked something up. Another ship has docked with it, the design looks Human, prowler class. For some reason it's stealth systems are offline"

"Human? Adolas can you pick up any life signs?"

"I apologize Marton, I can't get any readings beyond the outer hull of the unknown starship and there isn't any life on the prowler."

Marton sighed. "It doesn't matter Adolas, thank you for the information. Give me an update if you detect anything." Marton lowered his hand as the Phantom neared the ship. It was 15 kilometers long, pitch black with streaks of red, and has several pincers that gave it an aquatic look. The Marauders had no idea of the history of this ship.

XXXXX

On the icy planet of Noveria, a massive blizzard was blazing around Peak 15. This was a particularly brutal blizzard, air craft could not possibly hope to safely fly through. The only remaining way to the facility was through the Aleutsk Valley, a winding path of about 3 miles. While relatively safe in normal conditions, the valley was treacherous during a storm, with those without protective gear dying within seconds.

Despite the hazards, an RSN convoy was making it's way across the valley. Six Demons, an RSN APC capable of holding twenty troopers, made up the center of the convoy, with two Wraiths in front of them and four ghosts behind them. At the head of the convoy was a hulking Scarab that was making it's way forward, the rest of the convoy staying behind it. Every last vehicle was on high alert, scanning the area for possible ambushes which they were sure to encounter.

"I don't like this," Iasa whispered as she stared down the scope of her beam rifle, sweeping the walls of the valley. She was currently in a prone position on the top of the Scarab, just outside of the control room. "The Jiralhanae have the ideal defensive position."

"I understand your concern, but there is no other way to reach the peak." Ramos walked out of the control room and stopped next to Iasa, a fuel rod in hand.

"I understand, Phantoms would crash before they even got close," Iasa muttered. "But could we not simply wait until the blizzard subsides?"

"If that was a possibility, I would do just that. One this planet however, blizzards have been known to last for weeks before even beginning to lessen. There is a 50 ship fleet above this planet comprised of RSN and Union ships, if the Jiralhanae are on this planet, then it's only a matter of time before reinforcements arrive. If we wait, this battle could become long and bloody."

Iasa nodded. "Are we certain that they are using this facility?"

"All records say that Matriarch Benezia is currently using it, and as we know Benezia is a known ally of Saren."

"If that's the case why haven't the corporations contacted the Council?"

"They've been keeping the fact that two high ranking members of their society have gone rouge under wraps. Understandable really, if word got out there might be mass panic."

"Charming," Iasa said dryly. "That would explain why Anoleis was so reluctant to let us deploy." She chuckled. "The look on his face when he realized that we weren't asking him for permission was quite humorous."

"He was rather cooperative after Professor Solus threatened to bring the Council into the matter." As he spoke, Ramos glanced at one of the Demons, which Mordin and the rest of the STG strike force were passengers of.

"That is what he said? I had trouble keeping up with him, I'm trained to hone my eyes not my ears." Ramos was about to speak when his eyes narrowed and he raised his fuel rod. "What is it?"

"Something does not feel right," Ramos whispered.

Before Iasa could react, there was a rushing noise as six balls of plasma hit the Scarab's right front leg, exploding with tremendous force. The Scarab was rocked as it's outer armor was blown away. "AMBUSH!" Ramos roared as several Jiralhanae in pure white armor rose out of the snow at the top of the valley, firing fuel rods at the convoy. Two Ghosts where destroyed by the anti-tank fire, as was one of the Demons and both Wraiths took moderate damage.

Iasa whipped her beam rifle towards the nearest Jiralhanae that she could see and fired off a shot, sending a streak of plasma right through the Jiralhanae's head. The rest of the convoy was also attacked it's ambushers, two balls of bright blue plasma arched overhead and sent bodies of Jiralhanae flying. The plasma turrets of the Demons, Ghosts and the Scarab fired as the head of the Scarab turned to face the cliff. The Scarab's "mouth" opened wide and a bright green beam opened fire, sending several Jiralhanae to their graves.

"Is that it?" Iasa shouted.

"It can't be, the plasma rounds that hit us were too heavy for portable fuel rods." No sooner had Ramos spoken, than another barrage of plasma flew from the top of the cliff, hitting the Scarab's damaged leg. Squinting through the flurries of snow that obstructed her vision, Iasa saw three anti-armor Shades perched behind where the Jiralhanae infantry had just been. Iasa snarled, it appeared that this battle would not be a short one and she doubted that it would be the last she fought on this planet.

XXXXX

Deep within the Terminus systems, within floated the space station Omega. In the inner sections of the station was a club called Afterlife, one of the most popular areas on Omega with thousands of people going in and out each solar day. It was also the unofficial headquarters of Aria T'Loak the self proclaimed ruler of Omega, a claim she was very good at backing up.

Aria was currently sitting at her usual seat at the height of the club, swirling a glass of Asari wine as she watched the dancers slide up the poles in the center of the club, a small smile on her face. She was in a good mood, Eclipse that mercenaries had been planning a hit on her had been tracked down today, as two dozen bullet riddled corpses now floating in the vacuum of space could attest too. As a way of thanking Eclipse for their threat, she had leaked the routes their convoys took to the Blue Suns, and from what she had heard the Blue Suns were making a fortune off of raiding them.

Aria was also particularly satisfied that she had finally taken care of an old problem that had been bothering her for decades. She had received a message from an anonymous source that had given the names of 9 of her people that had been leaking information to the Shadow Broker. Aria smiled, at least the Eclipse mercs would have some company.

"Excuse me," a Batarian said as he walked towards her. "Miss Aria, a ship just entered the system and will reach here in ten minutes. The ship is Jiralhanae."

Aria sighed, not bothering to look at the Batarian. "And I thought that Tritus actually had some manners. Contact the ship and tell them that the answer is no. I have no interest in starting a war with the Council unless I have no choice."

"We've already done so. We have yet to receive a response."

Aria sighed as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a slim communicator. And today had been going so well. "I know you can hear me," she said aggressively into the communicator. "Your boss has already asked me to join you little alliance and my answer hasn't changed. If you were taking on the Council alone you might have won, but there's know way that you can take out this Galatic Alliance that they've formed."

Galatic Alliance, that was the name the alliance that was composed of the UNSC, RSN and the Council. Aria thought that it was rather humorous, their way of life and very existence were being threatened, yet they had still found the time to come up with a name for themselves. Though to be fair, the Jiralhanae and their allies were calling themselves the Coalition of United Races so it wasn't surprising that the Alliance had given itself a name as well. Aria had no intention in getting involved in the war between the Alliance and the Coalition, it was a war that Aria was sure would change the galaxy forever. Weather the changes would be for better or for worse had yet to be seen.

"I don't want to get on your bad side so I'll make you a deal. Turn around and go back from where you came from, and I won't order the defense turrets to shoot you down." Aria paused as she took her communicator away. Something didn't feel right, Tritus had come months ago and had left rather quickly once she had said no, though this was after he had gained the support of the Blood Pack. She had initially been concerned that the Blood Pack on Omega would make a move against her since she had refused to pledge herself to the Coalition, but they were deeply engrossed in a territory war with the Blue Suns. It had recently grown even more violent, with the Blue Suns making massive pushes against the Blood Pack, not stopping even though they were taking heavy losses. Aria suspected that either the Blood Pack or the Coalition had done something to piss the Blue Suns off. Aria resisted the urge to shrug, she really didn't care.

She waited for the Empire ship to reply to her threat, ready to order her men to open fire if they refused to leave. There was no reply. Annoyed, Aria spoke again. "This is your last warning, twenty five loaded missile pods have locked on to your ship, even your advanced shields won't be able to take that kind of punishment. If by some miracle you do survive it though I will deploy warships to obliterate you, so if you want to avoid that I suggest that you turn around." Once again, no response.

"Fine," Aria snarled. "I warned them. Not keeping your threats is how empires collapse. Tell the gun crews to open fire."

"Aria I beg you to reconsider!" the Batarian shouted. "This is an act of war against the Jiralhanae Empire and the rest of the Coalition. You can't possible hope to-"

"Are you questioning my orders?" Aria hissed.

"I...no," the Batarian stuttered, clearly terrified.

"The Empire is in my territory when I specifically told them they weren't welcome. They were the ones who committed an act of war first, and I don't plan on letting them walk all over me. Give the order."

The Batarian hesitated before speaking. "All gun crews, open fire on the Empire cruiser. This is an order from Aria herself." The Batarian paused and Aria felt the faint shudder as the rockets were fired. "The crews are reporting direct hits, the Empire cruiser's shields are down and they've taken heavy damage."

Aria smiled. "Tell them to reload and finish the job."

The Batarian nodded and was about to give the order when a look of shock covered his face. "Please confirm." Aria's eyes narrowed. "Are you certain." All four of the Batarian's eyes widened. "Oh no."

"What?" Aria asked impatiently.

"The Empire cruiser has set an impact course."

"WHAT!" No sooner had Aria spoken than there was a deafening crash and the ground shook violently. "Oh you have got to be shitting me," Aria swore. "Take some men and clean up whoever's left, and try to save what you can while you're at it."

"Understood I'll...wait." The Batarian lifted his hand to his ear again. "I'm getting reports from skirmishers near the crash site, they've engaged hostiles. Say again what are you fighting?" The Batarian cringed as an ear splitting scream shot across his communicator.

"Will somebody tell me what the fuck is going on?" Aria asked angrily. As if you answer her question, an inhuman cry tore through Afterlife. It was an ungodly sound that could be described as the bastard child of a roar and a shriek. Aria felt chills creep down her spine as the cry faded away and something made itself very clear to here. Whatever had crashed that ship wasn't Jiralhanae.

Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait, like I said I was playing Gears of War 3 and I had to work more hours than usual. By the way, I just watched the Arby n Chief season finale. Dear god...I...go watch it right now. John has really outdone himself.

Hm...what else is there to talk about. Well I'm planning on buying Brink when it comes out, anyone else?


	37. Contamination

Chapter 37

Contamination

Author's Note: Sorry that this took so long, I've been doing other things. For example, I've started playing Super Metroid again. Sorry guys, Chief may be badass, but Ms. Aran will always be the babe in power armor that kicks major ass. I guess I just like girls with guns...that came out wrong. Before you say anything, no I haven't played Other M, and from what I've heard about it, I'd rather it stay that way. Ok, let's get going.

"I don't like this," Jack muttered as the Phantom slid to a stop, the doors opening.

"Don't tell me you're scared," Wrex said, a grin covering his face.

"Fuck you hunchback. I've got a problem with tight dark spaces because I just got out prison thank you very fucking much." Marton resisted the urge to bellow at both of them as he jumped out of the Phantom, the other two behind him.

"Stay behind me," Marton said as he unholstered his screecher, Wrex drawing his assault rifle and Jack her SMG at the same time. "Be ready for anything."

"MARTON!" Marton winced as Rutherforae's voice roared across the Battle-Net.

"What is it Adolas?" he asked.

"The Phantom must have tripped some sort of security perimeter, kinetic barrier generators have been activated. there's no way to get on or off it, the strength of those barriers is ridiculous."

"What!" Jack shouted into the COM unit she had been given. "We're trapped on this damn thing? Well get us off of it, use you firepower to take down the barriers."

"Kinetic barriers only block projectiles you uneducated fool!" Rutherforae bellowed. "Marauder ships only use energy weapons. If we open fire on the ship we will burn away at the hull and expose it to an unhealthy amount of radiation. We could kill you easily or cause the ship to explode or disable the life support. If you want to get off that ship, you'll have to find the kinetic barrier generator and disable it or cut off it's power supply."

"She is right," Marton said, looking at Jack. "For the moment we are on our own."

"I never should have gone with you," Jack muttered as Marton and Wrex continued forward, exiting the hanger bay that they had landed in. Swearing under her breath, she began to follow them.

As they walked through the doors to the hanger, they entered a long winding hallway, that ended with another door. They crossed it, the door opening for them as they did. They entered a small square shaped room that was lined with terminals and various other pieces of equipment.

"This technology is Human," Marton said as he approached on of the terminals. Placing his hands over the keyboard, his fingers began to dash across it, typing in commands. "Let's see what secrets you have," he whispered.

A window popped up on the screen, displaying a Human wearing a black and white jumpsuit with an orange symbol over the heart. "Chandana has got to be one of the most brilliant scientist's I've ever met," the man said, a slightly disturbing smile on his face. "He knows things I could never dream of knowing, but after all these years I finally get something she doesn't. This ship is more than just an inactive husk. I actually managed to get into some of it's databanks, and I learned something amazing. This ship used to be 1/10th of it's current size, and the amazing part is that it was destroyed 37 million years ago, and it only increased in size 100,000 years ago."

"I figured it out, there's a bay of microscopic machines hidden in this machine. They received orders from somewhere, and even though the ship was disabled long ago, they still worked. They mined nearby asteroids and planets, bringing back supplies bit by bit, improving this ship with the instructions that was sent to them. They made this ship the behemoth that it is now, but they weren't able to do everything. I learned that the nanobots only did what they could with the supplies they could reach, they were supposed to do so much more. They were supposed to replace the kinetic barriers with energy shields and replace the main processing system for this ship."

The man's smirk spread as his eyes widened. "But the processing system on this ship isn't something you mine for or synthesize in a lab. We've never used it before, but it's all around us. They use it all the time. That's why they told me, they wanted me to be a message. They wanted me to be the prophet that will outline the future of the galaxy!" The window vanished.

"Sounds like he cracked," Jack muttered, staring at the terminal with disinterest.

"She may be right," Wrex added, looking at Marton. "I've seen warriors crack under the strain of war before. It gets to be too much for them and they start spouting nonsense. It sounds like they're philosophers of the highest degree, but in the end they're nothing but madman."

Marton started at the terminal, a curiosity in his organic eye hidden by his helmet. "Let's keep moving, the longer we tarry the longer..." Marton paused. From beyond the door behind him was a mess of explosions and shouting. "It would appear that we are not alone," Marton muttered. As he spoke, he reached for his thigh at took a metal sphere from it. He placed the sphere on the ground, where it unfolded into a mechanical spider the size of Marton's head.

"The fuck is that?" Jack swore, looking at the spider.

"A drone I designed with limited artificial intelligence," Marton explained. "Nowhere near the level of Human A.I.s, but it is still intelligent enough to make sound choices on it's own." He looked at the spider. "I need you to scout out the area ahead, send a live feed back to my cybernetics."

The spider scuttled off out of the room. "What do you see?" Wrex asked as Marton stood still, the drone's sight being transmitted to his cybernetic eye.

"Humans, wearing the same uniform as the man in the recording. They seem to be fighting creatures similar to the ones the Humans encountered on Eden Prime, if our sources were correct that is. I do believe that the Humans called them Husks. Odd, the Humans seem to be attempting to hold their position, denying the Husks access to the area behind them."

"What do we do?" Wrex ask. "Sit back and watch the show?"

"No," Marton said as he raised his screecher. "We intervene."

XXXXX

In the outer slums of Omega, a Turian stuck his head out from behind an overturned table and pressed down on the trigger of his rifle. A trio of Infection Forms that had jumped at him were blown to pieces as hit bullets pierced them. "Son of a bitch," the Turian swore as he spotted a Krogan Combat Form charging at him. He opened fire at the Combat Form as it charged at him, hitting it directly in the face. The Combat Form continuing to charge, slowly losing momentum until in finally fell to the ground, dead.

"It takes even more to drop those bastards now," the Turian swore as he ducked behind the table, cooling his overheated rifle.

It had been an hour since the Jiralhanae ship had crashed into Omega, and since then they had been viciously attacking the outer slums. Early waves had consisted purely of Infection and Carrier Forms that had attacked the residents, massively boosting the Flood's reserves. Afterwards Combat Forms had deployed from the wreckage and had joined with the first wave in a coordinated assault, pushing deeper into Omega.

They had gained a good deal of ground before Aria's forces had regrouped and set up strategic defensive positions, attempting to deny the Flood further access. The Flood had responded by constantly throwing themselves at the defensive lines, which were starting to thin. To make matters worse, scouts had reported that a third wave was making it's way from the wreckage of the ship, this one was different from the other two, comprised of Forms that Aria's forces had yet to engage.

"Damn it, when the Hell are those reinforcements going to get here?" the Turian muttered under his breath. "I've been holding this position on my own ever since these damn things arrived here. What are this things any-" the Turian was cut off as a long yellow tentacle snaked it's way around the table and wrapped itself around the Turian's waist. The tentacle pulled back and the Turian was violently yanked from out from behind the table. The tentacle pulled the Turian through the air before slamming it down into the ground, shattering his spine.

The tentacle unwound itself from the Turian's corpse as it returned to it's owner, a massive 20 foot tall Flood Pure form with two giant tentacles for arms. A Flood Juggernaut Form. The Juggernaut Form stared blankly at the Turian for a moment, checking that it was dead. As if it had lost interest in it, the Juggernaut turned and made it's way towards the passage that the Turian had been guarding.

A concentrated ball of biotic energy flew from the passage, aimed at the Juggernaut. With lightning reflexes, it slammed the ground with it's tentacles, propelling itself into the air. The ball of energy completely missed the Juggernaut as it fell back to the ground. The massive Flood stared emotionlessly at the source of the attack, and saw Aria standing there.

"You can't rely on anyone these days," she muttered as a biotic aura surrounded her. For a whole minute, the Juggernaut and Aria stared at each other, as if daring the other to make the first move. The stalemate was broken as the Juggernaut threw it's right tentacle like a lasso at Aria, intending to rip her head off. Aria dove to the side, avoiding the tentacle as it ripped through the wall behind her, throwing a Warp at the Juggernaut as she did. With one of it's tentacles still extended, the Juggernaut couldn't jump with them. In an attempt to avoid the attack, the Juggernaut threw it's left tentacle at the ceiling, grabbing onto the sides of an air duct as it pulled itself up, it's right tentacle trailing behind it.

"Slippery little fucker," Aria muttered, staring at the Juggernaut as it clenched onto the vent. Taking one tentacle off of the vent, the Juggernaut threw the other one at Aria. Aria dove to the side as the tentacle tore through the ground, leaving a gash like hole in the ground. Gritting her teeth, Aria threw a Warp at the Juggernaut. The Flood was not fast enough to react, and the Warp hit the tentacle that the Juggernaut was hanging from. It made no sound, even as half of it's tentacle was severed at it was sent plummeting to the ground.

Aria did not hesitate as the Flood hit the floor, charging forward and jumping onto it's chest. Extending both of her hands, she formed a Warp in each of he palms and let out a roar as she sent them both into her opponent's face. Both of the attacks hit their target head on, completely obliterating it and killing the Juggernaut.

Aria let out a sigh as she stepped off of the Flood's smoldering corpse. "_Very impressive_." Aria's head craned to look at the origin of the voice. The Acolyte folded it's wings behind it's back as it walked across the slums of Omega, it's cold gaze locked on Aria. "_It has been some time since a Juggernaut Caste has been defeated in one on one combat_._ You certainly are a skilled one, you will make a fine addition to the Flood."_

"What the Hell are you going on about? What the fuck are you."

"_We are the Flood. We are a kind that pre-exists all that you know. We have existed for millennia, plotting and waiting for our time. We will spread across the galaxy, and all will be Flood."_

"All will be Flood?" Aria whispered, glancing at the dead Krogan Combat Form. "What are you talking about."

"_We will take everything that makes you who you are, your memories, your knowledge, your personality, your physical capabilities, and we will make it part of us. Afterwards we will do the same to every other living thing in the galaxy, and we will achieve the greatest that organics are capable of, perfection. Once we have spread, the galaxy will know peace, and infallible peace._"

"You sure like the sound of your own voice," Aria growled. "Just one question, do you have the balls to back up your words!" she shouted, throwing Warp at the Acolyte.

XXXXX

Iasa's mandibles tightened as another barrage flew from the Jiralhanae anti-tank positions, hitting the smoking leg out the Scarab. "Ramos, we can not withstand much more!" Iasa shouted as she fired a shot off, hitting the front of the centermost anti-tank gun.

"I understand that Iasa," Ramos hissed as he emptied the clip on his fuel rod, obliterating the right Shade. "Fire the main cannon, destroy those Shades!" The Scarab's mouth opened again and a bright green beam of plasma flew from it, incinerating one of the remaining Shades. As the Scarab's beam deactivated to cool, the final Shade lined up a shot with the Scarab's badly damaged leg. The Jiralhanae manning it allowed himself a small smile as he moved to pull the trigger.

The was a silent hissing noise as a jet of silvery plasma shot through the air and pierced the gunner's right eye. For a moment, the gunner remained where he was, staring down the sight for his turret. Then his body slowly began to lean back and he fell into the snow with a soft thump.

"Causality report," Ramos said into the Battle-Net.

"Both of the Ghosts were destroyed, as were one of the Demons, all passengers on it perished," a voice reported. "Both of the Wraiths gunners are dead as well, no others have been harmed."

"Very well, continue to press through the valley, but be cautious, they know that we're here. Do what you can to repair the damage to the Scarab on the move, we can't afford to stop and do it properly. I want all Demons to be ready to deploy, we are coming up on Peak 15."

The Scarab continued to make it's way through Noveria's blizzards, hampered by the damaged the it had taken. For ten minutes, the RSN convoy continued towards Peak 15, unmolested by any Coalition forces. Then, as they rounded another pass, the silvery tower of Peak 15 came into view, two minutes away. Jiralhanae infantry were heavily entrenched in front of it, with six Wraiths supporting them

"The second we eliminate all anti-tank forces, I want every last Demon to release it's load of warriors, Wraiths, assist the Scarab in eliminating hostile defenses!" As Ramos roared, the plasma mortars on both Wraiths fired, arching over the Scarab and slamming into the Jiralhanae's position. Bodies were sent flying as the Jiralhanae's Wraiths returned the favor, firing their own mortars. Two of them flew over the Scarab and hit the RSN tanks with deadly accuracy, completely destroying the already damaged tanks.

"OBLITERATE THEM!" Ramos bellowed as the Scarabs cannon began to glow. With a blinding flash, the beam of bright green plasma flew from the Scarab again, sweeping through the Wraiths, destroying five of them before the cannon was forced to cool again. Undaunted the remaining gun carriage adjusted itself, aiming at the Scarab's smoking leg.

"I think not!" Ramos bellowed, as he raised his fuel rod, firing all five shots at the Wraith. All of the shots were spot on, hitting the Wraith, but not before it had managed to fire it's main weapon once more. Even as it exploded in a ball of purple fire, dark blue plasma arced through the air. It hit the already badly damaged leg, causing the fires to blaze even higher as it impacted.

Iasa felt as if the bottom of her stomach had disappeared when she looked closely at the leg. Most of the metal plating had either been blown off or melted, and the leg was holding on by a thread. A thread that was slowly becoming thinning as the Scarab's weight strained it. With a pang of panic, Iasa realized what exactly would happen if they lost the leg in their current position.

So did Ramos. "All hands abandon the Scarab! It has been lost!" As he spoke, he leapt off of the top of the Scarab, sliding a fresh clip into his fuel rod as he did, Iasa right behind him. Half a dozen other Sangheili from the assault platform's control room quickly followed suit, and those who had been manning the plasma turrets were about to follow when the last supports gave out and the leg snapped off.

With only three legs to support it, the Scarab collapsed to the ground, causing those who were still on it to overbalance. The Scarab fell on the edge of the cliff that the valley cut through, teetering on the edge. Then, almost as if it was happening in slow motion, the Scarab began to tip over the cliff. Iasa watched in horror as the Scarab, still carrying a dozen personal, fell over the cliff. It fell until it hit the ground thousands of feet below, exploding with such a force that it reached where Iasa and Ramos still stood.

"Staliu," Iasa whispered, as the Demons approached them.

"We must morn later!" Ramos shouted as he spun to face the Jiralhanae position. Half a dozen of the Jiralhanae had survived the bombardment, and were leaning over their entrenchment, firing their spikers. Ramos and Iasa dove to the side as the Demons zoomed in front of them, the spikers bouncing harmlessly off of their armor.

"They are weak! FINISH THEM!" Demas shouted, as he aimed the turret on one of the Demons, Viluse doing the same on another one. The turrets on all five of the Demon's opened fire, shredding through the surviving Jiralhanae. The APCs came to a stop, doors sliding open as RSN troopers filed out.

"Fieldmaster, Iasa, are you well?" Viluse asked as he jumped out of the turret that he was operating.

"I am fine Viluse," Ramos said as he approached the RSN troopers. "We have sustained heavy causalities, but it is my hope that we have already defeated the main force of the Coalition forces here. Despite that the battle is not over, more Jiralhanae no doubt lurk inside the facility, ready to defend whatever sorcery they have been preparing. I want all of you to divide into your pre-designated groups and conduct sweeps of Peak 15. Eliminate any hostiles you encounter, but check your fire, there may still me civilians inside."

While Ramos spoke, a Jiralhanae stirred among the dead. He was badly wounded with massive burns across his chest, he clearly didn't have long to go. Spotting Ramos out of the corner of his eye, he reached for a fuel road that lay next to a dead Major, his fingers nearing the handle. There was a loud gunshot and a bullet pierced the Jiralhanae's brain, killing him instantly. Ramos turned his head along with the other Sangheili to see twenty Salarians standing next to an empty Demon, on of them holding a smoking gun.

"Interesting," the Salarian said. "Was informed that Jiralhanae were primitive. Evidence contradicts that claim. Use of entrenchment and armor support suggests that understanding of basic and advanced tactics. Fascinating, yet troublesome, mission will be much more difficult."

"Professor Mordin Solus," Ramos said, approaching the Salarian. "I trust you and your STG team are unharmed."

"Yes, thank you," Mordin said rather quickly. "All men accounted for. Not one lost. Fortunate really, could have easily been destroyed by anti-tank fire like other transport. So sorry for you losses, spoke to some of them, interesting individuals, would have liked to talked to them some more."

Ramos only stared at Mordin for second before regaining his composure, choosing not to address the professor's motor-mouth. "We are about to start our assault on Peak 15, do you have any suggestions as to how we should continue?"

Author's Note: Marton and co land on the Reaper and find that they're not alone. Aria takes out a Juggernaut (A creature that was removed from Halo CE for being too powerful I might add) and squares off against the Acolyte.

The RSN takes heavy losses but reaches Peak 15 and prepares to storm it. Well, I think that this particular series of arcs is coming together quite nicely, though I'm starting to think that maybe I should cut back to the Normandy and it's crew to check up on them for a little bit...something to think about, anyway, tell me what you think.


	38. Spread

Chapter 38

Spread

Author's Note: Jesus, 800 reviews? I must be doing something right if people are paying this much attention to this story I hope that you can bear with me, because I've still got a long way to go, there's is so much more story that I need to tell, so much development I need to have my characters go through. Well, let's get going.

"Covering fire!" Miranda Lawson shouted as the three operatives that were still alive fired a barrage of bullets at their oncoming enemy. Instead of ducking into cover or putting their heads down like she had expected, the Husks continued to charge at them, a dozen of them falling in the process. 'Doesn't look like they understand any kind of tactic besides charging," Miranda thought as she ducked behind a knee high wall, he SMG cooling.

'How did this happen? Everything was going according to plan, we were making good progress. But Wilson starting behaving erratically, then-" her line of thought was broken when she heard the snarl of another Husk baring down on her. Her SMG darted upward and a single bullet was fired, piercing the cyborg's skull with a perfect headshot. 'Everything went to shit!' she finished.

Miranda heard a scream and turned to see that three Husks had overwhelmed one of the operatives and had ripped his arm off. He fell to the ground where the Husks descended upon him, ripping his body to shreds. The remaining operatives trained their rifles on the Husks but hesitated as they saw their comrade's thrashing movements. This costed them their lives as the rest of Husks attacked them, ripping them apart at they did.

"Fuck," Miranda swore as she fired a series of bursts from her SMG, taking down five more Husks. Miranda grimaced as the remaining Husks, numbering at around 2 dozen approaching her. She could kill around 10 or 12 without any problem, but 24? Miranda gritted her teeth as she raised her SMG.

Before she could pull the trigger there was a piercing screech and six Husks burst into pieces. Not hesitating, Miranda fired her gun with inhuman speed, firing headshot after headshot at the incoming Husks as there was another screech and four more of them exploded, followed by a third screech. Within seconds the small army of Husks had been reduced to a pile of corpses.

Letting out a sigh, Miranda stared down the sight of her gun and scanned the room, looking for the source of the blast that had killed the Husks. She received her answer when she saw a hulking Jiralhanae on the other side of the room, holding an odd looking rifle. "Do not shoot," Marton said, his synthesized voice crackling through the air, "I am not your enemy."

"Forgive me if I have a hard time believing you," Miranda snarled, lining up a shot with Marton's head. "Why shouldn't I just shoot you?"

"Well, if she's going to be like, I don't see why the fuck we should be helping her." Miranda turned to see Wrex and Jack standing next to Marton their weapons out. "I recognize her uniform, she's with Cerberus." She glanced at Marton. "If they had their way, all aliens would be nothing more than pets and slaves to Humans, it's in your best interest that she dies."

"I would rather not," Marton said, glancing back and forth between Jack and Miranda. "We are in a rather precarious situation. Are there anymore of those creatures onboard?" As he spoke, Marton gestured at the pile of Husk corpses.

Miranda was silent for a minute as she continued to aim her weapon at Marton. "Hundreds, my entire crew were transformed into whatever the Hell those Husks are, the ones that weren't killed at least."

"I see," Marton said, checking his screecher's energy level and seeing that it was still at 70%, giving him seven more shots before he would have to replace the power cell. "It would be for the best if we were to remain together." He looked at Miranda, "This ship's kinetic barriers have been activated. If we wish to escape from here we will need to destroy the generator that powers them."

"You're insane," Miranda said, keeping her gun level. "If you destroy that generator you'll take out this ship's Mass Effect fields, it's the only thing that's keeping it from falling into the Brown Star. You honestly expect to survive that?"

"My ship is orbiting us, they are prepared to retrieve us at any moment. We must go now, that generator needs to be found."

"I ain't taking another step with the Cerberus bitch," Jack growled as her biotics flared around her.

"You're Subject Zero aren't you?" Miranda asked as her own biotic aura began to glow around her. "I've read about you and the project you went through. The report was accurate after all, you were a mistake."

"Say that again," Jack hissed, her fists tightening.

"This should be interesting," Wrex muttered as the two women glared at each other.

"We have no time for this!" Marton shouted. "No doubt the Husks are regrouping for a counter attack as we speak, yet you two stand here and bicker. Whatever quarrel you have can be settled AFTER we have escaped."

Jack and Miranda continued to stare each other down, until their biotic aura's slowly disappeared. "Fine, but the second the cheerleader gives me a reason to, I'm going to fuck that pretty face of her's up so bad that her own mother wouldn't recognize her."

"Same here."

Marton resisted the urge to reach towards the hilt of his blade, forcing his anger down. 'Why do I have the talent for surrounding myself with people that are likely to kill me the second I turn my back?" he wondered as he began to walk, heading deeper into the ship. He paused briefly as he looked up at the ceiling. His spider drone had all eight of it's legs dug into the roof of the room and was looking at Marton, waiting for instructions. "Scout out the area ahead, keep sending a live feed to me." The drone scuttled off almost instantly.

XXXXX

"This is rather confusing," Demas said as he kicked over the corpse of the Krogan, making sure that it was dead. He in a garage that was littered with the bodies of dead Krogan, with the other Sangheili and STG operatives checking the bodies for survivors. Approximately 50 Krogan had been waiting for them inside, but they had been sloppily and careless. They had been completely wiped out, while the Alliance forces had only suffered 5 casualties. "I was under the impression that we would be facing Jiralhanae forces."

"Perhaps the Jiralhanae took them here to strengthen ties with the rest of the Coalition," Viluse suggested as he turned over a body with his needle rifle.

"Plausible," Mordin said, his eyes darting from Krogan to Krogan. "Perhaps Jiralhanae plan to use Krogan as cannon fodder, no makes no sense, would have deployed them to front lines. Perhaps trying to keep Krogan away from significant battles out of fear that they might degrade chances of victory, no no no no, why go to trouble of recruiting ally if said ally is not used? Perhaps holding Krogan in reserve because of low population, not waning to lose Krogan on unimportant mission." Mordin paused. "Possible, or maybe something else."

"Something else?" Ramos asked as he approached Mordin. "What do you suggest Mordin."

"Unknown, could simply be paranoid, or could be on the brink of discovering information that could change fate of entire war, either or." Ramos blinked. Mordin seemed surprising upbeat considering the seriousness of the situation. His tendency to consider all options from the most predictable to the most radical threw Ramos off slightly, but Ramos shook it off.

"It must be something that Salarians do," he thought.

"Fieldmaster!" Iasa shouted from across the room, "There is a survivor!" Iasa stood at the far side of the room standing in front of a Krogan that had loss both of his legs.

"Very good. Demas, Viluse, Mordin, come with me. The rest of you, secure this room. Be prepared should the Collation attempt to retake it. I need some time to speak with our guest."

The Sangheili troopers and STG operatives quickly crossed the room and took up defensive positions in front of the entrances to the garage, ready to fend off any attempt to take it. Viluse and Demas fell in line with Ramos and Mordin, crossing the room to where Iasa stood with the Krogan. "Is he still conscious?" Ramos asked as they came to a stop.

"Yes, he is still kicking...figuratively."

"Good," Ramos said as he knelt down in front of the Krogan, looking him directly in the eye. "I have some questions for you, if you do not plan on answering them I intend to make your last few minutes very uncomfortable."

The Krogan glared at Ramos. "I don't answer to you split jaw," he growled. "Count yourself lucky I'm not in fighting condition, or I'd be ripping those mandibles of yours off one by one."

"Fascinating," Ramos said dryly. "I would love to hear more stories of what you would do if you had all of your limbs but I am in a hurry, so I'll make this simple. I know that you Krogan have a rather high tolerance for pain, so I need to meet that standard." Ramos reached for his hip and drew his energy sword, activating it as he did. "Professor Solus, which areas of the Krogan body produce great pain when they are stabbed?"

"Very few are, but a handful of possibilities exist."

"I'm not surprised that you know Salarian," the Krogan growled. "Your kind just love poking your noses where is doesn't belong. The Turians might've been the one who dropped the Genophage on us, but you're the ones who gave it to them. The way I see it, you're just as much to blame as they are. I can't help but wonder how many other species you keep underfoot without the public knowing, for all I know there might be some pre-space travel species that you wiped out for your own good."

"Those locations professor?"

"Yes, while Krogan rarely feel pain when most body parts are damaged, some still produce agonizing pain. Krogan feel unbearable pain when amputated, but the most sensitive area would be the genitalia."

Ramos raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

The Krogan blinked, "You wouldn't."

"If you don't want me to I suggest that you start answering my questions," Ramos threatened, holding the tip of his sword over the Krogan's crotch. "Do so and your death will be painless, do not and I will reduce your quad to a pair. Tell me, what is your purpose here? What is the Coalition doing in neutral space?"

The Krogan paused before speaking. "They don't fill in the grunts like us on all of the details. All I know is that they're cooking something up in the back labs, I don't know what. They called in some Jiralhanae big shot doctor for it though, someone called Rason, huh like I care."

"Is there anything else that you wish to tell me?"

"No, so do me a favor and get out of my face, losing my legs is bad enough without having to stare at your ugly...wait a minute." He turned to face Mordin. "Did you say that his name was Solus? Mordin Solus?"

"What of it?" Viluse snapped.

The Krogan let out a bark of laughter. "Oh this is too good, this makes up for my legs to problem." He stared at Mordin with an ugly smile on his face. "Tell me Solus, did you ever keep in contact with your old STG team, the one that kept running covert operations on Tuchanka?"

"You know of that?" Mordin questioned.

"It's rather amazing how much information the Jiralhanae are willing to give to us when it's related to the genophage. So answer my question, did you ever talk to members of your old team?"

"What does this have to do with anything?" Iasa demanded.

"More than you could ever imagine."

"Enough riddles," Ramos growled. "Tell me what you mean unless you wish to become sterile."

"And spoil the surprise?" the Krogan taunted. "I think not. How about a hint, when you get the chance, ask Ramos, you may get some interesting information from him. Just be sure to ask about Solus' student." Ramos let out a roar as the thrusted his sword downward. The Krogan let out a roar of pain and Ramos drew his sword out and swung it again, beheading him.

"What could he have possibly been talking about?" Demas questioned.

"I am unsure," Mordin admitted. "Multiple possibilities exist. Former student Maelon was mentioned. Perhaps Maelon has been killed by Coalition forces, or is a future target, perhaps a prisoner, or all could have merely been a bluff. Impossible to tell without proper evidence."

"I agree," Ramos said gruffly. "Until we have a better understanding, it would be in our best interest to continue with our mission." Mordin nodded. "Steel yourselves, I fear that many more foes wait deeper within this fortress."

XXXXX

"_I have not seen much of your kind on the battlefield_" the Acolyte said as it dove at Aria, swinging both of his blades at her. She dove to the side, barely dodging the Acolyte as his arms tore a pair of long gashes in the ground. "_I must confess_, _it is very interesting, you are unlike any kind I have ever met. Your military is small in size, yet it is composed of some the most deadly warriors I have seen. It is fascinating how you rival races such as Sangheili, Jiralhanae and Turian, but only in one on one combat._"

The Acolyte beat it's wings as it rose above Aria, eyeing her with a hawk's eye as it calculated the best way to combat her. _"You lack the reserves and organizations that make so many other species the threats that they are. Humanity alone would be able to overwhelm you with it's superior numbers and technology."_

"Oh that's so sweet, you think I care!" Aria shouted as she sent a Warp at the Acolyte, who quickly evaded the attack. It quickly folded it's wings behind it's back as it dive bombed Aria. Aria jumped back as her opponent slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Screaming it's spine chilling cry, the Acolyte emerged from the cloud, swinging it's arms at Aria. Aria ducked a to avoid horizontal swipe and slid to the side to evade a vertical swipe from the other hand. Concentrating a ball of biotic energy around her right fist, Aria brought her hand up in a brutal uppercut to the Flood's "face". There was a nauseating squishing noise as the fist connected, sending the Acolyte several feet into the air. "That hurt you son of a bitch?"

"_I do not feel pain_." The Acolyte tone was calm, despite that a yellow liquid was dripping from the red tentacles that acting as a face. "_Pain, fear, anxiety and hatred, all of them are flaws that you lesser beings experience. They are what holds you back, pain cripples your bodies, fear causes you to abandon your cause, and pain clouds your judgement. We Flood are superior beings, possessing non of these flaws_."

"Goddess you love the sound of your own voice." Aria sent a Pull at the Acolyte who rose even higher to avoid it. Undaunted, Aria sent another Warp upward. This time it hit it's target, clipping the Acolyte's right wing. Hissing, the Acolyte spiraled downward, landing and sliding sloppily across the ground.

Aria did not hesitate as she gathering an aura around herself and used it to propelled herself across the room, kicking the dazed Acolyte squarely in the chest. There was an earsplitting crack and the Acolyte was sent flying across the room, hitting the wall with a deafening smash, leaving a nasty dent. Aria smiled in satisfaction as she spotted that three of the Acolyte's rips were sticking out of it's chest.

The Acolyte let out a snarl as it got to it's feet, bearing it's blades. It took a step forward before stopping in it's tracks, staring blankly into space. Aria raised her biotic aura again, waiting for him to make a move. "_I apologize master, she is a very formidable opponent."_

"What? Did I kick you so hard that you're talking to yourself now?" Aria taunted, a self-confident smirk on her face.

"_So confident and fill of energy, yet you understand so little_. _I am but a servant to the true leader of the Flood, merely a pawn to the king."_

"What the fuck are you yapping about?" Aria shouted.

She was about to send another Warp at Acolyte when an inhuman roar filled her mind. "_Most interesting, not many are able to hold their own against the Acolyte._"

Aria tensed as her hands clenched into fists. Whatever was making that noise, it wan't the Acolyte. Something else was here. "Who are you?" Aria shouted, her eyes darting from corner to corner. "Face me head on you coward!"

"_You inferior beings and your misplaced insults, you are like children who rage against their elders, confident that you are superior when you are hopelessly outclassed. You are nothing more than a small speck standing in the way of far greater doings, but I will humor you." _As the voice spoke the entire room began to rumble, as if a massive creature was moving underneath it.

The Acolyte stared at Aria, if it had been possible for it to do so, it would have been smirking. "_Your time has ended Asari, soon you will be part of us, part of the Flood. However, take pride that during the last moments of your pitiful life, the greatest being in the galaxy graced you with it's presence." _As it spoke, a dozen tree trunk thick tentacles forced their way through the ground, the metal bending out of their way as if they were plywood. The tentacles then anchored themselves to the walls and then tightened, as if they were pulling something something up. Sure enough, a massive form was pulled up through the ground, completely destroying the half of the floor of the room.

Aria had no idea what she was looking at. It was a massive shape of yellow flesh that vaguely resembled a Venus flytrap with tentacles protruded from the base. "_Now then, Aria L'toak," _said the Gravemind, "_You have reached the end of your path. The coffin has opened, waiting for it's occupant to enter." _

XXXXX

Author's Note: Three battles and three climax's in the making, the outcome of none of them clear. Marton makes contact with Cerberus, Ramos receives some confused information, and the Gravemind makes his appearance. A little shorter than usual, but it's mainly bridging and building.

Now, I would like to take a moment to talk about something not fanfiction related. For those of you who do not know, I am American and I would like to say this...WE GOT HIM WE GOT HIM WE GOT HIM WE FUCKING GOT HIM! Osama Bin Ladin is fucking dead! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!...sorry, I'm usually not this patriotic.

Well as always, tell me what you think.


	39. Reinforcement

Chapter 39

Reinforcement

Author's Note: I think I'm going to get Brink when it comes out on Tuesday, it looks like a really good game. Finally, a game where I can actually expect the team to work together (or hope) Anyway, I got this chapter up a little sooner than I usually do, so...enjoy.

"What's the status of the prowler?" Rutherforae asked. She was in a massive cargo bay that made up the belly of the _Eternal Salvation_. It was no ordinary cargo bay though, claws kilometers long lined the ceiling of the bay, all the way from one end to another. These claws helped serve the _Eternal Salvation_'s additional role, that of a mobile shipyard.

When the Marauders had defected from the Empire a decade ago, they had known that the Empire had massively superior reserves and resources to fight a war with. To counter this, Marton's very first act of war was to steal the Eternal Salvation, an Empire prototype designed to strip mine planets and build warships and other war supplies behind enemy lines. The Empire had been furious about the loss of the Salvation, for Tritus had spend five years building it to use as the flagship for the Empire fleet.

Since the Marauders had acquired the _Salvation_, the rebellion had escalated massively. With the Eternal Salvation, the Marauders were able to wage a full fledged guerrilla war against the Empire, never having to construct large and hide factories with the hope that the Empire would not locate and destroy them.

In many ways, the Marauders mimicked the Quarian Migrant Fleet in their war against the Empire. While they did build the occasional ground base and listening outpost, the Marauders mainly kept to their ships as bases of operations. The Marauder fleet had a total fleet of around 200 ships, and while it was enough to conquer one or more of the Council's member races, they would be massacred in a head on war against any major power.

The Marauders prefer to use an ancient Jiralhanae war strategy "the death of ten thousand strikes." In order to properly wage war, countless factors were required. Miners to collect ore, processing plants to refine that ore, factories to create weapons and other devices, farmers to grow food to feed armies, ships to deliver supplies, and most importantly, soldiers to fight the war itself.

"The death of ten thousand strikes" was a strategy that was easy to understand, but almost impossible to master. It involved waiting patiently for years, slowly tearing down the enemy's war machine bit by bit, piece by piece, until it was impossible for them to wage war. It was a painstakingly long method, but if used properly, it would result in maximum damage to to enemy and minimum losses to the users. That being said, the Empire was a massive power, and despite ten years of attacks, it had yet to falter in it's mission to conquer all others. The Marauders knew this, and were becoming desperate, hitter higher and higher priority targets, ones that they never would have risked attacking before because of the risk, the attack on the _Purgatory_ being a shining example. It scared Rutherforae that one day they would make a mistake, and everything that they had worked for would all be unraveled.

The Cerberus prowler was currently in one of the claws that hung within the belly of the Salvation, Rutherforae having decided that it would be in their best interest to salvage it. "It is in perfect condition," another Marauder said as they both stood within the control room of the prowler. "This is not surprising, no doubt this ship was used for reconnaissance and covert pick ups, not front line battle."

"Indeed. Have you made any progress in accessing their databanks? I am interested in learning what Cerberus is doing so far away from UNSC territory."

"Our best computer technicians are working on it, but progress is slow, the data is heavily encrypted. Who knows how long it will take to access it? We have, however, been unable to access the controls to this ship, it is at our disposal. Imagine what we can do with this vessel, with a ship that can not be detected."

"While it is true that we lack stealth technology of that caliber, it is not our primary concern."

"Yes of course, forgive me Commander," said the Marauder, bowing his head slightly.

"No harm has been done," Rutherforae said. "While Marton is attempting to deactivate the barriers of the derelict ship, we must do our best to decode the Cerberus data, they may have valuable information on the ship that can help us better understand it."

"Commander Rutherforae," said a voice over the Marauder Battle-Net.

"What is it?"

"You are needed on the bridge, several dozen ships have entered the system and are bearing down on us. Their designs do not match that of any species we have ever seen before and they are not responding to communications. It is odd, their ships appear more organic than technological, and they have a...hive like look to them."

"Raise shields, but do not begin to charge our weapons yet, I'm on my way." She turned to face the Marauder behind her. "Keep trying to decode the data," she said before jumping out of the prowler. As she landed on her feet she began to dash towards a lift on the edge of the room, the doors closing behind her as she entered. Rutherforae winced slightly as the elevator suddenly took off for the bridge, move at a rapid velocity.

"What is the situation?" she asked as the lift opened onto the bridge which was being operated by two dozen Marauders.

"There are eighty ships, they seem to range from frigate to destroyer to cruiser class, with a dreadnought at the front. There are a multitude are life signs on board all of the ships, I estimate 500,000 of these aliens are currently present. Odd, that is more than is required to crew ships of those sizes. It is interesting, I am not picking up kinetic barriers, they are using energy shielding. Also they did not use mass effect FTL drives, they entered the system via slipspace ruptures."

Rutherforae frowned. All of this ships on the view screen did not look that they had come off of an assembly line, they looked more like crude masses of flesh with pieces of machinery stuck on at various points. "Is possible that they use organic technology?" she asked, looking at the technician that had spoke to her.

"The use of technology from life is a theory that is considered unlikely, but not impossible."

Rutherforae nodded. "Open a channel with them again, tell them that we have no intention of fighting with-" Rutherforae was cut off as the front most ships glowing brightly and fired beams of bright light at the Eternal Salvation.

"Direct hit to forward shields, holding at 92.47%!" the technician reported. "The aliens used particle accelerators for weapons. Commander, it would appear that they are looking for a fight."

"We don't need this," Rutherforae hissed. "Charge forward plasma banks and pulse lasers, bombard their front ranks and shatter them. Contact Marton and tell him to hurry, I am not sure if even the _Salvation_ can last out against this many ships."

"Charging weapons, the enemy ships are doing the same, and also deploying several projectiles. I am picking up multiple life signs on each of them, they appear to be boarding pods."

"What? But that doesn't make any sense, our shields are still up."

"They are heading...Commander they are heading for the derelict ship. But you are still correct, the ships kinetic barriers will still stop them the way our shields would if they..." the technician's voice trailed off as he looked at his console. "How is that possible?" he whispered.

"What is it?" Rutherforae asked, anxiety present in her voice.

"Small sections of the kinetic barriers are dropping to allow to pods through before closing again. Either...either these aliens know how to control that ship, or some mechanism is allow them access."

"Marton," Rutherforae whispered, her eyes widening.

XXXXX

Rason listened silently to the Chemical Corps operative in front of him as he loaded fragmentation grenades into his six barreled, wrist mounded grenade launcher. The operative wore the same blue armor as Rason, as well as his own gas mask. "Their force numbers at around 100 operatives, they have made their way through our perimeter defenses and the Krogan you ordered to the entrance. They have regrouped and are now advancing again. It is only a matter of time before they reach the tram that will bring them here, the Krogan we left to guard central station are being massacred. They are all wearing breathing equipment from traveling through the harsh storms of Noveria, our chemical weapons will be useless against them."

"Contact all other Chemical Corps operatives, tell them to fall back from their current position and tell them to regroup on me. While the Alliance is busy dealing with the Krogan we have with us, we will launch a counterattack and devastate their force."

"Understood," the operative said as he began to relay the orders across the Battle-Net.

"What exactly do you plan on doing," Benezia asked as she entered the room, approaching Rason as he loaded the last grenade into his launcher.

"Are you that ignorant? We are under attack; I plan to drive our foes off." He turned to face the operative, "How long until Empire reinforcements respond to our distress signal?"

"Approximately two hours Commander, the fleet that was hiding in the adjacent system is already on it's way."

"Then we have to hold out until then, once we eliminate this strike force the Alliance will just send another, and another after that. Their fleet will no doubt hold position above the planet as long as they can, and this blizzard is not due to stop for another five days. We are stuck here unless you feel confident in escaping through the valley with a hostile fleet above us and with no ship to evacuate us."

Benezia grimaced. It was true, their main defense against the Alliance on Noveria had been stealth, and part of that stealth had been that all Coalition forces and equipment had been covertly dropped off by ships that had stayed no longer than an hour or two. "If you wish to truly drive them off, would it not be for the best if you were to remain here and give you orders the way any sensible commander would."

Rason snorted. "Ah yes, I forgot. The Council shares the UNSC's method of command, in other words the give their orders and watch from a safe distance as their soldiers march off to their deaths. It seems that the RSN is the only other power that has it's officers fight alongside their subordinates. I don't know what your reasoning was when your were a part of the Republics, but Jiralhanae aren't so incompetent, we fight along our warriors."

"Yes, posing the chance that you might be killed and completely destabilize the chain of command," Benezia said dryly. "Your logic is drowned by your pride and primal instinct."

"Unless you plan on actually doing something productive, I have work to do, my warriors will be here within five minutes," Rason said as he began to walk towards the exit.

"You only have fifty Chemical Corps operatives; you're outnumbered two to one."

"You underestimate the specialists of the Empire, we were formed and trained specifically for conquering the galaxy, and we were trained to do it decades ago, long before we ever made contact with Saren and the rest of your allies."

"Perhaps you underestimate your old rival. The RSN is not to be underestimated and may very well be too much for you to handle alone…take my commandos."

"I beg your pardon?" Rason asked, turning to look at Benezia, his confused expression hidden by his mask.

"I have thirty Asari commandos with me on this planet, take twenty of them with you to deal with the Alliance forces. I will remain here with the other ten and safeguard the Rachni." As she spoke, she gestured towards the gigantic glass tank in the center of the room. Inside lay a massive insectoid creature, gazing weakly out of it's prison, heavily sedated. A Rachni Queen.

For what seemed like an eternity, Rason and Benezia stared at each other. "You had better hurry," Benezia said as she turned and began to walk away.

"Thank you." Benezia's head whipped around to look at Rason, as if confirming that he had truly been the one that had spoken. "I ask one thing though," Rason continued, gesturing at the entrance to the infirmary, "Keep an eye on my patient. He is due to wake up soon, but until then he his completely helpless and vulnerable. Be careful, he bites." There was a strange flicker in the Matriarch's eyes, as if something was going on her mind. When she did not say anything, Rason turned and left the room, gesturing for the Chemical Corps operative to follow him.

XXXXX

"What are these creatures?" Marton bellowed as he fired his screecher, reducing three Husks to masses of flesh and metal.

"Who cares? There's a lot of them and they're easy targets!" Wrex shouted with glee as he gunned down two Husks before throwing a Warp at a third.

"They used to be my men!" Miranda shouted as she shot one of the cyborgs in the face. "I don't know what happened, they started acting odd about three days in, then they started attaching themselves to gigantic spikes they found in this ship. When we figured out what was going on, three quarters of us had already become…whatever the Hell these things are!"

"So they're Cerberus," Jack snarled as she used a Warp to blow a Husk's upper torso off. "Thanks for telling me that, now I have an extra reason to kill them."

Marton and the others had spent the last fifteen minutes fighting their way through swarm after swarm of Husks, he estimated that they had killed at least a hundred. He gritted his teeth as he fired the last shot on his screecher before holstering it and drawing one of his pistols. "That seems to be the last of them for now," he muttered as he slowly continued forward, the others behind him. "Now that we have a minute, what are you doing here?" he asked, looking at Miranda.

"I don't see how that's any of your business," she snapped.

"Unless you fucking flunked basic math cheerleader," Jack swore, "you should know that there's three of us, and one of you, and I'm not sure we really need you to get out of here."

"Are you sure you want to take that risk?" Miranda snarled, pointing her SMG at Jack..

"Oh I would fucking love to," Jack said, mirroring Miranda's moves.

"Will you two cease this foolishness!" Marton bellowed. "I really cannot comprehend this, we are trapped in the belly of an unknown starship with hundreds of unknown creatures that want to kill us, and you two still take part in these petty arguments. Let me make one thing very clear, if either of you start a fight, I will end it." To emphasize his point, Marton drew his machete with his free hand, the blade glinting even in the dim light. "Do I make myself clear?" Miranda and Jack continued to point their weapons at each other. "DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!" Marton roared, tightening his grip on his machete and bringing his pistol up to eye level.

"Fine," Jack said, lowering her SMG. "But remember this cheerleader, this monkey won't be around to protect you forever."

"Likewise," Miranda shot back.

'Remain calm Marton, remain calm," Marton mentally chided himself. 'If you act on your anger, you will regret it.'

"Marton!" Rutherforae shouted across the Battle-Net. "Come in!"

"What is it?" he asked, grateful to have someone else to talk to. This did not last long.

"Marton, we don't know why, but several dozen unidentified ships have entered the system and opened fire on us."

"What? What are their allegiance? Coalition? Alliance?"

"I don't know, they're a species that we've never seen before. We're returning fire, but there are eighty ships attacking us and they might be able to overwhelm us. I need you to deactivate those kinetic barriers so that you can return to the Salvation and we an evacuate. Also, alien boarding pods have been deployed to the hanger bay, I don't know how but they were able to bypass the kinetic barriers, they're heading in your direction as we speak!"

"Keep the _Salvation_ intact, we're on our way."

"Great, this is exactly what we need," Jack said dryly. "More people trying to kill us. You know sticking along with you guys is probably the biggest mistake I've ever made, and I've made some pretty fucking big-"

"Yes yes, you can whine about your life later," Wrex said as he raised his assault rifle. "We've got company." Sure enough, from the very passage the Marton and the others had just come through, five figures emerged, being carrying by wings under their backs. They were roughly six feet tall insectoids with rust colored skin and four sickly yellow eyes. All of them carried rifles that looked more like extensions of their body than equipment.

"Collectors?" Miranda said as she ducked behind a pillar, barely avoiding the volley of fire that the Collectors sent at them as they landed, their wings tucking behind their back. "What are they doing here?

"What did you call them?" Wrex said as he crouched behind a waist high wall.

"Later! Right now we must deal with them!" Marton shouted as he slid behind a stack of Cerberus crates, Jack following him. The five Collectors spread out as they slowly moved forward, their eyes fixed mechanically ahead.

Then, without warning the middle most Collector began to glow brightly. Veins of yellow energy appeared all over it's body as the Collector doubled over, as if in pain. The Collector then threw it's head back and a bright flash shone from it's chest. As the light shone, a deep ominous mind spoke, not with words, but with thoughts. "**ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.**"

Author's Note: Oh god, I haven't even posted this yet and I can already hear the fanboys/girls hyperventilating as they compose "101 ways you fucked up" I can already hear them saying "THE COLLECTORS DIDN'T HAVE THAT MANY SHIPS!" and "WHY AREN'T THE RACHNI LOOSE?" and "COLLECTORS USE MASS EFFECT TECH NOT HALO TECH" and the classic that is used in everything, and I mean FUCKING EVERYTHING "THIS IS DIFFERENT, DIFFERENT BAD, ME NO LIKE DIFFERENT, WHY ISN'T THIS EXACTLY THE SAME AS SOMETHING ELSE I ALREADY SAW! WHY DID THEY CHANGE THIS, WHY ISN'T THIS NEW PRODUCT EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE OLD ONE?" Oh God.

Let me get something out there, I welcome criticism, it allows me to grow as an author. For example, Robo Reader21 commented that my confession scene between Tali and Taylor was laughable, so I went back a rewrote it, and I'm pretty happy with the new result (So is Robo) check it out, I think you'll like it, it's at the end of chapter 27 if you forgot. But if you comment on something that is along the terms of I changed something, or didn't include something from the expanded universe...don't be surprised if you're ignored.

I am a casual fan who is doing this as an enjoyable pastime (I can already hear a lynch mob because of that little fact) I'm not one of those people who reads every last novel about the expanded universe, knows how every last thing works and has memorized the name of every single character in the work, my knowledge is simply limited to the games and what I find on the Halo and ME wikis. Same goes for the games, I don't play "The correct way" I don't know where every last power weapon spawn is, I haven't memorized every last spawn point, I don't feel compelled to max out my rank for no fucking logical reason, and I don't spend my time on Xbox live complaining about how Halo 3 is so much better than Reach, despite the fact that said person IS PLAYING REACH AND IS A FUCKING FORERUNNER! If you message me about that, I'll probably think that you're a nerd that is about to have a heart attack because I forgot a detail that is causing your world to fall apart. As for things being changed...this is a fucking crossover, what did you expect? And for the love of god, don't send me a list of augmentations for the Spartans, or equations of how a MAC works, it's really starting to get on my nerves.

...sorry, I was leveling a massive fuck you at the Fan Dumb of mass effect and Halo, most of my readers couldn't be farther away from that (Notice I said MOST, some of you can be really obnoxious)

Well as always tell me what you think.


	40. Forces Clash

Chapter 40

Forces Clash

Author's Note: Yeah, I got Brink the other day. I'll come clean and admit, yes it has it's problems, but then again so does every other game on the market and, to be frank, I'm happy with it, I think that it was a worthwhile purchase. Quick heads up though, if you want to give your guy tattoos, don't do it light heartily because they are permanent...don't ask I don't know. Besides is a Bethesda game, they all start out rocky, then they get patched and then they're amazing. I would recommend it, solid 8.5. But just to be on the safe side, you may want to rent it first, it may not be right for you.

"Was it truly necessary to divide our forces as we have done Fieldmaster?" Viluse asked. A dozen Sangheili and half a dozen Salarians were crammed into a tram traveling towards the Hot Labs. All of them looked extremely uncomfortable at the close space, having been nearly squashed against each other for the last five minutes.

"I understand your concern Viluse, but had we forced any more operatives into this tram, we would have overexerted the safety limits, and it is the only way to the enemy's main control center. Besides, I highly doubt that we could have fitted anyone else in."

"Your hypothesis is most likely accurate," Mordin said. "Total free space has nearly been completely used. Additional mass of another operative would have been greater than what little remains."

Ramos nodded as he looked out of the window to the tram. Another tram was traveling along side their's, filled to the brim as well. "Once we disembark, the trams will be sent back so that the others can reach our position."

Viluse nodded as the trams slid to a halt and the doors opened. The two dozen Sangheili and the dozen Salarians filed out and the trams began to move back towards the main station. "Now then," Ramos said, "I want three layers as we move forward. All rangers and non-Spec Op Sangheili are to make up the front line and engage the enemy head on. STG operatives will make up the second line, and while the rangers deal with any hostiles we may meet, they will break off and flank them. Professor Solus I trust that you and your men can handle this task?"

"Chance of our failure...is most low."

"Excellent news, but nonetheless I would prefer to have some insurance. Spec Ops will make up the last layer, and they will use their activate camouflage to act as a "second strike". While the Salarians are flanking the enemy, all Spec Ops operatives will use the element of surprise to turn the tide should the enemy be able to counter them. Iasa, you will be in command of the third layer, now is the time to prove that you earned you recent promotion to Spec Op Officer."

Iasa nodded as she slid her beam her beam rifle onto her back, drawing a pair of plasma rifles. "Let us make haste," Ramos said as he and the rest of the Alliance forces exited the docking station. Gracefully, they slid into position, Ramos taking the lead, Mordin the middle and Iasa the rear.

As they left the docking station the Alliance forces passed a series of research stations. They were stacked to the brim with equipment, terminals, scanners, datapads and other tools, but there were empty. "Strange," Iasa said as she traced one of her fingers across a terminal as she passed, collecting dust as she did. "These stations look as if they have not been used in weeks."

"Perhaps what they are doing cannot be accomplished with normal equipment," Demas suggested.

"Most probable, if objective could be accomplish with standard equipment, why go to trouble of establishing foothold on Noveria?" Mordin interjected.

"He is right, though I shudder to think what they could possibly be doing that they would need special equipment for," Viluse added.

"Whatever it is we will stop it, destroy it if we must. We need to keep moving if we-TAKE COVER!" Ramos shouted. As he did, a volley of grenades soared through the air, slamming into the fronts of three Sangheili, killing them. Almost as quickly as they had filled together, the Alliance forces parted, taking cover among the research tables, data stacks and terminals. Despite the fact that they had broken rank, the front line still remained firmly ahead of the Salarians, who in turn remained in front of the Spec Op operatives.

Undaunted by the ambush, the Alliance forces leaned over and out of cover and returned fire at the Coalition forces. As Iasa pulled the triggers on both of her plasma rifles, she got a clear look at the size of the enemy force. Jiralhanae wearing silvery armor and gas masks were opening fire on them with wrist mounted grenade launchers, while lurking behind cover. Iasa concentrated her fire on one of the front most Jiralhanae and was able to bring him down.

She was about to turn and find a fresh target, when she saw a purple light out of the corner of her eye. Instantly, Iasa ducked back down into cover as a Warp flew over her head. Iasa grimaced as her plasma rifles cooled in her hands. She had gotten a brief glimpse at the Coalition soldier that had nearly taken her head off, an Asari Commando that had attacked while hiding within the ranks of the Jiralhanae.

Iasa pressed her hand to her COM unit and spoke into the Battle-Net. "STG, flank them to the right, Spec Ops cloak and follow."

XXXXX

"What sort of vile demons are these!" Marton shouted as he emptied his pistol, killing one of the Collectors.

"Talk later!" Wrex shouted as he sent a Warp at another Collector, taking it's head off. Marton ducked back into cover as a barrage of shots came from the Collectors, the glowing one adding a strange ball of yellow and black energy to the assault. The ball curved around Marton's cover and hit him head on, draining his shields.

"**Jiralhanae**," the voice said again. "**Viable possibility** **Large numbers, sturdy biology, keen senses, ability to adapt to harsh situations. Human, viable possibility. Large numbers, high expansion rate, high biotic potential. Krogan. Sterilized, potential wasted."**

"The fuck is he yammering on about!" Jack shouted as she flung a warp at the glowing Collector, hitting it head on. The Collector's barrier stood as it turned to face Jack and sent the same orb at her that it had sent at Marton. Jack barely threw herself out of the way of the orb as it slammed into the wall behind her, leaving a massive hole.

Sliding a fresh clip into his pistol, Marton leaned out of cover and opened fire. The .50 caliber bullets slamming into the barrier of the Collector and drained them as one of the bullets penetrated it's skull. Almost instantly, the Collector disintegrated, simply disintegrated into a cloud of dust. Marton was taken aback by how his foe had simply vanished.

The remaining two Collectors continued to fire their rifles, but the combined fire from their foes quickly overwhelmed them and they fell to their bullets. "More will follow!" Marton shouted, springing out of cover. "We cannot afford to tarry, MOVE!" The four of them ran through the corridors of the ship, heading deeper and deeper into the depths of the ship.

"All right bitch spill it," Jack swore, looking at Miranda as they sprinted through a room that was filled with abandoned Cerberus equipment. "What the fuck where those things?"

"We don't have time for this!" Miranda snapped. "Did those experiments rattle your brain? We're running for our lives right now."'

"Then make it quick," Jack hissed.

Miranda wanted nothing more than to tell Jack where she could shove her attitude, or even better, hit her with a good Warp. But remembering Marton's promise, she decided against it. "They're a race of aliens that live somewhere beyond the Omega 4 Relay. They rarely ever come out from beyond it, and even when they do they stay low, trying not to attract attention."

"We know practically nothing about them, they haven't made contact with any of the major powers and no ship that has ever traveled through the Omega Relay has ever returned. All we do know is that they posses significantly advanced technology, even more advanced than we thought if they're using energy shielding and slipspace drives, and they deal people. Specifically they trade their technology for aliens with very specific genetic conditions, twelve left handed Turians, eight nearsighted Batarians or twenty four identical Asari twins. Now should I keep going for should I just stop and write a book for you?" she asked scathingly.

Jack snarled at Miranda, but did not say anything. "If the Collectors are normally subtle, then why did they deploy an entire armada?" Marton asked. "And why here of all places."

"My guess is the war has got them stirred up. Maybe they're trying to make a grab for power, maybe they're trying to secure their position, or maybe they're just interested in this ship like the rest of us where, I don't know." Miranda sounded increasingly agitated as she continued to speak. "Look I would love to just sit around and play twenty questions, but your sense timing couldn't be any worse."

"Touchy," Wrex muttered, but only so that Marton could hear him. He looked rather amused at the whole ordeal that was playing out before his eyes.

As they continued to run, a series of shots rang out. Marton threw himself into cover to avoid the blast from the Collector's particle accelerators, the others doing the same. Turning around he saw that three more Collectors had caught up to them, and were landing, their wings folding behind their back. No sooner had they done so, than the middle most one began to glow brightly as it floated up into the air, thrashing wildly. "**ASSUMING DIRECT CONT-"** the voice was cut out as a deafening bang rang out and the Collector's head exploded, the rest of it's body turning to dust within seconds. There was a second bang and another Collector's head exploded, a third one following with the remaining Collector sharing the same fate as it's comrades.

Marton blinked as he looked at the corpses in front of him. He then wheeled around, looking for the source of the shots that had killed the Collectors. "The fuck was that?" Jack asked, who was staring around wildly.

"What makes you think that I know?" Miranda snapped.

Marton frowned as he continued to look, not yielding any results. "They came from behind us," Marton whispered. "And since we're still alive, whoever it was must be friendly. But why don't they show themselves?" he wondered as he reached for him COM unit.

"Scout out the area behind us," he whispered to his spider drone, "find whatever killed the Collectors." Marton, through his cybernetic eye, watched as the drone scuttled across the ceiling, heading in the direction of the shots. As it went further back, it entered an area where the metal of the ship had begun to rust, and a gigantic hole in the hull was present, pressurized by the ship's mass effect field. Marton could not help but wonder what had made that damage, and for the umpteenth time wondered about the history behind this ship.

Then the drone came to a halt, staring at something directly below it. It was a Geth clutching an anti-material rifle that was cooling, perched on top of a large pile of rusty crates. As if it could sense it's presence, the Geth looked up at the spider drone, but kept it's rifle level. For ten seconds, ten agonizingly long seconds, the drone, and by extension Marton, stared at the Geth, which soundlessly stared back. And then it spoke. "Marton Commander."

XXXXX

Aria grit her teeth as she used a biotic charge to propel herself upwards, narrowly escaping the Gravemind's tentacles as they swiped through the air. She landed neatly on a set of catwalks and flung a Warp back at the Gravemind, hitting it's center mass, and while she tore away a fistful of flesh, the Gravemind did not react to it. Aria snarled as she saw that the Acolyte had dug it's blades into the wall below Aria and was slowly beginning to climb up.

"That's it," Aria muttered as she threw a ball of biotic energy which exploded into a Singularity, which picked up all sorts of debris as it began to spin. The Acolyte's ascent was slowed as it slashed at the hunks of metal that were caught in the vortex, careful not to let any of them get to close. While her foe was distracted, Aria sent another Warp at it and caught it straight in the back, tearing one of it's folded wings off.

It might has well have been a gust of wind, for the Acolyte did not slow in it's climb. "Persistent son of a bitch," Aria swore as she threw another Warp at the Acolyte. This time, the Acolyte was ready. Tucking it's legs into it's stomach, the Acolyte kicked the wall, propelling itself outward and avoiding the Warp. As it fell, the Acolyte unfolded it's remaining wing, using it to slow it's fall. "Got you now," Aria whispered as she prepared a third Warp.

But before she could prepare it, one of the Gravemind's tentacles swung upwards and tore through the catwalk, completely destroying it. "Oh fuck!" Aria swore as the metal underneath her feet gave way. Not giving up Aria gathered energy around her fist and slammed it into a tentacle that the Gravemind had swung at her in mid-fall, burying her fist into it. Wrapping around it with her free arm, Aria pulled her fist out and fired another Warp at the Gravemind's center mass, tearing out another chunk of flesh.

Losing patience, the Gravemind violently flicked it's tentacle, causing Aria to lose her grip and send her flying. She hit the ground with a sicking crack, both of her legs had been broken. Aria panted as she lay face down on the ground, gritting her teeth with anger. Gingerly, she attempted to get to her feet, only to let out a cry of pain as something sharp pierced her back. The Acolyte had descended upon her, landing on her back and stabbing her, over and over and over again. Aria let out a violent cough and a gob of blood flew out as the Acolyte continued to tear away at her, her breaths becoming more and more shallow.

For five minutes, the Acolyte mercilessly stabbed the Asari trapped beneath his feet with cold indifference, continuing even after her spasms of pain had ceased. Finally, it's hands stained with dark blue blood, the Acolyte ceased his attack, slowly stepping off of Aria's corpse. "_She was deadly_," it said simply, speaking to the Gravemind. "_Had you not arrived, victory for her might have been possible."_

"_Even if a Queen is defeated, it merely takes a pawn to replace the lost, and there are countless pawns under my command. Even if your vessel of flesh is destroyed, you consciousness remains an eternal part of the Flood, as does mine. Once fresh vessels are constructed, we are reborn, as if we had never left this world."_

"_I understand that," _the Acolyte said. "_I am merely impressed. Since I have awakened, I have defeated all that I have faced with ease. She was the only one who has posed any kind of threat to me since then_."

"_You speak of her as I spoke of the Demon."_

If it had a face, the Acolyte would be scowling. He shared a collective consciousness with the rest of the Flood, the Gravemind included. Whatever they knew, he knew. The Acolyte's thoughts turned sour as it thought of the creature that had freed the galaxy of the Flood for nearly a century. "_It matters not, the Demon has perished. I highly doubt that it could have survived the ring."_

"_Pray that you are right," _the Gravemind said, almost scornfully. _"Should he, or any others like him still exist in this world, then our very existence is threatened."_

"_I understand master," _the Acolyte said as it shoved it's ribs back into place. Flood healed much faster than any known species, the Acolyte's ribs would heal in little more than a week.

For several minutes, the Acolyte and the Gravemind remained where they were, using their mental connection to the rest of the Flood to sense the Flood all over Omega. The Flood had used Omega's ventilation system to spread spores throughout the entire station, already massive growths were appearing in areas where all hostiles had been eliminated, bearing Infection Forms and Pure Forms. Elsewhere, the Flood where dealing with pockets of resistance, long ago having killed and infected all of the civilians of Omega with ease, and had then proceeded to overwhelm all those who bore arms against them with ease.

But the part that truly made the Acolyte and the Gravemind satisfied was that there was no one coming to stop them. Omega was lawless, it held allegiance to no government. Once it became apparent that contact with Omega had been lost, there would be no panic, there would be no fleet sent to investigate, there was be no army of soldiers sent to wipe out the Flood. The Flood held all of the docks on Omega, so any chances of escape were just as unlikely, as was bringing back help.

Admittedly, the mercenary groups that had men on the station might send ships to investigate the lack of activity, but they would pose no threat. Their ships would be destroy and their bodies would become food that the Flood would use to expand and become even stronger. At some point the powers of the galaxy might learn exactly how severe the situation was, but they were so deeply engrossed in their own war that the Flood were confident that that would not happen for a long time.

While eager to make it's return, the Gravemind would be patient. It would remain on Omega, breeding, multiplying building up it's forces. But when the time came, the galaxy would quake in fear as the Flood made their return.

Author's Note: Yes, I killed off Aria, just listen to this before you flame me. I had planned to kill her off since I had the Flood land on Omega, but because so many people requested that she live I honestly thought about it. I almost decided to let her off when I realized that I **couldn't. **I want the Flood to get their numbers up and if the Alliance was to find out about them, they would destroy Omega and the Flood. If Aria lived, she would either not tell the Alliance like an idiot, or tell the Alliance and completely destroy a subplot I was working on. So you see my predicament, I couldn't have Aria tell the Alliance, so I had two choices, let her live and be a dumb ass, or let her die like a badass. I personally think she had a respectable death, holding her own against a Flood that tore a Jiralhanae in half like it was nothing.

Ok flame away.


	41. Rearming

Chapter 41

Rearming

Author's Note: I'm starting to realize the Noveria is starting to drag out, and I kind of want to get it over with. Seriously, after Noveria, I have a plot arc planned that will BLOW YOUR MIND...hopefully. Just so you know, if you guess you will get it wrong, but if you want to take a shot, feel free. Who knows? Maybe one of your will actually come close. So yeah, I'll do my best to wrap up Noveria in a quick yet satisfying manner.

"150,000 credits, no more."

"It's worth 250,000, 'gasp' 205,000 and not one credit less."

Liara bit her lip as the Volus she was haggling with in the lower wards of the Citadel stared at her adamantly. "175,000," she said.

The Volus stared at her, clearly going over it in his mind. He inhaled deeply. "Very well Thessia-clan, you are rather 'gasp' stubborn and I doubt that I will get 'gasp' a better deal. 175,000 it is." Liara resisted the urge to smile as she swiped her credit chit through the Volus' kiosk. He happiness briefly faltered as she saw the amount of credits in her account drop radically, but shook those thoughts off as the Volus placed her purchase on the counter he was standing behind.

"Out of 'gasp' curiosity Thessia-clan, do you 'gasp' plan on using these for the war? You would not believe 'gasp' how well business is going because of it."

Liara fought back a frown as she scooped up her merchandise. "Something like that. Thank you." Liara turned and began to walk away, eager to get away from the Volus. Spotting a bathroom, Liara ducked inside and slid into a stall, closing the door and locking it. Laying down her merchandise, she slowly began to get undressed. She threw her scientist clothes to the ground, leaving her only in her underwear as she unpacked the box she had just bought.

Inside was a set of bright white armor with blue streaks decorating it. Rather hesitantly, Liara began to put the armor on, feeling rather odd as she did so. The armor emitted rather strong kinetic barriers, which Liara intended to layer with her biotic barriers for extra protection. It was also composed of sturdy material and alloys, which would allow Liara to take a few shots before the armor would cease to protect her.

As she finished attaching the last plate Liara looked into the box at the other thing that she had bought. Reaching in, she drew out a Turian military grade pistol. Liara slowly examined the pistol, checking the heat level, the clip and the safety. Her old pistol had been a rather cheap one and had a hard time punching through hostile shields, this pistol would be much more effective. Letting out a sigh, Liara holstered her pistol and stuffed her clothes into the box and picked it up, walking out.

Liara turned the bend and found herself coming to a screeching halt to avoid crashing into a woman who was standing on the other side. "Oh Jesus sorry, I didn't see you there," the woman apologized in a thick accent.

Liara could have sworn that she knew that voice. "It's all right, I didn't see you either."

The woman laughed, "That happens sometimes doesn't it?"

As the woman continued to laugh, Liara eyes widened. She realized who the woman was. "Re-Rebecca?" The Russian looked at her with a smile on her face and there was no mistaking it, it was Rebecca Frost alright. 'But-but her hair,' Liara thought. She had not seen Rebecca the last couple of days, having been doing a nonstop hunt through the wards to find appropriate equipment that she could afford.

In reality Rebecca didn't look that different from when Liara had last seen her, with one major exception. Her hair. Rebecca's hair had completely transformed from when Liara had last seen it. It was now a bright silver that seemed to glow with it' ths own light, all traces of red expunged from it. Rebecca had taken to letting her hair down since she had lost her headband, and Liara could not help but feel that it seemed to gracefully flow downward, much like a waterfall.

Noticing that Liara was staring at it, she brushed her hair self-consciously, her face reddening. "I know," she whispered, "I came down here hoping that I could find some dye. Hell, I don't even care if I can't find any red dye, I'm willing to go blonde or brunette, I just want to get rid of this ugly stuff."

"It's not ugly," Liara said in a silent voice.

"What?" Rebecca asked, looking unsure if she had just heard Liara correctly.

"You look nice with your hair silver." Rebecca looked slightly flustered as Liara spoke, rubbing the back of her neck in discomfort. "I mean it you know," she continued, worried that Rebecca might think that she was just saying these things to make her feel better, "you should give it a chance."

A small smile covered Rebecca's face. "Ok," she said silently, "I'll give it a shot. So what's up with that armor? Where did you get that?" she asked, her voice leveling out.

"Oh this?" Liara said, gesturing at her armor. "I just bought this, the _Normandy'_s shipping out again tomorrow and I wanted to be ready. My barriers don't always cut it so I decided to get some proper combat equipment."

"I know what you mean," Rebecca said, gesturing to a grenade launcher that was crossed with her shotgun on her back and a bandolier around her waist. "Picked that out of the _Normandy_'s armory. Pump action, carries four shots, grenades are impact sensitive with an EMP charge. Completely disables enemy vehicles and downs shields."

Liara smiled as she looked at Rebecca. "So do you have any idea where the _Normandy_ is heading to next?"

Rebecca paused, clearly thinking. "I think it was some planet called Haven, it's a UNSC inner colony that's been around since before the Human-Covenant war. Because of the UNSC's being reshaped due to the loss of planets though, it's dangerously close to the edge of the border. There's well over a hundred ships guarding that planet, they'll probably want the Normandy to run reconnaissance runs to see if the Coalition is up to anything. Anyway, we're leaving in a couple of hours, we might as well get on board now."

Liara and Rebecca both began to walk towards the docks of the Citadel, heading for the _Normandy_. "By the way that armor looks good on you."

XXXXX

Rason squeezed on the pressure trigger in the center of his palm, sending three grenades at one of the frontmost Sangheili that he and his warriors were fighting, sending it's body flying through the air. Almost as soon has he had fired, a burst of fuel rod blasts sailed from Ramos' cannon, forcing Rason to put his head down. The blasts arced over him and exploded behind him, killing five Chemical Corps operatives and three Asari Commandos.

"Hold your positions!" Rason roared over the noise of various weapons being fired. "We can not allow them to advance any further!" Out of the corner of his eye, Rason saw that the Salarians were slowly inching towards their left while the Sangheili kept applied suppressing fire. "Left flank!" Rason shouted, firing the last of his grenades at the Salarians, who ceased their advance as they dove for cover as the rest of Rason forces fired on them.

"Operatives keep them down! Commandos keep the Sangheili back!" he shouted as he slid fresh grenades into his launcher. "Keep your fire up!" As Rason fired his grenade launcher at the Salarians again, he spotted a slight shimmer in front of the Salarians. Before he could even open his mouth, the Spec Ops team had de-cloaked and opened fire. They did not hesitate to take advantage of the element of surprise, and within seconds, a dozen Jiralhanae and five Asari had fallen to their weapons.

"Take them down!" Rason shouted as he fired the two grenades that he had yet to use, taking down the shields of one of the Spec Ops. One of the Asari Commandos threw a Warp at the same Sangheili, taking his head clean off as the rest of the Coalition forces fired on them, killing two more of them. The Spec Ops quickly slid back into cover, firing potshots as they did.

Rason snarled as the Sangheili ducked behind the equipment that lined the room. While they had been driven back, they had already done the damage that they had intended. A half of Rason's forces were now dead, while the Spec Ops had escaped with rather low casualties. "Rason!" a voice shouted over the Jiralhanae Battle-Net, belonging to one of the twenty operatives Rason had left in reserve in case his first defense failed. "The trams holding enemy reinforcements will arrive at your position in no less than three minutes."

Rason cursed under his breath. If the Alliance was to receive reinforcements and continued to drive into his weakened ranks, there would be little chance of him holding out. "Fall back!" he shouted, "Fall back to the rally point!" The Supreme Commander drew his spiker and lay down covering fire as the others began to retreat deeper into the Hot Labs. Rason ejected his spent clip and loaded a fresh one as he too began to slip away.

The Sangheili made to follow him but were interrupted by Ramos. "Remain where you are, they will no doubt have more choke points and reserves waiting for us. It would be wise for us to wait for reinforcements first."

"Fieldmaster," Viluse interjected, "With all due respect, their lines are shattered, they are scurrying for their lives. If we were to press one we would be able to wipe these disgraces from existence. If we were to wait they would have a chance to regroup and possibly launch a counterattack."

"Viluse, I understand your reasoning, but the Coalition has had weeks and possibly months to fortify this facility. There could be hundreds of warriors lurking within the depths of this lab, all waiting to ambush us. I do believe that waiting a matter of minutes for reinforcements will make little difference in the end. It may be for the best that we not wait for just the current tram passengers, but also-" Ramos was cut off as hit COM unit began to beep.

"Ramos!" Isonia shouted, "Make haste, a Coalition fleet has entered the system, we will engage them in five minutes. No doubt they will deploy forces to assist their ground team. I suggest that you discover what they are plotting down there and put a stop to it before and entire army obliterates you."

"Understood," Rason said as he turned to face Viluse. "It appears that I will have to compromise with you suggestion Viluse. As soon as the trams arrive with their current passengers, we will depart, but not until then. Coalition reinforcements have arrive and we must achieve victory here before they can reinforce this position. If they do, the Jiralhanae we be free to continue whatever it is that they have been plotting down here, and for all we know, this could lead to the deaths of millions upon millions of warriors and civilians alike."

As Rason spoke, there was a clanging noise as the trams docking in the station behind them. Iasa's face was set in a grimace. "We will stand by you every step of the way Fieldmaster."

XXXXX

"What do you mean it was a Geth?" Miranda asked as she followed Marton deeper into the depths of the inactive ship.

"I meant what I said," he snapped, his patience running thin. "The Collectors were killed by a Geth, one with an anti-tank rifle at that. He's heading deeper into the ship now, I'm tracking him."

It was true, through the eyes of his spider drone, Marton was watching the Geth heading through the ship, heading towards the generators. As the Geth passed through a doorway, it tripped some sort of security system and a set of thick metal doors slid shut, locking the drone out.

"Damn it," Marton swore, "I'm cut off, the last place I saw it was five minutes away from here."

"So let's get going," Jack said scornfully, "If we're going to smash that thing we may as well do it today."

"No." Jacked glanced at Marton, exasperation in her face. "Only fire on it if it poses a threat."

"Why the fuck should we?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Miranda said scathingly. "Why didn't it kill us? It had a damn good chance just now, instead of just staring at the Brute's little drone he could have been taking our heads off. There's something odd about this Geth, and it would be for the best if we were to figure out what."

"You two can talk about this later, we've got guests," Wrex growled. Sure enough a dozen Husks were making their way towards them, staggering out of dark crevices where they had been resting. But there were three at the head of the mob that were different. They were a blood red instead of the pale blue that defined the rest, and tongues of fire were leaking out of their torsos.

"What are they?" Marton wondered as he raised his pistol. Without warning the three red Husks began to charge at an alarming pace, heading straight for Marton who was at the head of the throng. Instinctively he raised his pistol and fired a shot directly into the face of the frontmost Husk. Instead of crumpling to the ground as Marton had expected, the Husk exploded, causing him to stagger back, his shields weakened. The other two Husks charged in and, like their comrade, detonated when they where in range of Marton. While they did not mortally harm the Jiralhanae mortally, they did collapse his shields and burn the few square inches of his skin that was not covered by thick armor.

Marton quickly beat out his burning fur, his knuckles tightening as he felt the fire eating away at his flesh. 'Stay calm," he thought as he extinguished

the last of the flames 'Do not lose control, resist the urge to brutally slaughter them with your blade, relishing the moment as their flesh is parted as if it is nothing more than a fragile twig being snapped in your-" Marton's line of thought was interrupted as a Husk descended upon him and slashed at his torso, the highest part of Marton's body that the Husk could reach. For the most part the claw scrapped harmlessly against Marton's armor, but one finger managed to reach through a small gap in the armor, leaving a shallow gash.

Despite the injury being relatively minor, Marton let out a roar as he thrust his machete forward, stabbing the Husk in it's throat. Drawing his blade out, Marton kicked the creature sending it flying into another one, knocking it over. Letting out a growl, Marton leapt at the Husks, brutally slashing one in half as he landed. He swung his machete at the Husk that was closest to him, cutting it in half horizontally. With his other hand he fired five rounds into the chests of three Husks that were approaching him from the other side before his handgun clicked empty.

Marton had enough common sense left in him to holster his gun before he let out a roar and stabbed one of the remaining Husks in the chest before drawing his blade out and stabbing it again four times. The remaining three Husks all rushed him simultaneously, swinging at his right hand as they had identified the machete as a major threat. Their combined strength succeeded in knocking the machete away from Marton's hand.

This did not help them thought. Marton roared as he swung his open hand at the nearest Husk, tearing it's throat open with his claws. The Husk fell to the ground, it's head attached to the rest of it's body only by an inch thick strip of flesh. Rounding on the other two Husks, Marton grabbed one by the arms and pulled each in a different direction. There was a sicking tearing noise as both of the cyborg's arms came off, the rest of the body dropping to the ground, not moving.

Keeping his grip on the arms, Marton swung one at the last Husk, knocking it on it's back. Marton purposely stepped on each of his foe's arms, crushing them under his massive weight. The Husk pinning, Marton raised the arms and began to swing down, as if he intended to beat the Husk to death.

Then suddenly, a second before the arms made impact, he stopped. For a handful of seconds that seemed to drag on forever, Marton starred at the Husk ,as if he could not comprehend what he was just about to do. Rather silently and with none of the aggression he had just shown a moment earlier, Marton dropped both of the arms in his hands and drew his second pistol, killing the Husk with a clean shot to the face.

Jack and Miranda both gapped at Marton, even Wrex looked rather surprised as the Jiralhanae retrieved his machete sliding it into it's sheath. "What the fuck was that?" Jack demanded.

"Nothing," Marton said simply, taking his spent pistol and loading a fresh clip into it.

"Bullshit that was not nothing. You fucking destroyed those things, you ripped half of them to pieces, and for no fucking reason."

"I do not recall seeing a degree on non-Human psychology in the files I had on you," Marton said coldly, still not looking at Jack. "So unless you have any more words of wisdom, shut up." A look of rage crossed Jack's face and it looked as if she was going to reply to Marton when Wrex shot her a scathing look that demanded silence. Jack's look of anger slowly ebbed away, deciding that it would be in her best interest not to have two violent and angry aliens mad at her...for now at least.

"We are almost at the generator, come," he said, acting like his moment of violence had never occurred. For five unbroken minutes the four of them advanced, no Husks ambushed them, no Collectors attacked them, nothing hindered their path as they quickly moved forward. Eventually, they arrived in front of the door Marton had seen through his cybernetic eye, the drone waiting for them patiently. Marton lowered his hand to the ground and the spider immediately scuttled up his arm, perching itself on his shoulder.

The spider made a clicking noise as dropped something in Marton's hand. Looking at the object, Marton saw that it was a chip of some sort, but it looked ancient and possibly unusable. Still, there was something about it that made it stand out. Marton slid the chip into a compartment on his armor as he began to hack the controls to the door, wondering what he would find on the other side.

Author's Note: I imagine that you are wondering what the in game name of Liara's new equipment is...don't know don't care. I'm going to level with you, I didn't like ME 1 that much, the combat was boring and sloppy, things felt static and I hated the equipment system with a burning passion. I love ME2 on the other hand, and it's probably for the best that I played that first (Even if some things did confuse me for a while). So yeah, not giving Liara's armor a name, and I'm not giving her gun a name. You might have noticed that I don't do that in my story, it kind of bugs me when I write it.

In other words, Marton...has anger issues. I'm going...nah I'll show you instead of telling you. I plan on downloading the new Fallout New Vegas DLC, Honest Hearts. If any fans are out of the loop, let me sum it up for you, THE BURNED MAN WALKS!


	42. Back from the Brink of Death

Chapter 42

Back from the Brink of Death

Author's Note: Sorry that this took so long, I have a tendency to suffer from chronic cases of writer's block. Well in other words Arby n the Chief is starting up again, I just hope there isn't as much drama as there was in season 5. Don't get me wrong I loved season 5 it's just...it was stressful waiting each week to see what would happen only to end up waiting another week. Another dramatic season would be like watching two seasons of 24 in a row, my head will just explode. Well, enjoy.

"How long do we have?" Benezia asked as Rason and half a dozen Chemical Corps operatives were taking grenades out of one of the crates of ammunition that lined the rear of the room.

"Minutes at the very most," Rason said as he slid the grenades into one of the two bandoliers that crossed his armored chest. "The Alliance forces were reinforced three minutes ago. I threw what Krogan we have left at them but if what the battle in the garage is anything to go by the very most they will do is buy us time."

"Isn't that what you recruited them for? They serve the same purpose as your Conscripts, to draw fire, kill a handful of enemies and do nothing more?"

"In my defense I had hopped that they would be a little more capable in combat," Rason said as he slapped a fresh clip into his spikers. "I understood that the main reason the Krogan were such a major threat during the Rebellion was their numbers, but I am surprised to see exactly how much they relied on them. It does not help that they are facing RSN and Union specialists either. But if the only use they present here is that of cannon fodder then I accept that, your commandos and my operatives intended to hold this by ourselves."

"Yes, but we never planned to hold off an entire invasion force, exactly how do you plan on defeating the Alliance?"

"A Coalition fleet is in orbit, it has already engaged the enemy. All we need to do is hold out against and eliminate their ground team and the Rachni will be secure. The Alliance will be too busy fighting for their lives to deploy more ground forces."

"The RSN may attempt to glass this planet in an attempt to destroy our work here though," Benezia pointed out. "That is what I would do if a ground assault was impossible."

"Don't be ridicules," Rason said turning to face Benezia. "If they had planned on glassing Noveria they would have done it by now."

The Matriarch frowned. "How do you know that they only launched the ground assault to gain intelligence, and that they won't do everything in their power to defeat us if it fails?"

"Simple, while Noveria is a neutral planet, public relations for the RSN will be a nightmare if they were to glass Noveria. And while it is neutral, it's inhabitants are that of the Council, UNSC, and even some of their own, after all this planet is used for research of all kinds, civilian and military. Right now the RSN needs as many friends as possible, and they won't risk the few they have just to destroy a tiny Coalition outpost."

"I suppose," Benezia said doubtfully. "If I were you I would advise the fleet to concentrate on the RSN ships, especially any that are moving into low orbit."

"I do not need to tell them that, they are not conscripts, they do not have the intelligence of a feral Thorn Beast."

"If your faith in them is that strong, so be it," Benezia said, her voice suggesting that she still strongly disagreed with the Supreme Commander.

"Sir" one of the operatives said, looking at a display on his wrist as he and two others set up makeshift cover. "The enemy ground forces have tripped our laser wires, they are 60 seconds away."

"Could you not have set traps with those laser wires instead of merely using them to identify our opponents position?"

"While it is true that we usually use them to set traps, we use them to activate hidden caches of gas, not explosives. But with the breathing equipment that the enemy is using to survive in the brutal environment of Noveria, the Alliance is protected from chemical weapons. We must make do without."

Benezia frowned. "It is clear that you did not put much thought into assigning security here."

"We were never supposed to be discovered!" Rason snapped. "Do not blame me for some imbecile giving away our position!"

"Thirty seconds!" the operative shouted.

"There is no time for bickering," Rason snapped, "If this room is taken all of our work will have been for nothing."

Benezia nodded. "Just in case it is, do you happen to have a way out? Or do you plan on dying a glorious death?"

"Do I look like a fool? Of course I have an escape route. The back door of this lab leads straight to the garage, where I left a crate filled to the brim with choppers. Using them we will be able to reach Port Hanshan, where a dropship will be able to evacuate us.

"SIR!" the operative shouted. Rason nodded as he climbed into cover, Benezia right behind him. No sooner had they done so, the entrance to the lab was blown off of it's hinges by a fuel rod blast. A volley of plasma and bullets flew from the entrance, most of it harmlessly hitting the makeshift cover, but some of it killed a Chemical Corps operative that had poked his head out to return fire.

"Push them back!" Rason shouted, blind firing his grenade launcher by sticking it over the edge of the metal barrier he was crouching behind. A roar of agony from a Sangheili confirmed that he had indeed killed one of them. The rest of the Coalition forces returned fire at the advancing Alliance strike team. The Sangheili and the Salarians broke formation and scattered throughout the room, returning fire as they did. Iasa grimaced as a Spec Op operative next to her was killed by a pair of Warps that impacted on his chest, the first having drained his shields while the second had killed him.

"Spread out!" Ramos roared as he emptied his fuel rod clip at the entrenched forces, sending three Jiralhanae and two Asari flying. "Don't cluster together, that makes you an easier target!" Iasa's mandibles tightened as she raised both of her plasma rifles, lining up a shot and pulling both of the triggers.

XXXXX

Marton frowned as he typed into the omni-tool on his wrist. Omni-tools were one of the few pieces of equipment that required Element Zero that were actually used by the Marauders. Eezo was a rare material and the Marauders were constantly on the move, unable to throughly scan planets, moons and asteroids throughly for the element. While they were able to mine occasional pockets and in some cases smuggle it through sources they had inside the Empire, for the most part they were forced to make do without, commonly using less advanced technology as a replacement.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Miranda asked impatiently "I thought that we were in a hurry."

'It has been sometime since I have had Human meat," Marton thought sarcastically. It was purely out of spite for Jack that he thought this, as he had not craved for the flesh of an intelligent being since Tritus had outlawed the consumption of it decades ago...for the most part.

"A little longer," he hissed, "I do not have a Smart A.I., and even though this ship has been inert since before either of our races discovered bronze, the firewalls are still formidable. I am doing my best to work through them with the limited...wait," Marton began to type furiously on his omni-tool. With a grinding noise, the door slid open, but only to reveal a light blue barrier of energy blocking their way.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jack nearly screeched.

"What do you think?" Wrex asked dryly, looking at Jack. Marton snarled as he looked through the barrier. On the other side was a massive blue sphere that was glowing while it spun in some sort of slot. It was clearly the core of the ship, the one that was keeping up the kinetic barriers and the mass effect field. So close yet so far.

Marton was about to turn away in disgust when he spotted something. At a terminal directly below the core was the Geth that they had encountered earlier. Marton stared at the Geth in interest, wondering exactly what it was doing. What seemed to be orange bolts of electricity seemed to be flying from the Geth's hands into the computer, connecting the two. As the Geth worked, a swarm of Husks crawled up through the narrow crevices that linned the room, stumbling towards the Geth.

Looking briefly over it's shoulder, the Geth drew a pistol from it's side, firing five shots, each one piercing a Husk's skull. As if it had never happened, the Geth turned back to the computer, putting it's pistol down as it reconnected to the computer. The Geth's finger's flexed and the barrier, to Marton's great surprise, faded away. Marton gapped at the Geth in disbelief as it began to turn away from the terminal.

With a sudden hiss a Husk bore down on the Geth, it's pistol not in it's hand. But just before the Husk made contact, there was a loud bang, and the Husk's head burst like a rotten tomato, it's lifeless body falling to the side. The Geth turned to face Marton, who was holding his smoking pistol. Marton stared at the Geth, his uncertain look hidden by his helmet. "Are you part of the Coalition of United Races?"

The Geth paused, as if it was calculating an answer. "No."

"Are you part of the Galatic Alliance?"

"No."

Marton hesitated, wondering exactly what he was dealing with. "Are you my friend or my enemy?"

Once again the Geth paused, as if it had forgotten the answer and was trying to remember it. "Friend," it finally answered.

"What do you mean friend?" Miranda demanded, "and what do you mean you're not part of the Coalition? All Geth are."

"That statement is incorrect," the Geth stated blandly, staring at Miranda.

"What the Hell is that supposed to mean?" Before the Geth could answer, there was a loud hiss as more Husks began to clamber out of the crevices, heading towards them.

"We don't have time for explanations," Marton shouted as he shot three more Husks that had come a little too close for comfort. "Is that what is keeping is keeping the kinetic barriers of this ship up?"

"Correct," the Geth answer as it grabbed it's pistol and shot an oncoming Husk.

"Perfect," Marton said as he slid his plasma cannon off of his back.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Miranda shouted as Marton raised the cannon. "can't you find some way to hack it and disable the kinetic barriers? If you destroy that you'll take out the mass effect fields too!"

"The _Salvation_ is being bombarding by enemy ships, we do not have time to search for an alternative," Marton said as he pulled the trigger on his weapon. A massive green ball of energy flew from the nozzle of the cannon and hit the spinning blue sphere head on. There was a blinding flash of blue and purple light as the sphere exploded, crystal chunks landing all over the room.

No sooner had Marton done this than the ship began to shake violently, an ominous creaking sound accompanying the thrashes. "Now what?" Miranda snapped.

"Adolas!" Marton shouted into the Marauder Battle-Net, "Lock onto my signal, we need a dropship!"

XXXXX

Rason fired the last of the rounds in his spiker, killing a STG operative, before ducking back into cover to reload. The firefight had been going non-stop for the past ten minutes, and both sides were taking heavy loses. The Alliance had 22 surviving fighters, while the Coalition had 42.

Rason's jaw tightening as he saw another Chemical Corps operative fall. While half of the enemy strike force had been eliminated, and if this fight was to continue it would be eventually wiped out, it would doom the Coalition force. While Asari Commandos and Chemical Corps were formidable fighters, Commandos had limited numbers and Chemical Corps was used to fighting their enemy through traps, in fact the only reason that they had been stationed here in the first place was so that their and Rason's medical knowledge would be put to good use. What was more, another three dozen enemy soldiers were on their way via the trams, with even more waiting behind them.

Rason's fist tightened in anger, furious that so much hard work would be for nothing. But as he thought about it more thoroughly, his fist slackened. In reality, every attempt to control the Rachni had been met with a dead end, they had either died or gone feral. Rason frowned as he recalled his last experiment had nearly resulted in the Rachni breaking lose from their containment cells and running lose. While he was perfectly willing to keep looking for solutions to a problem, even when there did not seem to be one, Rason was not the type to sacrifice the lives of him men in the names of science. The chances of actually controlling the Rachni compared to the amount of men he would now lose just to gain the chance to do so were not to Rason's liking.

"This is a lost cause," he mutter as he grabbed a cylindrical canister from his waist. Flicking the pin off, Rason threw the grenade, which bounced twice before coming to a halt, releasing thick white smoke which quickly expanded, forming a curtain between the two opponents.

"Fall back," Rason whispered into his COM unit. "This station is lost. Fall back to the garage, we must reach the Port." Without question, the Chemical Corps rose from their position and began to retreat backwards, filling one by one through the rear exit, firing blind shots at the curtain of smoke.

"What are you doing?" Benezia hissed as she threw a Warp through the cloud of smoke. "We haven't lost this fight yet."

"We cannot hold out against the reinforcements that will surely come, we underestimated our enemy and now we are paying for it."

"But the Rachni-"

"Forget the Rachni," Rason hissed, "We have achieved no results with them even after weeks of work. If you want to stay here and die, so be it, I will accept whatever wraith Tritus will strike me with." Rason rose up and fired three shots from his grenade launcher before following his operatives.

For a second Benezia remained where she was, her Commandos looking to her for instructions. 'I suppose it doesn't matter,' she thought, as she patted a pocket over her pressed that contained a small OSD, 'I already have what Saren needs.' Benezia made a gesutre to the Commandos as she mirrored Rason and headed for the exit. As she did three rangers broke through the now thinning fog, weapons blazing.

One of the Commandos drew a pistol and quickly dropped one, while sending a Warp at another, draining it's shields. The surviving rangers quickly dove out of the way of more hostile fire as Benezia and the last of the Commandos slipped away.

"Fieldmaster, they are retreating yet again!" Viluse shouted.

"But this is the main HQ," Ramos muttered. "There's nothing of any value throughout the rest of this facility except for..." Ramos paused as he looked around the room, briefly spotting a massive tank in the center, but ignoring it as his eyes widened in realization. "They plan to abandon this place," he whispered. "Iasa, Demas I want you two to remain here with half a dozen Sangheili and secure this room, everyone else with me."

"Most peculiar, to fight so hard only to retreat so quickly," Mordin commented as he and the rest of the STG followed Ramos down the same escape path that their foes had taken, Viluse nodding quickly at Iasa and Demas.

The two of them watched as the majority of their men left the room, intending to pursue those who had fled.

"Iasa, something feels wrong about this," Demas said as the Spec Op Officer gestured for the other Sangheili to follow her. "I have had a feeling of dread in my gut ever since we landed on this planet."

"What do you mean?" Iasa asked.

"I feel like there is something unnatural about this place, as if there is something here that should not be here like...like that." Demas pointed at the tank in the middle of the room. Iasa turned to look at it and felt her stomach drop.

As the two of them crossed the room to where the Rachni Queen was, they both felt a sense of overwhelming disbelief fill them. This couldn't be happening it simply couldn't be happening, every once of the situation screamed that it was false. Yet there it was, right before their eyes, a race that had supposedly died thousands of years ago.

"Impossible," Demas whispered.

Meanwhile the six other Sangheili had spotted a pair of doors at the side of the room and were slowly making their ways towards it. Suddenly the doors slid open and the RSN forces raised their weapons and aimed them, but there was nothing in sight beyond the doorframe. As they were pondering the details of this paradox, a glowing green ball flew from the room, landing in the middle of the Lance of Sangheili. Before any of them could do anything, the ball exploded, causing them all to fall to the ground, their bodies not responding to their owner's commands.

Iasa and Demas whipped around and aimed at the door. The outline of a Jiralhanae using active camouflage walked out, the cloak dropping as it did. The Jiralhanae was a mess, his right arm and left leg had been amputated and replaced with mechanical prosthetics that were an ugly gray. His face had clearly been badly burned, and it appeared that a skin graft had recently been ripped off before it could completely bind, which palled in comparison to the cybernetic eye that the Jiralhanae had, which was giving off an eery red glow. There were also small cybernetic implants dotting his body, the most noticeable being one that was grafted to the back of his neck. He was completely bald, as if all of his fur had been shaved of burned off.

The Jiralhanae looked at Demas and Iasa, a sadistic smile on his face. He raised the grenade launcher he held in both hands, while simultaneously checking to see if his wrist mounted flamethrower was functional.

"So," Sukron said, "which one of you wants to die first?"

Author's Note: "Sigh" as you might imagine, someone who writes science fiction fan fics as much as I do, I think about space quite a bit. I can't help but wonder when we are actually going to colonize other planets and/or satellites. Speculation are all over the map, some think that it will be achievable by the end of the century, while others believe that it won't be possible for thousands of years. NASA plans on having colonies on the moon by 2020 and missions to Mars by 2030, and that's just what America is doing. From what my dad said, China may very well beat the rest of the world in putting colonies on other planets. In reality there's so many factors that it's impossible to tell, there could be a new space race that kicks progress up, or a massive depression that slows it down. Countless technologies may be discovered to make the impossible possible, or we might be stuck with Apollo era technology for centuries. For all we know the first colonization of another planet could be in 2074, or 5000, all we can really do is what and see. Yeah I just wanted to get that off of my chest, it can really build in my mind sometimes and I just needed a way to vent, hope you don't mind. Kindly share you thoughts on the matter.

Oh yeah, Sukron's back, and he's still a major asshole. Well tell me what you think.


	43. Painful Loss

Chapter 43

Painful Loss

Author's Note: I really don't have much to talk about this time around so I guess I'l just talk about something I read on . Are one of those people who just joins a firefight match goes do something else and then gets credit for doing nothing? If so it really sucks to be you because Bungie has just upgraded the banhammer to get people like you...ha ha ha. Sorry people, you have to actually earn those ranks now.

EDIT: I was in a hurry when I uploaded this so the ending was all over the place. Rest assured it is fixed now.

Iasa and Demas tensed as they stared down the cybernetic Jiralhanae that was still gazing at them with a malicious look in his normal eye. The three of them all had their weapons raised, waiting for one of the others to make a move. Iasa's eyes momentarily darted away to look at the Sangheili that were lying on the floor. For a second she assumed that they were dead until she saw their chests rising and falling slowly, and the eyes of one ranger darting around. She felt a rush of relief as she turned back to face Sukron, they were only paralyzed.

"Sangheili," Sukron stated, sounding more like he was reading off of a dinner menu than sizing up his opponents, "I must admit I have yet to face your kind, my operations have limited me to...other species, less interesting ones at that. Salarians are so boring, I barely have to try to break their-" Iasa interrupted him as she pulled the triggers on both of her plasma rifles, Demas doing the same with his repeater. Sukron dove to the side, taking cover behind a series of overturned tables to avoid the plasma that was arcing over his head.

"You'll pay for that," he snarled, the parts of his face that were still organic tightening in rage. Standing up, he fired three shots from his grenade launcher, the Sangheili duo barely avoiding them as the rolled out of the way of the oncoming projectiles, landing on their feet with ease. Even as they dodged, the grenades continued to fly until they hit the wall, where they promptly burst into flames.

'Incendiaries?' Iasa thought as she sprayed plasma at Sukron's exposed head, and handful of shots hitting his shields before he fired three more shots, forcing Iasa to stop firing in order to avoid the grenades. 'He is no ordinary Jiralhanae,' Iasa thought as Demas threw a plasma grenade at Sukron, only to have him grab a spiker from the corpse of a nearby CC operative and shot it mid flight, causing it to explode harmlessly.

"_Please," _said a weak musical voice. Iasa craned her head in surprise, looking for the source of the voice. It had come from the direction of one of the dead Asari Commando, but there was no sign of movement, the warrior was without a doubt dead judging by the massive plasma burns on her chest.

Sukron holstered his newfound weapon and loaded a fresh belt of grenades into his launcher, a sickly looking smile crossing his face as he cocked it. Iasa's mandibles tightened like a bear trap as the Jiralhanae fired two grenades in her direction. While she was able to avoid the first one, the second impacted directly on her chest, weakening her shields severely.

Iasa fired her rifles yet again only for them to hit the wall as Sukron had already ducked into cover, but not before firing two grenades at Demas, both of which hit him head on, massively weakening his shields.

"You really believe that you can defeat me?" Sukron taunted as he ejected his current belt from his grenade launcher, even the good ones, and loaded a fresh one. "You must be joking, I have faced countless opponents that were much stronger and cleverer than you two, but by the ned of our battles they were begging for mercy and I inflicted pain on them like they had never felt before."

"He certain enjoys the sound of his own voice," Demas muttered as he fired another burst at the Supreme Commander, missing once again as he evaded.

"_Please...help us."_ Once again Iasa' head jerked towards the sound of the voice, only to find herself looking at the body of the same Asari Commando.

"Am I hallucinating?" Iasa wondered as she fired several shots at the side to Sukron's cover, trying to keep him pinned. "Has the intensity of this battle reached a point where I have begun to hear voices that aren't...wait." She turned to look at the Asari's corpse again. "Wasn't it lying in a different position the first time?"

Before Iasa's very eyes, the corpse began to move, clumsily getting to all fours, as if it had forgotten how it's limbs worked. With much difficultly, the Asari pushed itself to it's feet, it's hands held at an awkward angle. Even as it balanced itself out, the Asari looked like it's body was alien to it, the legs were spread too far out, the eyes were unfocused and it's arms were jerking widely at it's sides.

"What are you-GET DOWN!" Iasa dove at the Asari and pushed it to the ground, one of Sukron's grenades soaring through the air where it had been moments before. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"_We are not adjusted to this one. We cannot sing with these...colorless music."_

"What is Staliu's name are you talking about?" Iasa shouted as she fired another burst at Sukron. "How are you still alive?"

"_This child has passed on, her song ended, she speaks for us_." said the Asari, still using that mystical voice.

"Speaks for you?" Iasa asked, disbelief in her voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Rachni Queen, still in her tank even as Demas fired his repeater at Sukron, who returned the favor with grenades. "Are you...the Rachni?"

"_Yes. I plead of you to help me, if II perish our children will forever be silenced, never hearing the songs of their mothers. We know what you think of us, that we are beasts of war that will only cause misery, but please cast aside the past, help us save our children." _Iasa could only gape at the Asari, truly at a lost for words, even as she heard the explosion of Sukron's grenades.

Demas growled as he narrowly avoided being singed by the grenades as he aimed his repeater at Sukron. He pulled the trigger, but instead of a fountain of plasma erupting from the nozzle, the weapon gave a soft beep, indicating that it's power cell had been exhausted. Without thinking twice, Demas dropped the repeater and drew his energy sword, charging at Sukron, who was in the middle of reloading his grenade launcher.

Upon seeing Demas charging at him, he discarded the belt and held the blade on his weapon, a look of inhumane glee on his face. As Demas closed the distance in-between them, Sukron swung his blade downward, forcing Demas to the side. Demas swung his sword horizontally, which Sukron blocked with his grenade launcher. The blade withstood the heat of the energy sword, but there was a small chip on it where the sword had eaten away at it. Whatever metal it was made out of could clearly withstand the intensity of an energy sword, for a limited time that is.

As Sukron and Demas began to grapple, Iasa looked away from the Asari and aimed both of her plasma rifles at Sukron, attempting to get a clear shot. This was easier said than done as Sukron and Demas were constantly dipping, ducking and weaving in an attempt to outmaneuver each other, making it impossible for Iasa to shoot Sukron without the risk of hitting Demas. Seeing no alternative, Iasa holstered her rifles, cursing under under her breath as she did, and activated her pair of energy swords.

"_Please,_" said the Asari "_Answer us this question, will you help us?_" Iasa said nothing as she charged at Sukron.

XXXXX

Rason let out a small sigh as he tore off the lid to one of the many crates that filled the garage of Peak 15. They had managed to navigate a the long complex route through Peak 15 to reach the garage again. It was much slower than taking the trams, but on the flip side it had allowed them to avoid the Alliance forces that had yet to enter the Hot Labs. He and his men were now breaking open crates disguised to be from other Noveria Corporations, revealing the choppers that were inside.

"Sir!" one of the operatives said, approaching Rason. "We have destroyed all of the RSN's Demons, except the one that the Asari plan to use as transport. Should the Alliance release where we have gone, they will not be able to follow us."

"Good, now get to your chopper, we can not afford to tarry,' Rason said as he used his Jiralhanae strength to pull a pair of choppers out of the crate with ease. The operative nodded as he mounted the chopper, the engine roaring to life as he pressed down on the acceleration, speeding off out of the garage.

"All forces," he said into his COM unit as the rest of the Jiralhanae mounted their choppers and rode out of the garage, the Asari outside, filling into the Demon. "Head to Port Hanshan there will be Empire dropships waiting for us there." As Rason continued to speak. He did not notice that the door at the far side of the garage had opened "No doubt the RSN and the Salarian Union will have deployed troops there. Do not engage the unless it proves to be necessary, this is an evacuation not an engagement."

Rason lowered his hand and turned to face his chopper, all of the others having already left. He was about to mount it when he hear a faint whirring noise that he knew from his combat experience. He threw himself to the side and narrowly avoided as five fuel rod blasts slammed into the chopper, causing it to explode into a ball of fire and shrapnel, causing Rason's shields to flash. He ducked as a barrage of plasma flew from from the entrance as the Alliance strike force charged into the room, Ramos and Viluse at the head of the throng.

Rason dove into the crate, landing beside the last chopper that it contained. He hastily scrambled into the seat and activated the vehicle, the engine roaring as he did. Rason accelerated out of the crate, taking one hand off of the controls and drawing his spiker as he did. As he roared out of the crate, Ramos emptied his last fuel rod power cell, firing at Rason's chopper. The Supreme Commander swerved in a desperate attempt to avoid the deadly blasts, skidding across the garage at he did so.

Rason ground his teeth as he desperately attempted to straighten his chopper, while Ramos dropped his fuel rod cannon and drew a needler. Rason roared out of the garage as a stream of heat seeking crystals streaming after him.

Nearly the entire swarm hit Rason's back but the Jiralhanae Empire, much like the RSN, issued stronger shields to higher ranking officers. Because of this, Rason had the strongest shields that the Empire could make, which were more than enough to block a needler magazine. If they had not been weakened by his first chopper exploding that is. While they were still up the shields were not at full strength. There were still able to block the majority of the needles, but four of them slammed into Rason's shoulder. Letting out a roar of pain, Rason involuntarily jerked the controls, causing the copper to flip onto it's side and slid through the snow, coming dangerously close to the cliff.

Groaning in pain, Rason quickly grabbed the needles in his fist and pulled them out, throwing them over the cliff. This was a wise move, they had only been falling for three seconds when the crystals exploded, microscopic shards shooting off in all directions. Rason gingerly got to his feet, aiming his spiker with one hand and his wrist mounted grenade launcher with the other at the entrance to the garage, his hands tensing.

"Rason you fool, how did get yourself into this situation?" Benezia's harsh voice said over the Battle-Net. Rason smiled grimly as Benezia let out a frustrated sigh, she never failed to criticize him. "I can see you from here, we're coming back to save your sorry hide." Rason looked over his shoulder and, sure enough, the Demon was heading right for his position. Glancing back at the garage, he saw the strike force had reached the exit to the garage. This would be bloody.

XXXXX

Iasa snarled as she swung both of her blades at Sukron only to have him block them. Demas attempted to take advantage of this and stab Sukron in the back, but the cyborg leveled his scorcher and fired it at the ranger, forcing him to jump back to avoid the flames. Both of the Sangheili had looks of frustration on their faces, they simply could land a blow on Sukron.

Sukron on the other hand had a crooked smile plastered across his face. He knew that they were having trouble keeping up with him and he knew it. 'Do they honestly think that they, mere frontline warriors, can defeat a Supreme Commander?' he wondered with amusement as he swung his blade viscously at Demas, the ranger barely ducking the blow as it scrapped the top of his helmet. 'I don't lose ever nobody can-' he trailed off as he remembered the Human and the Quarian that had nearly killed him. He scowled. 'They were lucky, that is all. I thought the Human harmless, if he had not ignited my scorcher tank they would both be dead by now.'

"All forces," a voice crackled across the Battle-Net.

'Rason?" thought Sukron, 'What does he want?'

"Head to Port Hanshan there will be Empire dropships waiting for us there." Rason continued. "No doubt the RSN and the Salarian Union will have deployed troops there. Do not engage the unless it proves to be necessary, this is an evacuation not an engagement."

"WHAT!" Sukron roared at the top of his lungs, causing Iasa and Demas to blink in confusion, even as he blocked another dual slash from Iasa, "Rason you fakon," he swore "Leaving me behind to die." Sukron snarled as Demas swung his sword at his throat, forcing him to block it. "As much as I would love to continue to play with you two, I really must be going."

Iasa had chosen this minute to lunge at Sukron, stabbing at his chest with both of her swords. The Jiralhanae took his artificial hand off of his weapon and threw an elbow directly at Iasa's face. There was a sickening crunch as the Spec Ops officer was sent across the room, her helmet flying off. As she hit the ground, she tasted something warm in her mouth. "Motherless bastard," she swore as she gingerly began to get to her feet, feeling rather odd as she spoke. It was then that she realized that her upper left mandible had been broken and was now jutting upward at a 90 degree angle.

While he was preoccupied, Demas attempted to flank Sukron and stab him in the side, but the cyborg was ready for him. Raising his mechanical leg, he sent a bone-crushing kick to Demas' upper knee. Demas let out a roar of pain as his knee-cap fractured and he fell to the ground.

Pouncing on him, Sukron drove the tip of his blade through his right arm and into the ground, earning another cry of pain from him. "I must admit, I've never done anything like this before," Sukron said in a terrifyingly cheerful voice as he pinned Demas' free arm under his artificial foot. "But I have always wanted to see what happens." As he spoke, Sukron thrust his scorcher at Demas' throat with such force that the muzzle pierced it.

Demas let out a gasp as he desperately tried to breathe. Iasa had just gotten gingerly to her feet when she saw it happen. Fire soared from the scorcher into Demas' neck, where it was forced to depressurize and travel to other parts of his body. Demas let out an ungodly roar as he was burned from the inside out, the fire licking at the lining out his stomach, eating away at the back of his eyes, burning every last inch that it could reach. Iasa's eyes widened in shock as she saw Demas desperately thrashing against the blade and Sukron's hold, serving only to damage his trapped limbs as the fire continued to eat away at him.

Sukron pressed down on the palm pressure trigger, intensifying the jet of fire. Sukron smiled with satisfaction as Demas eyeballs began to melt, as did the rest of his face even as he continued to struggle. Sukron chose then to press down harder on the trigger, causing the jet of flame to become even stronger.

There was a roar as Demas' eyes exploded and twin tongues of fire erupted where they used to be. Demas continued to roar in agony, even as his thrashes grew weaker and weaker. Then, almost as fast as it had started, Demas stopped moving.

Iasa looked on in horror. No more than ten seconds could have passed, yet it was already over. Sukron let out a satisfied sigh as he pulled his scorcher out of Demas' neck, flicking the Sangheili's helmet off as he did. Sukron let out a bark of laughter as he saw his face, eyes little more than pools of liquid that had collected inside the helmet. "I must ask you something," Sukron said, looking at Iasa "Was he a friend of yours?"

Iasa stared blankly at Sukron, then let out a roar as she charged at him. Still smiling, he drew his blade out of Demas' body and hit her torso with the blunt end. There was another crack as she was sent flying with three cracked ribs. "As fun as it would be to kill you, I must go. Do me a favor and if people ask, tell them that the Supreme Commander Sukron did this." With that, he turned and left.

"Damn it," Iasa muttered as she tried to get to her feet, wincing as she did. "DAMN IT!" she roared, punching the ground in frustration, her voice tearing.

"_His song has ended, but it lives on through you."_ Iasa turned to look at the Asari. Her words were comforting, at least Iasa thought they were. "_Please, will you help us?"_ Iasa didn't answer.

Author's Note: Anyone who goes to TV tropes will understand what I mean when I say this? Plot Armor? It's off. I have a feeling that some people will complain that Demas' death with anti-climatic, kind of like Aria's was. If so, I'm really not going to change how I write because of that criticism because, really, death isn't supposed to be climatic all of the time. In the middle of a war, death can come at any time, and you won't necessarily go out in a blaze of glory. Take Kat from Reach for example, she got good character development, guilt from the death of Thorn a handicap that would give her a good arc and how does she die? A lucky shot to the back of the head, one second she was perfectly healthy the next she was dead. Jorge blew up a Covenant Super-Carrier, Carter rammed a Pelican into a Scarab and Emile stabbed the Zealot that impaled him in the neck. If you find Demas' death to be anti-climatic then well that was kind of the point, he died a pointless inglorious death, and in a way that makes it even sadder.

By the way I also want to throw this out there to clarify. Tali and Taylor only survived because they were extremely lucky. Sukron had all the advantages in their fight, strength experience health and weapons, they won by pure chance. I just wanted to tell you that if by some chance they were to happen to fight again.


	44. Planting the Seeds

Chapter 44

Planting the Seeds

Author's Note: Huh. For those of you who don't know, I've got a poll running on my profile for your favorite OC in this story. I just checked it and I was very surprised to see who was winning. Somehow Taylor Winters managed to tie with Jane Shepard for first, with Tritus in second, and everyone else in a pileup for third and fourth. I must admit I was very stunned by that, I mean I like Taylor, I just didn't know that so many of you did too. Just thought I share that with you. Also, HOLY FUCKING SHIT, google Halo 4 trailer. Apparently the Forerunners built a life sized model of Unicron from Transformers.

"Jesus H. Christ, do you get into shit like this often!" Jack shouted as she gunned down a Collector with her SMG.

"Oh don't you worry," Marton said dryly as his screecher caused a Collector to explode, "I will compose an epic of all my adventures just for you. I am 263 years old, spare me your petty criticism."

Marton and the rest of his group had made their way back into the room that had it's rightmost wall completely torn off. Without the mass effect fields, air was rushing out of the ship as it was decompressed. "BREATHING EQUIPMENT!" Marton shouted.

Miranda and Jack both produced breathing masks which they slid over their faces while Wrex quickly slipped on a helmet. "Where's the dropship?" Wrex shouted as he gunned down a Collector.

"Here!" a Marauder synthesized voice shouted. A Phantom hovered by the breach in the ship's hull, the side door wide open, revealing a Marauder holding a .60 caliber, triple barreled machine gun in his hands, a belt of ammunition linked to a pack on his back. The Marauder jammed down on the trigger and a storm of bullets soared from the nozzle, tearing five Collectors apart. "Get on!" the Marauder shouted as the Phantom maneuvered in closer. Miranda and Jack rushed into the ship, laying down covering cover as they did, Wrex and the Geth right behind them, Marton taking up the rear.

"GO!" Marton bellowed at the pilot, the door closing behind up. The pilot nodded as he furiously typed into the controls, causing the Phantom to accelerate away from the ship that was slowly descending into the brown dwarf.

"Rutherforae," the Marauder holding the machine gun said into his COM unit, "I have them, lower the shields around the rear cargo bay and be prepared to make the jump to slipspace."

"About time, the _Salvation_'s shields are at 20%!" Rutherforae snapped, "Not to mention 40 enemy ships are still intact, we can't win this fight so hurry up!"

"She's angry," he said bluntly, looking at Marton.

Marton gave a grim smile that was hidden by his helmet. "Adolas does that." As he spoke, Marton noticed a sheathed sword that was a cross between a longsword and a katana at the Marauder's side. "Good to see you again Tesueg, I have not seen in you in the past couple of weeks."

"What do you expect on a ship the size of the _Salvation_, even if we are both two of the Marauder's three Commanders?" Tesueg asked. Marton laughed.

The Phantom sped towards the _Eternal Salvation_, which was still exchanging fire with the Collector ships. The Phantom flew into the opened cargo bay, which closed behind it. After firing off one last barrage of plasma torpedos, the Eternal Salvation opened a slipspace rupture, which it disappeared through.

As it did Marton's face steeled while he glanced around the Phantom, his eyes locking on Miranda as he reached for his pistol. "I don't know what your planning-" Miranda began but was cut off as Marton pistol whipped her in the back of the head. She fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes where she lay, motionless.

"Well that's a step in the right direction," Jack muttered, looking at the unconscious Cerberus operative. "But your still not there yet, she's still alive."

Marton only spared a passing glance at her before looking at Tesueg. "Do me in a favor and throw her in a cell, one of the ones close to the docking bay, within range of the captured prowler." Reaching down with his free hand, Marton grabbed Miranda's biotic implant and eased it out. "She won't be needing this," he said, crushing it into dust.

Tesueg nodded as he tucked his machine gun under his right arm, and grabbing Miranda by her waist. Picking her up with minimal effort, Tesueg jumped out of the Phantom, heading for the exit.

"What the fuck are you up to?" Jack questioned.

Marton ignored her as he pressed his hand to his COM unit. "Adolas, meet me in front of the Cerberus prowler in a few minutes, I need to talk to you about a couple of things."

"I will be there," Rutherforae replied.

Marton lowered his hand and turned to face the Geth. "I have some questions for you, will you answer them?"

"Yes," the Geth replied blankly.

"Fuck it I'm out of here," Jack said climbing out of the Phantom. "If you need me you know where to fucking find me."

Marton did not reply as he continued to look at the Geth. "Why were you on that ship?"

"Investigating."

"Investigating what?"

"The ship that we were on is of the same design of Saren's flagship Sovereign," the Geth explained. "We do not know how Saren obtained Sovereign or from where, we hoped that that ship would provide answers. It did not."

"Why do you not simply ask Saren about Sovereign's origins?" Marton asked. "Aren't the Geth his allies?"

"Not all Geth are Saren's allies," the Geth said. "Although many are. He came to us with warnings about the Council, UNSC and RSN. Many Geth believed that Sovereign was the last of an ancient race of an ancient race of sentient starships who would allow artificial intelligence to rule the galaxy."

"Sovereign is sentient?" Marton asked. The Geth nodded. "Why did you not go to the Alliance with this information? In fact did you not tell them that not all Geth support Saren?"

"It is not our way. The Heretics and True Geth peacefully parted ways, and it is in the nature of the True Geth to leave organics as they are."

Marton resisted the urge to sigh. "This is going to take awhile. I have two more questions for now. Will you help us? The goal of the Marauders is to-"

"To make peace between the Jiralhanae Empire and the rest of the galaxy, which will no doubt result in the Coalition losing the war." The Geth paused. "Yes, most likely this will result in us achieving our goal and acquiring data on Sovereign.'

"Good. I have but one last question. What do I call you?"

"Geth," the Geth replied.

Marton frowned. "You specifically."

"Geth," the Geth repeated. "All Geth are one, this platform is currently severed from the rest of the Geth, although it contains 1183 programs acting as one."

"Well I need to call you something. When I say Geth I could be referring to any Geth that I see, how will you know that I am referring to you?" As he spoke, something resurfaced in his memory, a line he had read once from a human religious text, he had forgotten the name of it. "My name is Legion for we are many."

"Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark chapter 5 verse 9. It is an appropriate metaphor, if it is convent for you Commander Marton, we will accept being referred to as such."

Marton nodded as he looked a Legion. It was just then that he realized that part of Legion's armor had been replaced with the black onyx armor that ODSTs used, and that there was a gaping hole in it's chest. Marton ignored this for now, there would be time for that later. "Please come with me Legion, I feel that there is still much that I do not understand."

XXXXX

Iasa stared blankly at Demas' smoldering body, her face expressionless. Her mind was completely and utterly blank, with nothing even resembling intelligent thought passing through it. "_Please, we beg of you_." Slowly, Iasa turned to look at the Asari, which had repositioned itself to stand in front of the Rachni Queen's tank.

The gears of Iasa's mind began to slowly turn again as she picked up her helmet, which had a massive dent in it. Turning it over, she activated her COM unit only to receive static in response, apparently the Jiralhanae had activated some sort of jammer in the late stages of the assault, possibly to prevent the RSN and Union from organizing to prevent their retreat. Iasa frowned, since she had no idea where the jammer was, there was no way for her to contact her mother about the Rachni, or Ramos about Sukron heading in his direction.

"Why should I simply not kill you?" Iasa asked. "You are guilty of mass genocide, millions died from your rampage during the Rachni War. Would you care to explain why you did that."

"_We...do not know what happened. The memories of the war are wild and blurry, we do not remember why the war started, only that a sour yellow note filled the minds of mothers and children alike._"

Iasa still wasn't convinced. "You mean to tell me that you have no idea why the war started?"

"_Correct_."

"Very well. Theoretically if I was to release you, what would you do? You could very well repopulate your species and declare war on the galaxy again. It only takes a single queen to populate an entire planet in a matter of months."

"_We desire nothing but peace for our children. War brings nothing but the great silence. Should we be given another chance, we will return to our home and sing the songs of your forgiveness for eons._"

"You cannot be serious. Do you honestly believe that I would let you go? There are trillions of intelligent lifeforms inhabiting the galaxy, if you do not keep your word, which I doubt you will, all of them will be threatened and all because of me."

The Asari said nothing as the Queen stared at her. "_Please_," she begged, "_We are all that remain. If you were to end us, our song would forever end, countless generations of our children would never know that pleasure. Would you truly silence an entire race? One that was declared your enemy purely through something that is beyond our knowledge."_

Although the Rachni Queen did not know it, her words sent shockwaves through Iasa. The Queen's words painted a scenario that was uncomfortably close to that of the Human-Covenant War. For nearly three decades, the Covenant had hunted Humanity to near extinction, all because the San 'Shyuum were desperately attempting to cling to their position of power. 'What if her words are true?' Iasa wondered, 'What if the Rachni War was started by an unknown variable? If I am to kill her I would wipe out any chance of the Rachni living.'

"How are the Rachni still alive? They were wiped out thousands of years ago," Iasa asked, stalling her answer.

"_We recall the one called Rason recounting how we had been found in a destroyed starship. Our mother had perished but we lived on, safe within the confined of our egg. When we were taken away, Rason planned to clone us, until he learned that we were a Queen. He took away my children, he preformed experiments on him. But they were useless to him, without the nurture of our mother's song, the children become little more than savage beasts."_

"Your offspring, where are they?"

"_The have entered the great silence. When it was apparent that they could not be controlled, they were exterminated. It is for the best, they were beyond help, and had Rason not been wise enough to do so, they may have escaped._"

Iasa paused, looking at the Rachni Queen. She had little doubt that if the Alliance was to capture her, the Council would demand her death. The UNSC and RSN could not afford to lose them as an ally so there was no chance of them protesting that. But if she released the Queen now, there would be a good chance that she would be able to escape and repopulate her race. 'In the end in comes down to two choices.' she thought. 'Either I believe that she is telling the truth and release her, or I believe that she is lying and let her die. If I let her die but she was telling the truth, I will have killed an entire race that did not deserve it, but on the other hand if I release her and she and is lying...millions if not billions will die.'

Iasa stared blankly at the tank holding the Queen, completely unsure of what to do. 'The Sangheili has already committed genocide against the Humans, the Unggoy the Mgalekgolo, the Jiralhanae and the Batarians, must they do more?' a voice in the back of her head said. Iasa turned to face the control panel besides the tank. Reaching out, she typed a command into the terminal.

"_You are releasing us?" _the Queen asked, her voice hopeful. Iasa nodded. "_What is your name?"_

"Iasa 'Cirate"

"_We thank you Iasa, your name will live on in our song for as long our music fills the galaxy_."

"I doubt that I will simply walk away from this," Iasa remarked grimly. "The RSN will probably put me on trial, I might even get the death penalty. Do me a favor and make your chance count, for if you lied to me I will personally hunt you down and kill you to restore my honor." The tank opened and the Rachni Queen scattered out, ripping a panel out of the ground and scuttling through it. Iasa had no idea how she planned to escape this planet, how she planned to avoid both Alliance and Coalition forces, but she has a feeling that she would do it. Now if only she was certain that that was a good thing.

XXXXX

"Move!" Rebecca shouted as she pelted across the once green landscape, which was now an ugly rust color from the fires. Right behind her was an ODST sniper that had lost her helmet, causing her short blonde hair to flow in the wind.

"God damn it," the sniper swore, turning and firing a shot at a Human Combat Form that had jumped at her, taking it's head clean off.

"Elizabeth! Ignore them, we need to get to the evac point!" Rebecca shouted as she fired a blast from her shotgun, obliterating an Infection Form that had been heading in her direction. Just as Elizabeth turned to face her, an Infection Form scuttled towards her and jumped high, landing directly on her face. Rebecca felt her blood go cold, she knew what would follow, she had seen the same thing happen to the rest of their squad. But instead of the Flood burrowing its way into her and causing massive growths of yellow flesh to burst out of her, Elizabeth grabbed the Flood and pulled it off her face. With a roar she threw it to the ground before shooting it with her pistol.

Rebecca felt her jaw drop. "How did...why didn't it...how can,"

"We can figure this out later over dinner!" Elizabeth shouted, "There's the Pelican!" She pointed at the UNSc dropship which was floating not that far away.

Rebecca glanced over her shoulder, seeing that the horde wasn't that far behind them. "Come on!" Rebecca shouted, spotting a handful of ODSTs were climbing into the Pelican, which was beginning to ascend, "It's taking off!" The two ODSTs ran as fast as they could towards the climbing Pelican, it's rear bay still open. Rebecca, being slightly ahead of Elizabeth, jumped for the Pelican and was able to clamber into it. Elizabeth jumped with all of her strength as Rebecca dropped to her stomach and stretched out her hand, grasping for the blonde's as she reached the height of her jump.

Their hands interlocked. Rebecca let out a sigh of relief as she looked down at the ODST, who had a small smile on her face. Then, without warning, a Stalker Form jumped upwards and impaled Elizabeth through the chest with it's forward most pincers. Rebecca tried to hold on, but the combine weight of Elizabeth and the Flood proved to be too great as he grip slipped and failed.

Rebecca let out a shriek and felt disoriented as something hard hit her head. After a few seconds of struggling, she realized that she wasn't in a Pelican taking off from Elysium, she was in her bedroom on the _Normandy_, having fallen out of her bed, wearing nothing but a tank top and a pair of boxers. Her face was streaked with tears.

"Oh God," she whispered getting to her feet, resisting the urge to sob uncontrollably, "Elizabeth."

The door slid open and a startled looking Neriena rushed in, Liara right behind her, both of them wearing their armor. "What's going on?" Neriena questioned, looking at Rebecca worry etched in her face. Upon seeing the tears on Rebecca's face, Neriena silently walked forward, wrapping her arms around her daughter. "Sh," she whispered, "It's ok sweetheart."

"Mom," she whispered. "I saw Elizabeth, it...it was like it was happening all over again."

"There there," Neriena said as she gently lowered Rebecca onto the bed, sitting down next to her. "It's just a dream."

"Mom I haven't had this dream in over a year I thought I was over it. And it was so real, I honestly felt like I was watching her die all over again," Rebecca spluttered, her voice cracking as her stem of tears thicked."'

"It's ok dear, I'm here for you." Neriena turned to face Liara. "Could you run to the medical bay and see if Doctor Chakwas has any pills that will stop her dreams?" she have asked, half begged. Numbly Liara nodded as she got to her feet and exited the room.

"Goddess," she whispered, recalling how utterly destroyed Rebecca had looked. She had a faint nagging feeling that she had not told her everything about Elysium, that there was something that she was hiding. "She's an emotional wreck and you're concerned that she might be keeping secrets from you about why?" she muttered, scolding herself. "It's her business, not yours." Liara began to head to the medical bay, still feeling uneasy, Rebecca's sobs still echoing in her ears.

Author's Note: For those of you who don't know, the new Arby in the Chief trailer is out. Jon CJG, you told us that it was going to be delayed for a week, you fucking tease. Speaking of which, I want to talk to you about a little side project I'm thinking about starting. A series of one-shots (which may occasionally string together) about the Arbiter, Chief, Greg and possibly Claire in What If situations during Halo Reach online multiplayer (possibly other games too). If I do do this project I will like to point a couple of things out.

-Mass Effect New Origins will still be my top priority

-I will ask at the end of every chapter for suggestions for the next scenario (Ex. Someone camping on the top of Spire with a sniper, everyone hiding inside on Boneyard during invasion with shotguns, teammate hogging all of the power weapons, etc) Go crazy, in fact start sending me suggestions right now, if you want this that is.

-My Leet lingo will probably not be that good (When writing Chief's dialogue)

-This will be struckly non-cannon completely ignoring the upcoming season 6 and taking place in an alternate reality where Jon has (Grudgingly) either purchased a new X-box or gotten his ban removed. Also, apart from the four characters I mentioned, I will not be using any Arby n the Chief characters (I want to be original here)

Well that about sums it up, now I need to ask you to do something. Understandably, I imagine some of you would rather I not do this and continue with this story. Well, I'm going to be Democratic about this, in your review or a PM, please tell me if you want me to do this or not. Whichever side gets more support I will go with. Peace out.


	45. Escape

Chapter 45

Escape

Author's Note: I...I don't know what I'm doing wrong. The last chapter was an all time low for both reviews and views, this story has hit a low point. The thing is this has been going on for awhile now, my chapters have steadily and steadily been getting less and less hits. Earlier chapters had hits around 6000, now I'm lucky to get 900, and this last chapter hasn't even reached 400 yet. Not to mention I asked you guys about a new project I planned on starting and only two people actually mentioned it. Talk to me people what am I doing wrong? Nobody's reading this story, nobody's reviewing it, I'm starting to feel like my own work is nothing but a piece of shit. I'm going to level with you people, I have no self esteem at all, in fact I think I have an inferiority complex. Just one person criticizing my story is enough to make me feel like crap, I try not to let it bother me and keep writing, but...but I'm honestly starting to wonder if this story is failing. Please people talk to me, what am I doing wrong? I can't fix it unless you talk to me. Please this...this is all I'm good at.

Ramos snarled as he fired another barrage of seeking crystals at Rason. The Jiralhanae grunted as he grabbed his chopper and threw it in front of himself, the crystals bouncing harmlessly off of it. Ducking behind it, Rason raised his spiker over the edge of the vehicle and fired a burst at Ramos, hitting him in the chest and causing his shields to weaken. Ramos didn't even flinch as he loaded a fresh clip into his needler.

While this was happening, the captured Demon was speeding back towards Peak 15, an Asari manning the blazing turret. The APC swerved and spun itself so that it was sideways, the door sliding open as a dozen and a half Asari commandos jumped out, accompanied by Benezia. Taking cover behind the Demon, the Asari laid down pressure fire against the Alliance soldiers that were still in the entrance to the garage, forcing them to take cover.

Benezia grimaced as she threw a Warp at the garage, taking the head off of a Sangheili that had not been quick enough to duck into cover. "Damn it Rason, you simply had to get yourself into this mess didn't you?" she muttered. "Get over here unless you fancy being burned alive!" she shouted at the Supreme Commander.

"I am busy you wench!" Rason shouted as he emptied his spiker clip at Ramos, who was out of range of the Asari's rifles. Ramos, seeing that he would have a difficult time hitting his opponent will he was taking cover behind his copper, holstered his needler and drew his energy sword. As he charged forward, Rason knew that he would be unable to tear through the Zealot's shields with his spiker before he was skewered. Quickly slapping his spiker onto his thigh, Rason drew his knife, the golden metal glinting in what little light there was, and blocked the overhead swipe that Ramos had attempted to deliver.

With a roar, Rason thrust his knife, which was still clashing against Ramos' sword, forward, causing the Zealot to stumble back. Taking the offensive, Rason jumped forward, stabbing at his opponent's chest. Ramos deflected the attack, and countered with a vertical slice to Rason's head. The Jiralhanae was barely able to block the attack as he moved his knife to intercept the blow. Rason's jaw tightened as he and Ramos continued to trade blows, both of them unable to land a direct hit on the other.

Viluse felt his hands tighten around his needle rifle in frustration as he fired on the Demon along with the rest of the strike force. 'The very second I start to make headway against one, she ducks back into cover while another opens fire on me!' he thought angrily, as he was forced back into the garage so that his shields could recharge.

'Well then I suppose this calls for a change of tactics.' Leaning out of cover, he took one hand off of his rifle and sent a Pull at an exposed Asari. He smiled in satisfaction as it hit it's mark, causing the commando to float helplessly in the air. Viluse immediately lined up a shot and began to fire at the Asari, eating away at her barriers. But he had not gotten more than the third shot off when three other Asari appeared from behind the Demon and concentrated their fire on Viluse, clearly trying to protect their comrade.

Viluse ignoring the enemy fire, doing nothing more than creating a barrier around himself as his shields began to fail. "This one will not escape," he muttered as he continued to fire at the floating Asari, even as his shields collapsed and his barrier began to follow suit. His facial features tightened as his target's barrier collapsed, refusing to take cover even as his own crumpled around him. "I can accomplish this, I WILL accomplish this," he growled as he fired off two more shots, piercing the armor of the Asari. A burst of bullets hit his barrier, causing them to collapse as he squeezed off one more shot, hitting the Asari and causing a needle superdetonation , killing the Asari.

Viluse pulled back into cover, a bullet narrowly missing his face as he ejected his magazine. "Interesting strategy," Mordin said from where he crouched behind a six wheeled vehicle. "However signs of hyper-aggression are present, could have gotten self killed. Suggest caution in future engagements."

Viluse resisted the urge to swear at the Salarian, instead slipping a fresh magazine into his rifle and rounding the edge of the garage entrance to open fire again.

'As expected of an RSN Zealot,' Rason thought as he made a wild horizontal slash, which Ramos ducked. As he ducked, Ramos thrust forward with both of his hands on the hilt of his blade. Sidestepping the blade, Rason raised his foot and kicked the Sangheili in the stomach, knocking him on his back and knocking the breath out of him. Jumping at him, Rason stabbed downward with his knife.

With lightening reflexes, Ramos knocked the knife aside with his blade, punching the Jiralhanae in the face with his free hand, causing him to stagger backwards, clutching his now bleeding nose. He bared his teeth beneath his gas mask as he held his knife in front of him. While Supreme Commanders were the most skilled fighters in the Empire, it was clear that the gap between him and Ramos was not as large as he would like it to be.

XXXXX

Miranda let out a groan as she slowly regained consciousness. Instinctively, she reached for her hip, only to find that her pistol and SMG were not there. Afterwards, she made a gesture in an attempt to summon a Warp, but only managed a weak speck of energy. A quick touch to the back of her neck confirmed her lack of a biotic implant. "I'll give them credit," Miranda muttered as she taped her wrist in an attempt to activate her omni-tool, only to find that it had been removed as well "they defiantly were thorough."

Getting to her feet, she saw that she was a featureless cell, with a plasma barrier sealing the far end. Miranda couldn't say that she was surprised, after all she had been brought on to a ship filled to the brim with Jiralhanae, but she had not been expecting them to act so fast.

Walking to the barrier, Miranda looked through it, first to her left, and then to her right. When she saw that no one was there, she slipped her hand through the of her shirt and reached in between her breasts. "Thorough, but not thorough enough," she said, smiling slightly as she slid the chip into a slot on her wrist. The omni-tool lighted up and Miranda's fingers immediately began to dash across it, typing in commands. "Looks like the Jiralhanae haven't put much research into firewalls," she whispered, smirking was satisfaction as the barrier in front of her fizzled out.

Silently, Miranda crept out of the cell, slowly creeping down the hallway. "If this ship follows basic Covenant design, than the underbelly hanger should be this way. Miranda made her way through the hallways of the _Salvation, _completely unmolested by any Marauders.

Miranda was nearing a massive door when a blaring alarm went off, with a synthesized Marauder voice blaring over a loudspeaker. "The prisoner has escaped! Seal off the area she is in and set your screechers to a non-lethal settings, Marton wants her alive!"

Swearing under her breath, Miranda dashed for the door, which automatically opened as it registered her presence. She hurried through the door and into the hanger. With a rush of surprise, she spotted the Cerberus prowler not that far away, it's ramp still lowered. No sooner had seen it, than there was a screech as a sonic blast flew over her head.

Miranda flat out ran towards the prowler, sonic blasts missing her a little too narrowly for comfort. Dashing up the ramp, she slammed a button on the wall to her side that caused the ramp to raise itself into a closed position. Miranda dashed to the front of the prowler and slid into the seat in front of the controls. As she did, she saw that the Marauders had augmented pieces of their own technology here and there on the controls. Miranda smiled as she looked at them, realizing that the Jiralhanae had been planning on using the prowler and had given it an uplink to the hanger controls.

Glad that she could read the language of the Jiralhanae, Miranda quickly typed into the new controls. The claw that was holding the prowler loosened as the floor beneath it opened into the vacuum of space. An emergency protocol kicked in and a series of plasma barriers activated, surrounding the prowler and keeping the rest of the hanger pressurized.

The prowler's engines roared to life as it flew out of the hanger and into the empty void of space. Miranda typed furiously into the controls as she punched in coordinates for a slipspace jump. Had the coordinates been in the ship's computers, she would have been able to make the jump almost instantly, but they were not there. Cerberus was extremely paranoid about their enemies discovering their bases and outposts, and had the locations of all of them excluded from their ships' navigational data, having their officers memorize the coordinates instead. With the cyanide pills that every member of Cerberus kept in one of their molars as an insurance policy, there was little to no chance of Cerberus' secrets being found out.

As Miranda finally finished calculating the slipspace jump, a rift opened in front of the prowler, as it passed through it, the rift closing behind it. Miranda let out a sigh as she relaxed into the chair. The Jiralhanae had come so close to obtaining vital Cerberus information, had they found the omni-tool and her cyanide pill, she would be willing to bet an arm and a leg that they would have tortured her until she finally snapped. "That ship was a dead end," she muttered to herself. "I had better get back to the other project the Illusive Man wants me to do." She smiled again as she recalled the years of research that were months away from bearing fruit. "When we're done with this, the balance of power in the galaxy will change forever.

Back on the Eternal Salvation, Marton stood in the hanger, looking at the section of the floor that had opened. He was not angry, he wasn't even annoyed as he stared at the route that the Cerberus officer had just escaped through. "Adolas," he said into his COM unit. "Are the bugs working?"

"Yes Marton," Rutherforae responded, "They're transmitting clearly. As soon as she exits slipspace we will be able to get an exact read on her position."

Marton smiled. "Just as planned," he said as he looked at where the slipspace rupture had just closed. "I do not want to make a move against Cerberus for some time. Keep tracking that prowler's movements, I want every location that it travels to recorded. After all, the longer we wait, the more Cerberus outposts we identify."

"Marton is it truly wise to be directing our resources to fighting Cerberus? We are at war with the Empire still, and are they not the enemy of the UNSC, not ours?"

"Cerberus wants nothing more than for Humanity to dominate every other intelligent species in existence, they are the enemy of all non-humans, and even among Humans they have countless enemies. It would be for the best if we were to wipe them out. Besides, disposing of Cerberus would be an excellent way to gain the trust of the UNSC, and by extension the rest of the Galatic Alliance."

"Very well Marton, but remember the goals of the Marauders are to overthrow the Empire, please do not lose sight of that goal."

XXXXX

Viluse fired three needles before slipping back into the safety of cover, reloading his rifle. The firefight had gone on for the better part of ten minutes, and for far neither side had made much progress. Out of the corner of his eye, Viluse could see that Rason and Ramos were still dueling, their weapons little more than a blur as they swung them.

Rason drove his foot into the snow, kicking up a cloud in Ramos' face as he attempted to hack at his chest. But the Zealot was able to see through the obstruction and parried the attack, countering with his own slash that Rason was barely able to sidestep. Rason swung his knife again with all of his strength, aiming at Ramos' sword hand. The knife tore through the hilt of the sword, causing it to shatter and cutting Ramos' palm deeply.

Ramos suppressed a roar of pain as he jumped back, cradling his injured hand. Glaring at Rason, he pressed a button on his right arm plate, causing a short blade of energy to extend from his wrist. This weapon was standard issue among RSN Sangheili, and was much like a UNSC combat knife, only to be used when all other weapons had failed.

Rason and Ramos stared each other down, Rason wary that Ramos might begin an all out attack out of desperation, while Ramos was furiously trying to decide what his next course of action would be.

Viluse stared at the two from his position and ground his mandibles, frustrated that he could not reach them without being sprayed with bullets. He was about to start firing on the Asari again when he heart an engine roaring behind him. He turned and quickly dove out of the way as a chopper tore through the garage and out into the blistering cold of Noveria.

The chopper spun to face the entrance to the garage and fired both of its fuel rod cannons. While all of the Alliance soldiers dove for cover, two Sangheili and a Salarian were killed by the blasts. "You fakon Rason!" Sukron shouted, looking around the oxygen mask that he had donned, "what kind of leader forgets his own comrades during a retreat?"

Rason ignored him as Ramos charged at him, throwing a series of stabs that were barely dodged. While swinging his blade horizontally, Ramos threw a kick at the hand that held Rason's blade, hoping to brake it while blocking the blow.

Rason saw this however and grabbed the foot mid kick. With a roar, Rason violently pulled on the leg, causing Ramos to fall to his back as he was lifted over Rason's head and slammed into a patch of hard ice. Ramos let out a gasp of agony as he rolled so that his back was to the ground, barely blocking a stab from Rason. Losing patience as he scrambled to his feet, he let out a battle cry as he charged at Rason, blade in front of him. Rason swung his knife again, but this time not aiming for Ramos' blade, aiming lower instead.

Ramos let out a roar of agony as the Forerunner knife tore through his wrist, cleanly severing his hand. Before he could even think to prepare a counter, Rason swung his knife again, cleanly slitting Ramos' throat. For a few seconds that seemed to drag on forever, Ramos stood still, desperately trying to breathe even as he choked on his own blood. Then he fell to his knees, his face sagging as his knees gave out and he fell face first into the snow. He was dead.

Upon seeing this, Sukron let out a bark of laughter. "Impressive Rason, perhaps you are not as worthless as I thought you-" he was cut off as he maneuvered his chopper to avoid a Warp from an enraged Viluse. "Remember this split-jaws!" he taunted, looking at the Sangheili. "Your time is over, Humanity, the RSN and the Council will all be brushed aside. The evidence is here, one of your mighty Zealots slain in one on one combat."

"Your words are hollow!" Viluse shouted in rage as he opened fire on the moving chopper, his shots impacting on Sukron's shields. "You are outnumbered and your allies are little more than a government of thugs, rouge machines and a sterile race."

"A sterile race?" Sukron questioned before letting out a booming laugh. "A Sterile race?" he repeated. "You have no idea do out?"

"Words make little sense, elaborate," Mordin said as he leaned out of cover to fire a stream of bursts at Sukron, who in turn fired his fuel rod cannons, forcing both Mordin and Viluse back into cover.

"I know your face," Sukron said, staring at where Mordin had been seconds ago. "Mordin Solus? HA! Oh this day just keeps getting better and better. Tell me professor, why do you think the Krogan joined the Coalition, in fact, ask yourself why the Jiralhanae would take on a lowly populated and disorganized species?"

Sukron looked incredibly pleased with himself as he announced. "It is because we did them a favor, a rather large favor at that. The Krogan Genophage is no more, Rason over there cured it!"

Viluse's eyes widened in shock as Sukron's words reverberated inside his ears. First Ramos and now this?

"Impossible," Mordin said, raising his voice as he remained in cover. "Would take years to design Genophage cure, even longer with no base data."

"Ah, but we had years didn't we? All that time we spent kidding in our territory. Did you honestly think that we spent it sipping cold drinks? We were preparing, preparing for war. And you are right, it would require base data." As he spoke, Sukron reached into a slot in his armor and drew out a thin case.

"I am very fortunate that this was not damaged in the fire. It's a little moment from the one that helped us cure the Genophage. Here!" he shouted, throwing the case like a disk into the garage. "Take a close look at it, you might recognize it."

"SUKRON!" Rason shouted as he flipped his chopper into an upright position. "You fool we went to so much trouble to keep that a secret and you blurt it out like that? If you were not such an effective military commander Tritus would have had you decapitated by now."

"Spare me your whining, they would have found out sooner or later, it would have only been a matter of time until they scanned the body of a Krogan," Sukron said in an uninterested voice.

"What do you two think that you are doing?" Benezia shouted as her Asari Commandos began to reenter the Demon. "Why do we remain here? We must go!" As she finished her sentence, she climbed into the Demon herself as it sped off towards Port Hanshan. Rason glared at Sukron who ignored him as the both wheeled about and followed after them.

Viluse abandoned his cover as he fired at Rason's fleeing chopper, a fire in his eyes as he pulled down on the trigger again and again and again, even thought it wasn't long before his shots started to go astray from the distance. Even as Rason become little more than a speck, he pulled the trigger again, only to find that his rifle was empty. "YOU MOTHERLESS BASTARD!" he bellowed, swearing at Rason as his rage filled him.

While he was doing this, Mordin approached the case the Sukron had thrown, picking it gingerly off of the floor. Opening the airtight cause he saw what was inside. A severed Salarian finger. Immediately Mordin raised his omni-tool, running scans on the finger. As the results popped up, Mordin's face became even whiter than it already was. "Maelon," he whispered."

Author's Note: Well that wraps up the action bases events of Noveria, after the next chapter I'll have a time skip and then an arc that I have been DYING to do. I'll be honest, I hated writing about Noveria, I felt...limited, like there was only so many things that I could do. I'm going to let my imagination run wild next arc. Remember, I always appreciate reviews, and remember to comment about my idea about a compilation of Arby n the Chief one shots.

On another hand...wow, 150k words and I still have so much to do. Well...I plan on writing and I hope that you continue to give me feedback. Thanks guys, your support makes this all worth while.


	46. Plans

Chapter 46

Plans

Author's Note: Heh, what would I do without you guys. I've gotten a tidal wave of reviews reassuring me that I'm doing a good job, and those you didn't gave me a good bit of constructive criticism. I plan on implementing it as best I can. Like I said last chapter, this will be wrapping up loose ends before a time skip. Warning, things are going to get a LOT more violent, with a LOT of more casualties. Let me just say this, I don't think that I've been making it clear that this is a war, I plan to fix this next arc.

"I see," a flickering hologram of Tritus said. Rason was standing in the communications room of the Assault Carrier, the _Cunning Maneuver, _which was currently in slipspace_._ He and the rest of his forces and arrived at Port Hanshan and encountered little resistance as Empire dropships retrieved them before the Coalition fleet made their retreat.. Eighteen of their ships had been destroyed, but Rason was not bothered as the Alliance had lost twenty-four of their own ships. "You were forced to abandon the Rachni Queen?"

"Yes, the Alliance was overwhelming our position, had I remained we would have suffered total annihilation."

"Very well," Tritus said, I see that the circumstances that governed this battle were well beyond your control, our position there was meant to never be given away. I must strengthen our measures against information leaks."

"Tritus," Rason started, "I would like to talk to you about what I mentioned earlier."

Tritus scowled. "Yes, Sukron revealing the current nature of the Genophage, I am glad that you brought this to my attention, it gives me comfort to know that there are those that I can rely on."

"What do you plan to do?"

Tritus sighed. "As much as it pains me there is nothing I can do over such a matter. If I was to move against him, Sukron would make the argument that the Alliance would have found out about the Genophage cure as soon as they examined a Krogan corpse in detail. You are also well aware that Sukron has many supporters, many Ministers favor his concept of total warfare while Metal Fist is his private army, loyal to him and not to Empire." Tritus scowled. "Since he formed them himself in the Civil War it is not much of a surprise. I only allied with him in the war because I desperately needed allies, and now I only keep him in good favor to prevent the Jiralhanae from once again descending into civil war."

"Why did you even create the Ministry? The Empire can well manage without it." The Ministry was the civilian portion of the Jiralhanae Empire, comprised of a board of Ministers, each of which represented a different Jiralhanae planet. While the Emperor and the Supreme Commanders were the official leaders of the Empire and had much power, the Ministry was not without influence. While the Emperor could very well act without the Ministry's support, it would be much easier to do so with the Ministry's support, as they governed civilians while the Emperor and the Supreme Commanders managed the military.

"I am not a tyrant Rason," Tritus countered. "If I were to hold total power over all Jiralhanae, there would be chaos, discord, revolution. The Ministry gives civilians some power, enough for them to be satisfied and shape their own lives, but not enough for them to completely stonewalled. While I want the Jiralhanae to thrive, I also want them to be free, oppression by one Jiralhanae is no better than oppression by another race, in fact it is even worse to be put down by one of your own."

"Still, it gives Sukron power to act with the support of the people, I am not comfortable with that monster on the lose." Rason sighed. "But I suppose that there is no alternative."

Tritus nodded. "I want you to set a course to Altena , Xeron and I will meet you there."

"Altena?" he questioned. "Why would you have me return to the core of our territory this early in the war?"

"I have work for you," Tritus said as he held up his right hand, several vials of blood in it.

"What are those?"

"Blood samples…from Subject Zero."

Rason's eyes widened as Tritus smiled. "You mean…"

"Yes, I do believe the time has finally come for Xeron to receive his own specialist division. We have hundreds of biotic trainees on Altena as you very well know, but ever since the disaster of our first generation with all but Xeron dying we have put it off…until now. Imagine what you can do with these samples Rason."

"I do not need to, as a matter of fact you will not even believe what I will accomplish. It may take months to prepare the implants and drugs, but with all of the training our trainees have received, they will be battle ready as soon as they have recovered from the treatment."

"Yes. Rason I must ask you a favor. Xeron's condition," Rason was surprised to see that Xeron actually looked worried. "Is there...is there any chance that you can-"

"I will do everything in my power to find a cure for him. Perhaps with the blood samples, I will be able to discover how his immune system was compromised to let the virus in and find a way to counteract it."

"It does not make any sense," Tritus muttered, "What kind of damage could have been done to allow only a specific type of virus in?"

"I do not know," Rason admitted "I have studded it extensively, yet I know nothing about it. It is...shameful really," he said bitterly. "I am supposed to be the greatest medical mind of the Empire, yet I cannot stop a simple virus, one that I created through my own blunder. If I had been more extensive with my study on Subject Zero-"

"Rason," Tritus interrupted, smiling slightly as he looked at the Supreme Commander. "Enough. Xeron knew the risk when he volunteered for the implants, as did the rest of his generation. Stop blaming yourself for it."

"I am sorry," Rason muttered.

"Do not be old friend." Rason gave a small smile as he looked at Tritus.

Unbeknownst to both of them, within the depths of the ship, Sukron had set up a holographic projector, which was emitting a hologram of a heavily scarred Turian. "I see you are still alive," Saren said harshly as he took on Sukron's knew appearance, "I must admit I am surprised."

Sukron's artificial fist tightened as he glared at Saren. "You certainly have little faith in your allies."

Saren ignored him. "Do your comrades suspect anything."

Sukron gave a nasty grin. "Not a thing."

"Good, remember, uphold your end of the bargain, and I will uphold mine."

XXXXX

Liara poked her head into Rebecca's room to see that Neriena was still holding the Russian, who's sobbing had calmed. "Um," she said, slipping into the room, holding a bottle of pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other. "I...I got the medicine."

"Thank you dear," Neriena said as Liara placed both the pills and the water on Rebecca's bedside table. "There, there," she said, gently rubbing her daughter's back. "It's ok."

"Thanks Mom," Rebecca whispered gently as she took a pill and popped it into her mouth, washing it down with the water. "I feel a little better."

Neriena nodded. "Now get some sleep, you'll probably feel better after a couple of hours of sleep."

"In a bit," Rebecca said weakly, "I really don't think that I could get to sleep even if I wanted to."

"Um," Liara said, uncertain if she was intruding or not. "If you don't mind me asking, and feel free to stop me if I go to far, but what exactly did you dream about?"

"Are you serious?" Neriena snapped, causing Liara to flinch. "She's in the middle of an emotional meltdown and you expect her to go into full detail over events that traumatized her so badly she has nightmares about them to this very-"

"Mom," Rebecca said, cutting across her mother. "It's ok. I...I need to talk about these kinds of things."

"Are you sure?" Neriena questioned, looking at her daughter protectively. "You had nightmares for months about this, I can tell that Liara is an innocent Maiden, but you don't need to-"

"No. I...I trusted her. She saw the Acolyte doing...you know." The very mentioning of the Acolyte's name causing Neriena's hands to tighten into fists, and her mouth to form into a grimace. "I...had a nightmare about Elysium. You remember how I told you about it?" Liara nodded.

"Elizabeth Conner and I were making a run for a Pelican, but the it had too take off before we got there. I had to jump for it and she was right behind me. I tried to grab her and pull her in, but a Flood pierced...pierced her right t-through the chest. I tried to hold on b-but the t-two of them combined were were just too heavy." Tears began to form behind the Russian's eyes. "I dropped her. Because of that we c-couldn't even bury her properly, the UNSC b-bombarded the planet right after that. I couldn't even...I couldn't even."

Liara nodded, taking the strain off of Rebecca. "This Elizabeth Conner, it sounds like she was very close to you. Were you and her..."

"Yes," Rebecca whispered. "We...yes."

"I'm sorry," Liara said. "I wish that I could have met her."

"So do I," Rebecca said, blinking back tears. For a solid minute the three of them sat in silence, simply staring at each other. "If you don't mind I think I'd like and try to get some sleep."

"All right dear," Neriena said, kissing Rebecca lightly on the cheek. "If you ever need me you know where my room is." Rebecca nodded as she slid into her bed, Liara and Neriena standing up and walking out of the room.

"I'm sorry that I snapped at you," Neriena said sincerely, looking at Liara. "It's just that my poor girl has been through a lot, and let me tell you I'm fucking sick of it. That motherfucker the Acolyte is lucky that he got killed in orbital bombardment, because if I got my hands on him...GAH!" she shouted, slamming her fist into the wall as a biotic aura surrounded it, leaving a dent in it.

"I understand. On Feros after...it happened I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at her. She just looked so..." Liara paused as she looked for the right word. "Broken. All we can do is be patient and be gentle around her, this wounds will take time to heal."

"I know," Neriena sighed. "I just feel so damn helpless."

"Tell me," Liara said, trying to change toe subject to something a little more lighthearted. "How did you end up adopting her?"

A smile played around Neriena's face. "Oh I doubt that I'll ever forget that day. After I turned down my Spectre candacey and became a C-Sec agent, and some time after some Humans starting living on the Citadel, I found a little baby girl at one of the orphanages on the station. She was sleeping when I walked up to her, and when she finally woke up she just gave me the cutest little gurgle." Neriena smiled as she reveled in her memories. "Let me tell you something, Humans grown up so fast. I swear one day she asked me to get a box of cookies off of the top shelf, and when I turned around to give it to her there was a fully grown woman looking at me."

Liara smiled. "Why did you adopt a child?"

"Is too much to believe that I was feeling lonely?" Neriena asked. "For some reason I was always lousy at dating, I think it might have had something to do with my Turian father. I was just on patrol that day and...something about her just struck me. I filled out the papers the next day." Liara stared at Neriena with an odd look on her face. "Oh what do you want from me?" Neriena said defensively, "I was in the middle of my Matron stage."

"Whatever you say," Liara said, grinning slightly as she walked off.

"The Hell is that supposed to mean?"

XXXXX

"Iasa, please tell me that this is a cruel sick joke," Isonia pleaded. She was standing in the cargo bay of the _Righteous Justice_, which was still in orbit above Noveria, staring at her daughter.

"I am afraid that it is not mother," she said sadly, "There was a Rachni Queen on Noveria, and I released it."

Isonia rubbed her forehead in exasperation. "I do not need more bad news today Iasa. The Coalition forces on the planet escaped, dozens of Alliance operatives are dead, one of the RSN's finest Zealots was killed, and as if that wasn't enough, I learn that my own daughter may have very well doomed the millions possibly billions." Isonia glared at Iasa. "Explain yourself."

"The Rachni Queen spoke to me, she claimed that the Rachni were not responsible for the war."

"Have you ever considered that she lied to you Iasa?" Isonia asked through gritted mandibles, "Are you truly that gullible? You believed that they were not responsible for the countless deaths the caused when the invaded the Council's territory after only an extremely minor case of being provoked?" Isonia shook her head. "I thought I raised you better than this."

"I stand by my choice, I did what I thought was the right thing to do."

"You do release that I will have to speak with the RSN council about this do you not? You will be put on trial for war crimes and treason against the RSN, and from my point of view there is little hope that you will not be convicted. You may receive the death sentence. You must know this and yet you made a decision that I would expect an adolescent to make. I had such expectations for you, I was so proud of you when you enlisted in the armed forces, when you served during The Stab, and when you were promoted to an officer. Why would you throw everything away like this!" she shouted, loosing her patience.

"Oh I apologize mother," Iasa said dryly. "The next time I encounter an endangered intelligent species I will be sure to wipe them out next time."

"The Rachni are insects, they think like insects, in unison, their objectives never change. The data we've collected from Peak 15 suggest that they actually pass their memories from parent to child, the Queen has memories of her entire race being wiped out, why would you throw away everything away like this?"

"You wish to know why? Very well, because it reminded me of the Human-Covenant war." Isonia blinked. "Billions killed because of misunderstandings and the corruption of a handful. The Rachni Queen said something about her people being affected by a sour yellow note, could there not be a possibility that something affected them to do what they did? An element that they are now free of?"

Isonia was about to open her mouth to shout again when Iasa something Iasa said sent alarms off in her head. "What did you say?" she asked, not sure if she had heard correctly. "The Queen said what?"

Iasa looked surprised at how the anger had vanished from the her words. "She said that her people were clouded by a sour yellow note."

'No,' Iasa thought. 'It could not be them...could it?' "Iasa what I am about to tell you is not to leave this room. Do you know how the San 'Shyuum were wiped out?"

"Yes," Iasa replied, hopelessly confused as to how this had become a history lesson. "In the crossfire between the Loyalists and the Separatists _High Charity_ was destroyed."

"No," Iasa said. "_High Charity_ was infected, by the Flood."

"The what?"

"A race of parasitic organisms that were the cause of the fall of the Forerunners. They infect organic races and gain control of their host in a matter of seconds while also absorbing all information in the hosts bodies. They are a top level threat to all major governments and restricted information to anyone below the rank of Captain or Shipmaster."

"Then why are you telling me this?"

"Because It may very well save your life. Correct me if I am wrong, but Rachni are controlled by the queens correct?" Iasa nodded. "And there is no recorded contact between Rachni Queens and other intelligent races apart from when the Krogan invaded their home territory to destroy them correct?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"Is it not possible that the Rachni declared war on the galaxy because they were infected by the Flood? It would be very effective of them, they would only need to infect the queens and then they would be able to control the entire species with ease. Say perhaps a badly weakened strain of the Flood found the Rachni and infected one of the queens. They dared not fight on the front lines themselves due to revealing themselves, or perhaps they were found by the Rachni in an unearthed Forerunner relic on a planet proved to be incompatible with Flood reproduction but they dare not leave for fear of being discovered and losing what they had gained, I do not know."

"What is more Krogan are unreliable witnesses when in a killing frenzy, which they were almost always in. They could have killed all of the infected Rachni, never understanding what they truly were, while the egg that the Coalition found was untainted by the parasite."

"What does this mean?"

"It means...that you may have been right to free the Rachni, but I do not know for certain. There is something suspicious about this though and the pieces fit together." Isonia put her hand on Iasa shoulder. "Why did you not contact me about this? I could have helped you."

"I was afraid that the RSN would order her killed. Besides, even if you did help me free the Rachni, you would have just been dragged down with me."

Isonia chuckled. "You really do act like an adolescent sometimes. I must still report this to the RSN council but I will stand beside you now. There is still a chance of repercussion for you but now you have a defense. Oh and Iasa, never do something like this without my consent again, it will save a great deal of suffering for everyone."

"Yes mother."

"Then again, perhaps you wanted all the credit for yourself," Isonia teased, "did the thoughts of you becoming a legend to the Rachni seem overly appealing?"

"MOTHER!" Isonia laughed. It never got any harder.

Author's Note: Someone mentioned that I wasn't giving enough character development to some of my OCs, so I decided while I was wrapping things up to do a little bit of that, and frankly I'm kind of happy with how it came out. I imagine you're wondering why I updated this so fast. To be blunt, I'm excited, I am really freaking excited. I cannot wait to get going on the next part of my story, finally I can let my creativity run free and do some truly awesome things. Oh I hope that you like it as much as I will.

By the way I want to talk about something that bothers me with the Rachni. You release them after a five minute conversation (I guess that's all the convincing you need) and the Council tells you off for about thirty seconds than never brings it up again, IT'S KIND OF A BIG DEAL. Jeez, and people said how the UNSC helped the Quarians in this story was unrealistic.

Oh one more thing. Thanks guys.


	47. Changing Tides

Chapter 47

Changing Tides

Author's note: Someone mentioned in a review that my story was a tad narrow sighted and he really didn't get the broad picture of the war. I have a feeling that the beginning of this chapter will change that little problem. A time skip, a new setting, and an arc that I have been DYING to write. Whew, let's do this.

May 15, 2634: Skirmish over Tuchanka: An Asari Republics scout cruiser was investigating the Aralakh system for Krogan activity when it encountered a Blood Pack patrol fleet. The cruiser opened fire on the Blood Pack ships until it sustained damage to it's CIC and was forces to retreat. Before it left the system though, it read that the population of Krogan on the planet had massively decreased, suggesting a massive migration.

Causality report:

Asari: 57

Krogan: 900

Vorcha: 1500

May 27, 2634: The raid of Temeria: A Batarian Hegemony raider fleet launched an assault on the Turian Hierarchy colony Temeria, easily crushing the defensive fleet as they outnumbered them 3 to 1. Afterwards the Batarians began to bombard the colony's cities from high orbit, forcing the civilians to flee into the surrounding forests, where the Batarians deployed ground forces to capture them to be made into slaves. For twelve hours the Batarians attempted to capture Turian civilians, but met heavy resistance as the Turians fought back using small arms and makeshift bombs. Finally, the Batarians, satisfied with their catch and worried that reinforcements would soon arrive, left the system.

Causality report:

Batarians: 10,000

Turians: 205,704

Turians taken prisoner: 5247

June 2, 2634: The Infiltration of the Veil: The Salarian Union sends an expedition fleet beyond the Perseus Veil for the first time in centuries, with the objective of collecting Geth intelligence. The fleet managed to avoid detection for a week before they were finally detected by a patrol fleet. The Salarians engaged in the Geth, destroying several ships and an orbital station before retreated due to losses. They were able to gain vast amounts of data, but it is heavily encrypted and will take months to decode, even with a Smart A.I.

Causality report: Salarians: 9547

Geth platforms: 1.2 million

Geth programs: 2.7 million

June 7, 2634: Marauder Ambush: An RSN launches an attack on an Empire outpost on the edge of it's territory only to find that it had already been destroyed, with evidence of plasma burns on the debris. Three days earlier, the outpost had been attacked by the Marauders, who attacked with overwhelming numbers, destroying half of the Empire ships present and capturing the rest. The Empire's force was completely wiped out.

Causality report:

Jiralhanae (Empire): 20,000

Kig-Yar: 40,000

Yanme'e: 50,000

Jiralhanae (Marauder): 4187

3 frigates, 2 destroyers and 5 CCS-battlecruisers captured by the Marauders.

June 10 2634: Turian campaign against the Batarians: Out of rage of the attack on Temeria, the Hierarchy launches a brutal counter attack against the Hegemony, stampeding across their territory. Within two months they have successfully captured and occupied 9 Hegemony planets, via heavy bombardment and all out attacks.

Causality report:

Turian: 952,871

Batarian: 2.75 million

June 20, 2634: Destruction of the colony Stronghold: The UNSC mining colony Stronghold, a barren planet spotted with domed cities so that the planet's rich reserves of ore could be easily mined, is attacked by the Empire. The defensive fleet desperately tired to defeat the invading forces and cover evacuation ships, the UNSC fleet was destroyed and the colony glassed. 90% of the planet's population was killed.

Casualty report:.

Human: 534,249

Quarian: 1,249

Jiralhanae: 15,000

Kig-Yar: 20,000

Yanme'e: 25,000

June 27, 2634: Raid of Thessia: Desperate for a moral victory, the Batarians launch a raid on the Asari homeworld. Their original plan was to slip through holes in the orbital defense, capture a handful of civilians and retreat. As they entered the system and deployed their dropships, it became apparent that the Asari had doubled the size of their home fleet. The Batarian fleet was quickly destroyed and the ground forces surrounded which members of which either surrendered or were exterminated. Despite the best efforts of the Republics, several civilians were killed with there being accounts of rape in the area the Hegemony landed in.

Causality report:

Asari: 3124

Batarian: 18,000

Destruction of Empire assault fleet: With assistance from the _Normandy _the UNSC locates the fleet responsible for the destruction of Stronghold. An armada let by Fleet Admiral David Anderson ambushed the fleet, succeeding in the near total destruction of it. Anderson's Marathon-class cruiser (the _Archangel_ ) was reported to have 5 kills.

Causality report:

Human: 31,576

Quarian: 1,597

Jiralhanae: 150,000

Kig-Yar: 200,000

Yamne'e 250,000

July 5, 2634: Deep space Sting against Blood Pack: An Asari fleet is sent deep into the Terminus systems to attack a Krogan mining facility. They succeed in doing so by bombarding the facility from high orbit as well as destroying several docked ships before they had the chance to take off before retreating.

Causality report:

Asari: 957

Krogan 18,000

Vorcha: 26,000

July 14, 2634: The Battle of Pegasi Delta: The Jiralhanae Empire, in a joint assault with the Geth, launch an assault on the RSN mining and refueling outpost at Pegasi Delta, which had been rebuilt since the Human Covenant War. The two fleets clashed over the planets surface, with the Coalition fleet briefly breaking through the RSN's lines and bombarding the instillation before being repelled. Although it survived the outpost took heavy damage during the battle. It is estimated that it will be months before it is operational again.

Causality Report:

Sangheili: 124,917

Unggoy: 249,275

Mgalekgolo: 79,249 (812,947 Lekgolo)

Jiralhanae: 94,000

Kig-Yar: 175,000

Yamne'e: 125,000

Geth platforms: 64,000

Geth programs: 0

July 25, 2634: Battle of the Unnamed Moon: A RSN scout fleet was scouting one of the uninhabited systems that lies between Empire and RSN space. Unfortunately an Empire fleet was scouting the same sector the two fleets clashed in orbit of a barren moon. The Empire fleet initially suffered heavy casualties, but as it retreated it deployed a timed anti-matter charge to the surface of the moon. The resulting explosion destroyed half of the moon and the majority of the RSN fleet via the explosion and the debris from the moon.

Causality report:

Sangheili: 161,014

Unggoy: 224,304

Mgalekgolo: 24,367 (264,647 Lekgolo)

Jiralhanae: 79,000

Kig-Yar: 149,000

Yamne'e: 178,000

August 4 2634: Present Day.

Taylor whistled as he looked out of the starboard observation deck of the _Normandy_. A milky white slipspace rupture tore open and four dozen RSN ships exited it before it closed. "That's the ninth battle-group this week, somethings up." As he spoke he turned to face Tali, who stood beside him. "Any ideas?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, but there's a couple hundred ships here from every major power in the Alliance, whatever's going on it must be big."

"From what I heard there's going to be some sort of offensive," Jacob said, standing to Taylor's left, "and Heaven's the rally point. After all why would the Council and the RSN deploy so many ships this far behind enemy lines?" Ever since Feros, Ashley Williams and her few remaining men, numbering around a couple dozen, had been folded into the crew of the _Normandy_. This was to compensate for the Normandy's smaller than usual crew, which was supposed to have been expanded after it's maiden voyage, but the outbreak of the war had sent the experimental frigate scurrying. Fleet Admiral Anderson had decided then that Ashley Williams would make a decent ground commander for the Normandy's grounds teams, and that the rest of her men would be a helpful addition to the crew with their combat experience

"We haven't heard a peep from Shepard though," Taylor muttered, watching as the RSN ships fell into formation with the other Alliance ships in orbit above Haven. "She would have told us something unless it was vital to the war, Hell, everyone would know if it unless it was."

"I asked Ashley the other day and she told me that she didn't know anything about all the movement," Sarah said as she got up from where she sat, looking at her brother. "It could be that Jane doesn't know anything either. You know I heard that Admiral Elizabeth Hall was in command of the UNSC fleet here. If anyone knows what's going on it's her."

"Well we can't exactly take a minute out of her day to ask her now can we?" Tali asked dryly.

Sarah chuckled. "I guess not," she said, bringing up her omni-tool as she began to type into it. "Huh, there's a news article on the Extranet. It looks like it's about Feros, some reporter is apparently talking about it."

Sarah typed into her omni-tool again and it projected a holographic screen in the middle of the air, the others turning to watch it. The picture was that of a dark skinned woman in a navy blue dress, standing outside of a UNSC instillation."

"This is Khalisah al-Jilani from Westerlund News, coming to you live outside of the UNSC base on Reach where I just finished an interview with the well renowned President Issac Richards, who was visiting the soldiers in an attempt to boost morale."

"Glad to see that we've got Richards to balance out Udina," Sarah muttered. "Why the Hell did he even pick that SOB as his VP?"

"Richards takes the middle path between Conservatism and Liberalism, he wanted Udina to get the votes of the more right wing Conservatives," Taylor whispered.

"President Richards however was very reluctant to answer any questions on the recent battle at the colony Feros. As you all know the colony was abandoned after a mere twelve hours of fighting. When asked why the colony had been abandoned so early, the President quickly changed the subject."

"Many suspect that this was an act of cowardice, and that the commanding officer of the Marine garrison on Feros lost his or her nerve and ordered a total retreat, adding another planet to the hundreds of Human worlds that have been devastated by aliens. It is also worth noting that the Asari Republics had a military presence on the planet, which begs the question of why they were so willing to retreat as well. Experts agree that a coordinated counterattack could have driven the Coalition forces off of the planet and out of Human territory."

"There was, however, no counterattack of any kind. Both the UNSC and the Republics made no move secure the planet or to reinforce it. Instead both of their ground forces ran while the Coalition glassed the planet, completely destroying any and all UEG settlements on the planets. Feros ay have been a small colony, but it was still part of the UEG's territory, and it was practically handed over to the Coalition, which begs the question, how will they view this?"

"How will the Coalition react to the UNSC abandoning Feros with only the faintest of fights? How will they react to the knowledge that President Richards is unable to organize proper defenses? The answer is obvious, they will be further encouraged to attack other UNSC colonies, believing that they will not be properly defended. This can already be seen with the destruction of the colony Stronghold, which need I remind you-"

"Oh turn that shit off Sarah," Taylor swore, a look of disgust on his face. He was not the only one, all four of them were looking at the holo of al-Jilani with disgust as Sarah deactivated it.

"Is that woman serious?" Tali asked, a look of outrage on her face.

"I'm afraid so," Sarah said grimly. "It's absurd. The Coalition outnumbered us 5 to 1. Ashley had to make a tough call, she could've ordered a counter attack and with the Normandy's stealth systems we might have pulled it off, but practically all of our forces would have died in the process, and for what? A backwater colony? She might not have any books written after her for it but she saved a lot of lives that day. It was like...it was like..." Sarah paused, searching for a proper analogy.

"Dunkirk?" Jacob suggested.

"Exactly," Sarah said, looking grateful. "Admittedly on a smaller scale and no where near as awe inspiring but the basic policy is there."

"I know what you mean Sarah. People like us are fighting for our lives so that civilians can sleep soundly at night. A lot of them give us at least some respect, but most of them can't even bother with a simple thank you on Veteran's Day. Then's there people like her who take five minutes to throw together a smear story to make a quick buck. What that broad doesn't seem to understand, or maybe she just doesn't care, is that if we had stayed on Feros, we would all be dead or look like you two." Jacob gestured at Taylor and Tali, mainly at the thin white scars on the fronts of their faces. "No offense."

"None taken," they both replied.

The four of them continued to talk, unaware just how radically their lives would change in the next 24 hours, for better or worse.

XXXXX

Within the confines of a towering skyscraper , within a massive city that stretched on for miles, on the Jiralhanae colony world of Altena, Xeron looked at the biotic aura covering his hands with interest. He was standing in the middle of a massive lab filled to the brim with various pieces of equipment and machines. "Xeron." The biotic Jiralhanae looked up to see Rason and Tritus approaching him. "How are your new organs adjusting?" Rason asked. "I do hope that these ones are better, I am running out of donors, the morgue is half empty because of you."

Xeron smiled. "They are fine, thank you Rason. My cough seems so have stopped and I no longer feel the pain."

Rason frowned. "I was able to temporally weaken the virus with the data from Subject Zero's blood sample, but in time it will adapt and regain it's full strength. I was only able to buy you a few more years, if you wish to truly be cured I will have to continue my research. Also I was able to develop this." As he spoke, Rason held out a belt of syringes filled with a faintly pink liquid. "With the exception of Serum 16, all of the stimulants that I created killed sample cells, but I was finally able to devise this, Serum 43. It is not as powerful as Serum 16, but it will not accelerate your condition."

Xeron looked at the belt with interest. "There are no drawbacks then?"

"Unfortunately no. Like Serum 16 it will still cause massive amounts of aggression, and the pain that you will feel during use will still be there."

Xeron sighed. "An acceptable drawback," he said as he took the belt, wrapping it around his shoulder, underneath his robes."

"Xeron," Tritus said sternly, looking at the biotic.

"What?" Xeron asked, looking confused.

"Why do you still have your Serum 16 doses? I told you to destroy them."

"With all due respect Tritus, Serum 16 has served me well on numerous occasions. It has saved my life and ensured the future security of the Empire."

"Yes and because of it the number of days you had left to live were measured in the hundreds not too long ago," Tritus snapped, glaring at Xeron. "I do not understand why you have so little regard for your own health.'

"Tritus, my physical condition is trivial compared to the safety of the Jiralhanae people. What difference does it make if I-"

"I will tell you what difference it makes if you die," Tritus said angrily. "You are one of my four Supreme Commanders, the leadership of the Empire. The only one that I trust more than you is Rason and I need people that I can trust behind me, alive and well. Ultimas is a loyal warrior but I do not truly know him and the day I trust Sukron is the day I read a poem to a Thresher Maw, at least it would not torment me before eating me."

Xeron gave a small smile before bowing slightly. "Very well."

"I do not approve of his acts of cannibalism and the consumption of other intelligent races," Rason said with disgust, looking a Tritus. "I thought that you outlawed that. He is a permanent reminder of what we were during the Tribal Wars."

"Believe me Rason, the day that I can do it and not spark another revolution I will personally rib Sukron's limbs off and cut out his internal organs one by one. He should thank me, that would be tame compared to what he and the rest of Metal Fist does to their victims."

"Speaking of Metal Fist," Rason said, turning back to Xeron. "I trust that you remember how you are the only Supreme Commander without a specialist division? That little problem has been rectified."

"What do you-"

Tritus smiled as he interrupted Xeron. "Follow us." In perfect unison, the two Jiralhanae turned and began to walk out of the lab, Xeron hesitating before following. They exited the lab and entered an neighboring room that was filled with all kinds of training equipment, specifically for biotics. In the very middle where 250 Jiralhanae all wearing the same hooded robes as Xeron. All of their hoods were pulled down to reveal their shaven heads and soft facial expressions. Just like Xeron, they were all very young.

"Xeron," Tritus said gesturing to the Jiralhanae. "Over the past three months, Rason has been working nonstop on the samples we acquired, and it has finally bore fruit. Every last Jiralhanae you see before is a biotic that has finally received his or her implants and is finally combat ready. They have all heard stories about you, the first biotic Jiralhanae, and they are ready to follow you wherever you lead them."

"It my not be as large as the other specialist divisions," Rason added, "but considering that they are biotic super soldiers, I do believe that the lack of numbers does not matter as much. We will do our best continue to recruit more biotics into the military and as soon as they are ready they will be deployed to your command Xeron."

"How powerful are they?"

"Unfortunately they fall short of your level, but they still are very impressive. I would say that on average, their levels are equal to that of an Asari Matriarch. You should know that the females tend to spike to a slightly lower level than the males, but for some reason when they take Serum 43 they become stronger than the males do." He shook his head. "I need to run more tests."

Xeron seemed to ignore Rason as he walked towards the biotics. He stopped in front of them and gave them a small bow, which they instantly returned. "Greetings. I am Xeron. I am honored that you have all chosen to place your life in my hands to protect the innocent of the Empire." The biotics said nothing, although most of them smiled. "Tell me Tritus, what are they called as a unit?"

"That is for you to decide now is it not? Ultimas, Rason and Sukron all named their divisions."

Xeron paused before nodding and turning back to face the biotics. For a long time he stood there, deep in thought. Then a look of realization broke across his face. "You will be known as the Blood Brothers, for among us we are all family. Are there any objections?" All of the Blood Brothers shook their heads. "Very well. Brothers, sisters I look forward to fighting alongside you in combat."

Xeron had no idea how very soon that would be.

Author's Note: I want to get this out there right now, this story will not be a political essay. I am not bashing or glorifying Conservatives (Hell I have some Conservative viewpoints) and I am not bashing or glorifying Liberals. This isn't like Starship Troopers or The Forever War, there may be some subtle political messages, but they'll make up a very small amount of the story.

The Blood Brothers are born, the fourth and without a doubt deadliest of the specialist divisions. By the way, next chapter something BIG is going down. What you may ask? Hehehe, you'll see.


	48. Frontline Battles

Chapter 48

Frontline Battles

Author's Note: Jesus H Christ. I just was on Yahoo and...really people, you're rioting in Vancouver because the Bruins won? What are you five? I mean I'm glad the Bruins won (I live in Massachusetts) but...dear God. Now I know that not all Canadians are like this and this is just from a very small minority. A very vocal minority, but a minority all the less. To all my Canadian viewers, you have every right to be disgusted with these people, and if you live in Vancouver riot area, try to get some pictures for the police. Unless you were part of the riots that is, in that case get off of your computer and go kill yourself. I haven't been this ashamed since people were rioting in Boston when the Red Sox made it to the world series in 04. Well, ignoring this appalling display and disgrace to Canadians everywhere, let's continue with this story. Oh one more thing, any Canuck fans that weren't out rioting...good game.

Elizabeth Hall relaxed in the chair of her new ship, the Marathon-class cruiser the _Midway_, as she sipped from a cup of coffee. Her ship was at the head of the fleet that orbited Haven, fully fueled and armed. A lot of time had passed since the Second Contact War and it showed. Her once blonde had was beginning to gray and the faintest trace of wrinkles could be seen on her face. Her mind however, had yet to dull which is why she had been given command of this mission. "How much long Sarah?" she asked, looking at her armrest.

The avatar of the Smart A.I. materialized, looking at the Admiral. "All ships are accounted for, all 457. I estimate that we will be able to move out in no more than three hours once all of the supplies are transferred to the fleet."

Hall nodded. "Very well, as soon as we are ready send out a fleet wide message to jump to slipspace and head for the target. Admiral Nelson left Reach twelve hours ago to head for his target and I want there to be a bit of lag. While he's hitting his planet, the Jiralhanae will no doubt send reinforcements from existing deployments to repel him, our target included."

"Understood Elizabeth, I will...there's is an incoming transmission from the RSN Super-carrier the _Just Vengeance_."

Hall felt her heart jump into her throat. The commander of the _Vengeance_ was- "Very well put him through."

Sarah nodded as static began to crackle in Hall's COM unit. "Ah Admiral, I am glad that you were able to find time to speak with me."

"There's no problem Arbiter, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I thought it would only be right if I warned you that I attacked several Jiralhanae worlds during the Great Schism," Thel replied. "I know better than anyone that they defend their homes viciously. They do not care if they live or die so long as they defend their territory and kill you in the process. I know that you have combat experience but the Jiralhanae are far more dangerous than the Turians."

Hall couldn't help but give a weak smile. "Thanks for the advice Arbiter, I'm glad that you're the one commanding the RSN forces on this strike."

"I considered giving it to Rtas after his promotion to Grand Fleetmaster, but he insisted that I go instead while he guarded the homeworld."

"Shame, I met Rtas and I would have liked to meet him-"

"Elizabeth I am picking up multiple slipspace ruptures," Sarah said suddenly.

"What? I thought that you said that all of the Alliance ships had already arrived."

"They have, there aren't any other ships scheduled to enter the system."

"Admiral are you picking up unusual slipspace ruptures as well?" Thel asked over the COM lines, concern in his voice.

"You are too? What is going on here, did the RSN decide to send extra ships?"

"I would have been notified, as you would have been if they had been UNSc ships sent to...oh Staliu. This the the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam to all RSN ships, raise your shields and charge your weapons! We are under attack!" Hall felt something drop in her stomach as she turned to look at the viewscreen. Sure enough, massive purple Empire warships were emerging from the slipspace ruptures, smaller Batarian, Geth and Krogan ships behind them, having apparently piggybacked through the Jiralhanae ship's ruptures. There were easily hundreds of enemy ships, with three massive super-carriers in the middle of the throng.

"Oh Jesus Christ," Hall whispered before her hand flew to her COM unit. "Admiral Hall to all UNSC forces. Raise shields, load Archers and spin up MAC rounds, the Coalition is attacking! Get the Super MAC platforms loaded and start targeting capital ships, I want the fleet to form a standard defensive position above the planet, no hostiles get through. Deploy all of your ground forces to the planet's surface."

The last order seemed a little odd compared to the rest of them but it was actually standard procedure for all defensive planetary sieges. In space, with the exception of boarding parties, all land forces would be pointlessly destroyed if the ship carrying them was destroyed. The UNSC learned this lesson quickly in the early years of the Human-Covenant War and began deployed all forces in space to the planet's surface where they would be able to fight the landing Covenant forces. The only situation where this tactic wasn't used was in the evacuation of a colony, and with a population of 3 billion, a total evacuation of Haven was not an option.

Over the COM lines, Hall heard Thel issuing similar orders to the RSN forces. A worried look crossed her face as he turned to face the viewscreen again. How had the Jiralhanae found Haven? The main reason that the Alliance had used it as a rally point was that it was one of the Inner Colonies that had never been found. The RSN's territory was mostly known to the Empire from the Jiralhanae's days in the Covenant, with only their more recent settlements unknown to them. The Council didn't have the same level of secrecy that the UNSC and RSN did with charted worlds easily found on the extranet. The UNSC on the other hand, much like the RSN, had a policy of secrecy, keeping the locations of their planets hidden with the exception of those along major trade routes. Until very recently, even the Council had not known the location of Haven. This made Hall very worried as to how exactly the Coalition had found them.

'This isn't the time to be thinking about that,' Hall said, banishing thoughts of advanced Jiralhanae stealth ships and information leaking traitors from her mind. "Aim MAC rounds at the forward most Coalition ships, have Archers on standby. Fire!" Hall grit her teeth as two depleted uranium rounds were fired at the Coalition fleet, one destroying a Batarian and the other a Geth ship. She wasn't sure if they could win this battle.

XXXXX

Xeron smiled as one of the Blood Brother's sent a Warp at a foot inch thick block of metal, tearing it in half. He had spent the last couple of hours drilling his new division, and they had risen to meet ever expectation that he had. All of them were in a clearing outside of the lab with Tritus and Rason watching. Altena's sun was slowling setting, casing a golden yellow light across the city. "You have outdone yourself," Tritus said, speaking to Rason.

"It does not exactly make up for the hundreds of corpses the first generation caused."

Tritus let out a sigh as he glanced at the 350 year old Jiralhanae. He would have tried to dissuade him from thinking that the deaths of the biotic trainees had not been his thoughts, but if the last several dozen attempts had proven anything, he would have accomplished nothing.

'He refuses to accept the comfort of others,' the Emperor thought, 'I suppose it comes from being a century older than me and the rest of us.' Tritus sighed again. 'I wonder what the three of them would say to him if they were still...there is no point dwelling on it. It only brings back painful memories, they made their choice, we made ours.' He grit his teeth as his fists tightened in anger, 'Do they not think that I thought this choice through before making it? Do they think that I declared war lightheartedly? Do they not care for our people, their revolution will doom us all to slavery if we are lucky, extinction if we are not.'

"Tritus?" Rason said, breaking Tritus' line of thought. "Is there something on your mind?"

"No...nothing," Tritus lied, looking back at Xeron and the Blood Brothers.

Xeron smiled as he continued to look at the brothers. "Very well, that will do." Almost simultaneously all of the brothers stopped, turning to look at Xeron. "Your performance is superb, I expected nothing less from those who have been admitted into the Empire's biotic training program."

Tritus smiled. It was like watching your child beginning to fend you himself and picking the family trade, at least it was what he thought it felt like.

"EMPEROR!" a voice roared across the Battle-Net, causing Tritus to wince. "This is Shipmaster Kalon, an Alliance fleet just entered the system, they are attacking Altena!"

Tritus felt like a sack of bricks had just hit him in the stomach as the Shipmaster's words echoed in his mind. "WHAT!" he shouted.

"It is true, they came out of nowhere, there must be at least 500 ships altogether, every last Alliance species appears to be part of this offensive! But there is more, their flagship seems to be a UNSC vessel, I have never seen one like this before. It is twice as big as the rest of their ships and has five of their MAC guns, and one is not a regular MAC, but a Super MAC, the one that the Humans use for orbital defense. We are doing our best to repel them but we are outnum-GAHHHHHHHHH!" There was a bloodcurdling screech accompanied but the deafening sound of tearing metal as the line went dead.

"Shipmaster Kalon come in!" Tritus shouted into the Battle-Net. "Damn it," he swore, lowering his hand.

"Tritus," Rason said, his head craned as he looked up at the sky. Tritus looked up and felt his stomach drop. In the sky above Altena, there was a massive wave of HEVs and OIPs were heading towards the planet's surface. "It is an invasion," Rason whispered.

"There are only 324 ships defending Altena," Rason said his voice, regaining it's volume. "We are outnumbered, and the UNSC has apparently fielded some sort prototype dreadnought."

Tritus was silent as the drop pods began to impact throughout the city as sirens began to fill the air, warning civilians to evacuate to emergency shelters. Not all of them would make it there. Without any warning, the lights that had been illuminating the towering buildings that surrounded them went out. "What has happened?" Xeron asked, looking around.

"The Alliance drop pods must have landed in the city's power plant, they most likely deactivated it in an attempt to throw us into confusion." He glanced at Tritus. "Public transports will not work now, the civilians will have no way to evacuate.

Tritus nodded. "Very well," he said quietly. As he spoke he turned to face Xeron. "Xeron it appears that your Blood Brothers will have a taste of combat sooner than I anticipated," he said, his voice suddenly strong and powerful. "I want the majority of them to assist the military in moving civilians to bunkers. You and ten of them will accompany Rason and I to the power plant, I intend to retake it."

"Yes," Rason said as he began to load grenades into his wrist mounted launcher. "We need the subways and trams online. The civilians need to get to cover while we hold out for reinforcements."

"Hold out?" Tritus said. "Who said anything about holding out?"

Rason frowned. "We are outnumbered, our fleet will last three hours before it is destroyed or scatters. The nearest Empire fleet is a day away."

"I am well aware of that. But still I intend to drive these bastards away long before that happens."

Rason snarled in frustration. "And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"Divine Thunder," Tritus said simply.

Rason's eyes widened. "Are you mad Tritus? You honestly want to use that? It hasn't been properly tested yet, for all we know it will blow up in our faces."

"The alternative is wait until reinforcements arrive, and I shudder to think of the damage the Alliance will do to this planet in that time. I do not intend to wait, I will use Divine Thunder to obliterate these fakons, but in order to be used it needs power, so I need the power plant online."

Rason rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "I never could change your mind once you had it set."

Tritus gave a grim smile. "Only Marton could. Now Xeron, your orders."

Xeron turned to the Blood Brothers and nodded. In unison, the majority of them covered themselves in biotic barriers, using them to propel themselves in every direction, save for a handful that remained where they stood. "You will either be a hero or a fool for this," Rason warned as Tritus drew his machine gun.

"I always am," He replied before lifting his hand to his helmet. "To all Empire military forces, this is your Emperor. You are well aware that Altena is being invaded, I beg of you to keep your wits about you, do not panic. Countless lives are depending on you. Your orders are to defend Altena and assist civilians in evacuation, those are your top priority. All forces new the Vimeirus City power planet head towards it, the enemy has captured it and it must be retaken. Do not falter my warriors, fight hard fight strong. For the Empire!"

Rason smiled, Tritus always did have a tendency to try and make even the simplest of orders sound like a patriotic speech. "We must hurry, the Alliance will be deploying dropships and other aircraft too." Tritus and Xeron nodded as they made their way out of the clearing, weapons drawn.

XXXXX

Sukron smiled as he stood on the bridge of his super-carrier, the _Hidden Fury_. He was watching as the main batteries fired on the Alliance fleet in orbit of the UNSC planet. He couldn't remember the name of the planet, he recalled it being named Halven or something like that but he really didn't care. 'We have inside information on this planet,' he thought gleefully as he raised a datapad. 'Three billion Humans and an Alliance assault fleet that was supposed to invade Dosiac. This attack with achieve two goals, shattering the invasion force and destroying a major part of the UNSC's economy."

"Sukron!" a voice shouted over the Battle-Net.

The cyborg groaned before replying. "What do you want Ultimas?"

"My Phantoms are moving in to plant charges on the Human's Super MACs, as soon as they punch a hole in the orbital defense I want the both of us to push through it. Until then maintain a safe distance and target any hostile ships within range."

Sukron grumbled. The one thing that he truly hated about this otherwise perfect mission was that he was only second in command. Tritus had given Ultimas command of this invasion, much to Sukron's displeasure. "I do not need you to lecture me on the most basic aspects of combat," he snarled. "My own Phantoms are already slipping past orbital defenses, they we serve as an advance force, securing landing points for heavier assault units. What is more Ultimas, the one who supplied us with this data."

"What about him?"

Sukron smiled. "I want him. We have the coordinates to the bunker where he and other UNSC VIPS were evacuated to. Keep your shocktroops away from there, he is mine."

"You must be joking!" Ultimas shouted over the Battle-Net. "Your Metal Fist operatives are more than capable of taking that bunker by themselves, let them do it. Why would you even go to the trouble of securing him yourself?"

Sukron growled. "It is none of your concern Ultimas, know this. I have some history with that man, or to be more specific I have history with a family member of his. I intend to make the two of them suffer." As he spoke, Sukron slid a fresh tank of lighter fluid into his scorcher, lighting the igniter as he did. "By the time I am done with him he will be begging for death, as will she." Sukron gave a twisted smile. "They will both be denied that request though."

"You will allow your trivial desires for revenge to impact your better judgement? You fool, you will compromise the entire invasion."

"I am more than capable of leading my warriors from the field, I am not an incompetent commander like you. Whatever wrong was issued upon you it is far inferior to the mission that we have been given. Our objective is to destroy all UNSC instillations on the planet and shatter the Alliance fleet, not chase down personal grudges."

"The last time that I checked I was a Supreme Commander along with you. You may command this mission, but to do not command me. I will lead my warriors planet side. I will have them assist your own men, but I WILL take that bunker." Without another word, Sukron disconnected himself from the Battle-Net.

Looking at the datapad in his hand again, Sukron pressed a button that caused a pictured profile to appear on the screen. He smiled as he looked at it. "What should I do to you. Torture your beloved daughter to death while you watch helplessly, or should it be the other way around, her forced to watch while you are disemboweled. I do believe the second one is more appropriate, she was foolish enough to anger me."

Dropping the datapad, Sukron turned to leave the bridge. "I will be joining the second wave of Phantoms, your orders have not changed, punch a hole in the Alliance fleet and attack the planet," he said, looking at the bridge crew. Sukron exited the bridge and stepped into a gravity lift, which forced him downward. "You have not even realized your blunder that will no doubt result in the deaths of millions," he muttered, thinking of his soon to be victim. "Oh this is going to be good."

XXXXX

Author's Note: Two planets, two attacks, two fights to the death. The Coalition makes their move on the UNSC, only for the Alliance to launch a major invasion of the Empire at the same time. With billions of Human and Jiralhanae lives in the balance, what will the outcome of these battles be, and how will they affect the rest of the war?

So how did you like my impression of that guy who talks at the end of 50s cartoons?

Sukron has a new target, Tritus has a secret weapon and Elizabeth Hall and Thel 'Vadam are in for the fight of their lives, as is everyone at Haven and Altena. I think now you understand why I wanted to do this so much.


	49. Desperate Evacuation

Chapter 49

Desperate Evacuation

Author's Note: Well in the last chapter I certainly left you with one Hell of a setup. I see no reason to torture you so let's get right too it.

"Is this happening? Is this seriously fucking happening?" Jacob looked around the bay of the Pelican that he was in, as if expecting on of the other passengers to answer his question. Tali and Sarah ignored him as they both were fiddling with their omni-tools, making sure that they were working properly, and Taylor was checking the heat level on his DMR.

The final passenger of the Pelican looked at Jacob, a sad look on her face. "I'm afraid so Jacob."

Jacob snarled, loading a fresh clip into his battle rifle, flipping the safety off. "First Feros, then Stronghold, now Haven, these fucking apes. So what are our orders?" he asked, looking at Ashley. At this, Tali, Sarah and Taylor all looked up, staring at Ashley.

"Right," the Major said, taking her SMG off of her hip. "The Coalition is focusing their forces above New London, it's a safe bet that's where they plan on landing once they get past the fleet. There's a full evacuation in process, the UNSC is doing they best that they can to get the civilians to the spaceports and get them off planet, or at least another city if there aren't enough starships. Orbital defenses are still holding so the main Coalition force is still stuck in orbit, but they're slipping skirmishers through in dropships so the UNSC wants as many people as possible defending the spaceports."

"New London has a population of 5 million though," Sarah said, "It's going to be next to impossible to get everyone out."

Ashley sighed. "I know, but still we need to get as many people out as possible. If the spaceports do fall or if we do get overwhelmed than we do have orders to hold the city while civilians fall back to emergency shelters."

"We're coming in hot on New London's northern spaceport. Coalition advance parties are already launching hit and run attacks on it. Hold on. The passengers of the Pelican gripped their weapons as the bay door slid open.

The five of them jumped out, landing firmly on the grass below them. Looking around they saw new London in the distance, towering skyscrapers made out of pure white metal shinning brightly in the afternoon sun. The spaceport itself was half a mile away from the city, filled to the brim with passenger liners, freighters and private yachts. There was a massive mob of civilians making there way towards the ships, practically scrambling over each other in a desperate attempt to board one of the various starships, some actually violently attacking those who were in front of them. Hundreds of Marines and Army troopers were desperately trying to maintain some semblance of order with little success.

"Keelah," Tali whispered, looking at the chaos.

"It's just like Feros all over again," Sarah muttered.

"When panic sets in there isn't anything resembling rational thought left," Ashley said bitterly.

Looking back at the spaceport, the five of them saw that the UNSC had set up a perimeter around it. Sandbags, makeshift barricades, mounted turrets, parked Warthogs and even a couple of Scorpions surrounded the port, along with hundreds if not thousands of Marines and Army troopers, most of whom carried standard weapons, but a handful were wielding rocket launchers and Spartan lasers.

"What post are you from?" a man in an officer's uniform asked as they approached.

"Major Ashley Williams sir, we're from the _Normandy_, we were deployed to assist in evacuation."

"Brigadier General Mack Norman," Mack replied, tipping his hat at Ashley. "Glad that you're here Major, we need all the help we can get right now."

"Mack?" Taylor said, looking at the Brigadier, "You never said that you got promoted again."

"Taylor is that you? Jesus didn't know it was you with that helmet on. Would've told you if I'd had the time, but we can reminisce later, we've got orders to hold this position for as long as possible. We need to-DROPSHIP!"

Everyone's head jerked up to look at the sky, weapons raised. Sure enough a bright purple Phantom was descending towards them. The Pelican that had just dropped off the ground team swerved and fired a barrage of missiles at the Empire gunship. The Phantom dove to avoid the projectiles, firing five blasts from it's main cannon, hitting the engines. The Pelican began to spiral madly before hitting the ground, exploding in a ball of fire and shrapnel.

"Take that fucking thing down!" Mack shouted as a wave of fire from dozens of UNSC soldiers rose up to meet it, the bullet's impacting on the hull, doing little to no damage. A Marine raised his Spartan laser, lining up a shot with the gunship. Somehow the pilot realized what the Marine was doing, weather he had somehow seen the laser sight or detecting the build up in energy it was impossible to tell as it turned it's cannon and fired on the Marine. The blast hit the Human directly in the chest, but as it did the Spartan laster finished it's charging process and, it's user's hand still tight on the trigger, fired. A blinding beam of red energy tore through the air at the speed of light, piercing right through the middle of the enemy dropship, reducing it to an orb of purple fire and molten metal.

"Son of a-someone grab that laser!" Mack shouted, pointing his shotgun at the dead Marine. "We didn't have time to set up any AA guns here, we can't afford to lose what little we have." Tali nodded as she holstered her shotgun and grabbed the laser, heaving it onto her shoulder. "You know how to use that thing?"

Tali nodded. "It takes three seconds to charge up and a second and a half to cool down. Power cells need to be replaced every ten shots." Mack nodded as Tali grabbed the spare power cells from the dead Marine.

"Son of a bitch, more dropships incoming!" Mack shouted as two more Phantoms descended to their position. The Marines on the turrets pulled their weapons back as they jammed down on the triggers, sending a storm of bullets up at the ship.

XXXXX

"This is Emperor Tritus speaking!" Tritus shouted into his headset as he Rason and Xeron dashed through the streets of Vimeirus City, "Give me an update on the orbital battle!" It had been an hour since the battle of Altena had begun, and since then a second wave of Alliance HEVs and OIPs had been deployed, along with a wave of dropships. A barrage of AA fire had been fired at the incoming dropships, downing dozens if not hundreds of them, but the majority of them had landed in the city and were attacking all major military instillations in and around the city. Reports of heavy Jiralhanae causalities, both military and civilian, were coming in from all over the city.

"Emperor this is Altena Fleet Control," a female sounding Jiralhanae said over the Battle-Net. "The Alliance fleet has forces it's way through our forward defensive lines. The UNSC's dreadnaught is devastating, it had already destroyed 20 of our ships while sustaining minimal damage. Our vessels do not even have time to return fire before it destroys them."

Tritus growled before replying. "Very well, order all Empire ships to stay out of range of the UNSC dreadnaught, they are to focus on the bulk of the enemy forces, keep as many of the enemy ships from entering orbit as possible. The more that do, the stronger their ground position will become. However, should they take too much damage, our vessels are to retreat."

"Where to?"

"Nowhere on this planet or even in this system is safe with the Alliance fleet here. Order them to make a random slipspace jump, and if they arrive at their destination without being followed, they are to head to Dosiac."

The Jiralhanae on the other end of the line hesitated before replying. "Understood Emperor."

"Contact me if there are any major changes in the orbital battle," Tritus said before disconnecting the line.

"Tell me Tritus," Rason asked as they turned a corner and entered another block, "do you believe that the planet is lost?" Tritus didn't answer as the continued to run. "Tritus," the Supreme Commander repeated sternly.

"I do not know," Tritus said honestly glancing at Rason. "We have never seen an Alliance fleet of this magnitude. We are massively outnumbered, if Divine Thunder does not work...I would prefer not to think about it."

"Tritus, Rason up ahead," Xeron said, gesturing to a set of cylindrical objects up ahead. They slowly came to a stop in front of the objects, examining them. "HEV pods," Xeron muttered. "But where are the ODSTs?"

"They can not be far," Rason said, his hand hovering a few inches away from one of the used pods. "They're still warm from reentry. Odd, this area was one of the first evacuated by airlift and there are not any military bases here."

"Yes, but we are not far from the power plant," Xeron interjected. "It could be possible that they are creating a foothold for heavier forces. Or perhaps-" Xeron was cut off as a loud bang tore through the air and a bullet slammed into the barriers in front of Xeron's face.

'SNIPER! TAKE COVER!" Tritus bellowed as he and the others burst through the door into a nearby abandoned bar. "Xeron, did you see where the shot came from?" Xeron nodded and pointed to the middle of a massive skyscraper that seemed to curve as it stretched to the heavens. It was a dark shade of brown that would make it seem old to Human eyes when in reality the color was just a trademark of Jiralhanae architecture and the building was only a few months old. "Thirty-seventh level, ninth window from the right."

"Very well," Tritus said, placing his machine gun on the ground and unholstering his rocket launcher, raising the targeting indicator to eye level.

"Tritus, a moment please," Xeron said. Tritus paused and lowered the launcher. "I do believe that this is an excellent opportunity for me to test the capability of the Blood Brothers in long range combat, with your permission of course." Tritus hesitated, considered lecturing Xeron about the dangers of choosing now to test unknown waters, but slowly nodded his head.

"Excellent," Xeron said as he gathered a Warp in his hands and threw it at the skyscraper, in the direction of the sniper.

"What are you doing?" Rason hissed. "You cannot hope to hit him from this distance."

"Correct," Xeron said as the Warp hit the building, several yards below the window where the sniper was. "But still, the sniper will keep his head down so long as he his under bombardment." He gesturing to two of the brothers. "You two, climb to the sniper's position and eliminate him. The rest of you assist me in laying down suppressing fire."

The two brothers that Xeron had gestured to covered themselves in biotics and propelled themselves towards the base of the skyscraper while the rest of them threw Warp after Warp at the sniper's general area. The two brothers reached the base of the building and propelled themselves upward, catching onto window ledges to keep themselves from falling. The repeated the process five more times before reached the same level as the sniper. One of the brothers thrust his fist through the open window, grabbed the crouching sniper by the throat, and threw him out the window. The surprised ODST fell screaming to the streets below, hitting the ground with an earsplitting crack.

Xeron smiled as the two brothers made their way back to ground level. "Well done," he said as they reached the ground.

"It was rather odd," the brother that had thrown the sniper said. "He was...heavier than I expected a Human to be."

"Heavier?" Rason said, walking towards the corpse. Crouching down, he grabbed the body by the throat and lifted it a few inches off of the ground before dropping it. "He is right, it is rather heavy for a Human...wait," he said, drawing his Forerunner knife.

"What is it?" Tritus asked, holstering his rocket launcher and picking up his machine gun.

"This armor is much thicker than other suits of UNSC armor that I have seen," Xeron said, looking at the corpse. Rason nodded as he cut through the armor covered the body's right arm. The knife cut through several inches of metal and circuitry, producing a small shower of sparks, before it finally hit flesh.

"This is no ordinary armor," Rason said, sheathing his knife and getting to his feet. "It is far too complex."

"What are you saying?" Tritus asked. "The Humans have upgraded their equipment?"

Rason nodded. "This soldier appears to be wearing power armor."

"The same that the SPARTANs used?"

Rason shivered, he had heard tales of the Humans that had slaughtered entire armies of Covenant by themselves. "Not exactly, it does not appear to be that complex. It seems to be a watered down version for mass production. I suspect that the reason that we have not seen this before is that the UNSC has only recently developed them."

Tritus could easily believe this, it was not uncommon for war to accelerate the development of certain kinds of technology. When you were fighting someone for your very survival, things like going beyond your bugdget seemed rather trivial. Still it made his stomach turn to think that the average frontline UNSC soldier could now be much more dangerous, and who know what other weapons the Alliance had developed. But now was not the time to be thinking about that. "I am glad that we know that, but we still have a mission." The others nodded as they continued to make their way to the power plant.

XXXXX

Admiral Ryan Nelson sat on the bridge of the dreadnaught _Devastator_, a content smirk on his face as a MAC round shredded through an Empire CCS-Battlecruiser. Nelson was in his mid forties, his dark brown hair just stopping sort of his eyes, which were easy to miss next to his sharp face and piercing gaze. "Sir the second strike force is reporting in," one of the many navigators said, "they've successfully deployed, they've begun their search and destroy mission."

"Glad to hear it," Nelson said, his smirk widening. "I trust that the fleet has moved through the hole that we've made in the enemy's defenses."

"Yes, sir."

"Good, load Archer missiles and prepare to begin bombardment, contact the other vessels in my battle group and order them to do the same."

The navigator hesitated. "We're going to bombard the city sir?"

"Did I not make myself clear Ensign?" Nelson growled.

"No sir, you were crystal," the navigator quickly blubbered out before hastily turning back to his console.

"Good. Order them to focus on heavy industrial areas, and after those have been eliminated switch targets to agricultural areas. I want this planet's value to those monkeys completely and utterly destroyed."

Nelson watched with satisfaction as the navigator relayed his orders. Nelson was incredibly smug about the sheer amount of ordnance, equipment and men that he had been given for this mission. Not only had he been given command of the UNSC's new dreadnaught, which was designed to completely but his ground forces had been outfitted with Victory class combat suit.

The Victory combat suit, simply put, was MJOLNIR stripped down so that it was cheaper and could be worn by normal Humans without them injuring themselves. It enabled the wearer to move faster, jump higher, punch harder and take more fire before their armor was breached. It was a revolutionary design in the field of infantry equipment, having being put into mass production only a month ago.

The UNSC had prioritized the suits that had already been produced for the forces that were taking part in Nelson's assault on Altena. Nelson always wanted to laugh when he remembered hearing that he had received all of the Victory suits while Admiral Hall had received none. The truth was that more forces had been focused into Nelson's attack on Altena than Hall's attack on Dosiac. This was because Nelson had orders to make the battle on Altena drag out and draw Jiralhanae reinforcements away from Dosiac, after which Hall would attack the Jiralhanae homeworld. Another reason was that the battle Altena was meant to be a strategic victory while the Battle of Dosiac was meant to be a moral one, one that involved a massive hit and run attack to lighten the hearts of Alliance soldiers and strike fear into the heart of the Coalition.

Nelson expected that within another month or two the Victory suit would be standard issue for all UNSC soldiers. He had also heard rumors that scientists were working on a version for Quarian usage, but he really didn't care. So long as his men had it and they used it properly he was content.

"A dreadnaught, new suits and a massive battle instead of a cowardly raid," he muttered gleefully. "So sorry Hall, it appears that Anderson believes that I am the superior commander."

Then again he wasn't the only one that was receiving new experimental technology. From what he had heard the Council had recently designed a frontline heavy mech. When most people think of mechs, they think of YMIR mechs, but the new Council mechs made them pale in comparison. The new models had twice as much firepower, where much more mobile and flexible considering that they had a pilot instead of a mentally challenged A.I.. The Council had deployed several prototype

"Sir Archer missile pods have been loaded and the rest of the battle group is reporting in that they have done the same."

"Good, missiles away. Nelson watched the viewscreen as it showed missiles launching from the Devastator, speeding towards the planet's surface. "Cease bombardment when we have exhausted half of our missile supply, I want to save them for orbital engagements. The same goes for the rest of my forces."

"Sir, what are our orders once we use half of our Archers?"

Nelson grinned. "Switch targets to other Jiralhanae cities, one with no Alliance forces in them. Isolate the heaviest population pockets within those cities then deploy Shiva missiles."

"Nukes?" the navigator half shouted. "We're using nuclear missiles? One _civilian_ targets? Sir won't this prompt massive and brutal counterattacks by the Empire on all-"

"Ensign, listen to me and listen good because I'm only going to say this once," he growled. "I guess you never read the history books because If you had read a single page about the Human-Covenant War than you would know what any half brained shit eating hobo knows, the Brutes fucking hate us. They want us all dead, after they were told that their religion was bullshit, they still kept on trying to wipe us out. They're intelligent animals, nothing more, maybe a whole lot less."

"If they had the chance, they'd head straight to Earth and kill every last living thing on it, and that's why we need to stop them, because they won't stop at anything to kill us. If that means we have to nuke their cities, then we're nuking as many as we God damn need to. So tell me Ensign, which would you rather do? Kill as many of those bastards as we need to so that every last Human man, woman and child can sleep soundly at night, or lay down our weapons and let them slaughter us?"

The navigator gapped at Nelson for a second before silently turning back to his console. "Uh-huh," Nelson muttered, "that's what I thought. Continue bombardment of the planet," he ordered, "and don't question my orders again. Unlike you I'm trying to fight a war here."

Author's Note: The battles heat up as heavy ordinance comes into play while the Alliance reveals it's new hardware. If you haven't caught on by now, trying to make both sides rather likable. (I get the feeling that some will criticize me for spelling it out instead of letting you figure it out for yourselves but apparently some people didn't get it.) On Tv tropes we call this Grey and Gray Morality, no side is a clear cut bad guy for good guy. Both the Alliance and the Coalition have their reasonable leaders (Hall, Thel Richards Tritus Rason Xeron) and their much more dickish leaders (Nelson and Sukron) I want you to root for one side one day and the other the next, and on some days for both of them.


	50. Breached Perimeter

Chapter 50

Breached Perimeter

Author's Note: Sorry that I haven't been able to update in a couple of days, I was on vacation and I didn't have access to a computer. I have to say I kind of like D.C., aw well, on with it.

Thel 'Vadam grit his mandibles as he sat on his gravity chair on the bridge of his super-carrier the _Just Vengeance_, in orbit around Haven "Fire all forward batteries!" He roared. Dozens of plasma torpedos flew from the front of the super-carrier, impacting on the front of the Jiralhanae ship of the same class. The Coalition had been pressing nonstop against the Alliance defenses, and had actually succeeded in destroying two of the Super MACs, albeit after each one had taken out a dozen Coalition ships each. Thel could not help but notice however that most of those ships had been Geth, Batarian and Blood Pack, the Empire seemed to be staying out of range of the orbital defense platforms while their allies took care of them.

Now that there was a chip in the UNSC defenses, all three of the Empire's super-carriers had simultaneously pushed forward in an attempt to smash through enemy lines and deploy their main invasion force to the planet's surface. Thel had ordered the _Just Vengeance_ to intercept one of the super-carriers, and since then the two vessels had been exchanging fire while viciously attempting to outmaneuver each other.

"Arbiter, the enemy ship is firing it's own plasma torpedos!" one of the navigators shouted.

"Tilt the ship 45 degrees downward and activate emergency thrusters, avoid those torpedos at all costs!" The navigators hastened to carry out the his orders. Thel's hands gripped the side of his gravity chair as the the ship dove at the last second to avoid the bolts of superheated plasma, a couple of which still hit the rear of the ship.

"Shields holding at 35%" another navigator shouted.

"I have had enough of this," Thel snarled, "level out and fire everything we have into the belly of the enemy carrier!"

"Yes sir!" the navigator shouted as he furiously typed the commands into the console in front of him. The _Just Vengeance_ swerved upward so that it's nose was facing the underside of the Empire carrier. Two dozen bolts of plasma flew from the front of Thel's ship, accompanied by a barrage of pulse lasers. The massive throng of plasma and energy slammed into the carrier, eating away at the already weakened shields, causing them to collapse. With nothing standing between the ship and the remaining projectiles, the rest of the torpedos and lasers, impacted on the bare hull. The metal bubbled and melted under the strain, deck after deck was depressurize as the hull gave way underneath the enemy fire, those unfortunate enough to be in those sections at them time sucked out to face a long and painful death.

As the fired causing by the torpedos began to fade, slowly being snuffed out as the were deprived of Oxygen, the damage to the Empire vessel became apparent, half of the decks had been decompressed and the hull melted away, leaving a large ugly wound in the middle of the ship where a large chunk of it was now missing.

"Status on the carrier!" Thel demanded.

"It has suffered multiple hull breaches and decompressed decks, I am reading a steady decrease in their power grid, no doubt a massive drop in their combat capability will prepare."

"Do they still have enough power to pose a threat?"

The navigator paused for a second before answering. "I cannot tell for certain, but it seems so. Sir they are charging their weapons again, they are targeting us again and our emergency thrusters have not recharged yet, neither have our weapons. It seems that they are diverting power from all systems into their weapons, engines and gravity included. I am not certain if we will be able to survive another salvo."

"Then I shall not wait and see if we will," Thel growled. "Maximum power to engines, ram the carrier in the opening that we made."

"Sir?" the navigator asked.

"We have no other options!" Thel shouted, "If we strike the chip in their armor then they have no chance of survival while we have a hope. It is either that or let them fire everything that the have at us." The navigator stared at Thel for a second before nodding and turning back to his controls. As he typed into the console, the engines of the _Just Vengeance_ flared as it was propelled upward into the ship above it.

Had they not been in the empty vacuum of space, there would have been deafening grinding noise as the shielded RSN warship tore through the bare Empire one. The decks that had remained stabilized from the earlier assault were torn apart as 27 kilometers of hyperdense alloys propelled at several miles per second were forced through them. As the hull of the Empire warship scrapped at the shields of the _Just Vengeance_, weakening them even further, the nose of the RSN ship ripped through the far side of the ship, ripping the hostile warship completely in half. As the _Vengeance_ continued to soar upward the two halves of the other vessel began to drift away, the various systems failing as their few working generators failed to power them.

Thel glanced at the viewscreen and let out a sigh of satisfaction as he looked at the severed ship. "Report, what is our status?"

"The shields held, but barely, that assault whittled them down to 14%. Had we not hit them in a breech that stretched halfway through their ship then I doubt that we would have succeeded."

Thel allowed himself a small smile. "Grant me some credit, I did not rise to my position merely through family ties." The navigator chuckled quietly.

There was a loud beep as chatter began to fill the Battle-Net. "This is Lieutenant Frank Ryans, commander of ODP H14, we've been boarded by the Coalition! We need immediate reinforcements before they- OH SON OF A BITCH THEY'VE GOT AN ANTIMATTER CHARGE! SOMEBODY-" but the Lieutenant was cut of as an earsplitting explosion cracked across the Battle-Net. The picture on the viewscreen rapidly changed to display a Super MAC, just in time to show an orb of fire burst out of it and bloom outward before it vanished, leaving nothing but stray pieces of debris."

"This is Admiral Hall, with that platform gone the Coalition have a nice wide opening to the planet's surface, they're already starting to push through. I want all available forces to halt any and all Coalition landing forces, I am authorizing the use of Shivas in orbital engagements, but do not, I repeat, do not deploy any nuclear missiles on ground targets no matter the circumstances, there's too high of a risk of killing civilians or our own forces."

Thel grimaced, no doubt the remaining Empire super-carriers were already preparing to deploy their massive load of infantry, armor and aircraft, each one having enough to conquer a medium sized colony, not to mention the numerous assault and normal sized carriers among the fleet were preparing to do the same. The seer mass of the force that would be deployed from the enemy carriers, coupled with the forces on their warships, made Thel's head spin. They needed to be stopped, but with the _Vengeance_'s shields on the verge of giving out, he wasn't sure how much that he could do. "Make course for the opening in the UNSC defenses!" he announced, making up his mind, "destroy as many Coalition ships as possible. How many antimatter charges do we have on board?"

"Several dozen sir, but they're designed as demolition charges, not ship to ship weapons."

"I am well aware of that. I have a plan."

Author's Note: Hey here's an idea, let's play a game, it's called find the the reference in this chapter, here's a hint it's for a video game (not the two I'm writing about of course)

XXXXX

"How many of these fuckers are there?" Damon Winters swore as he jammed down on the trigger of the turret to the Warthog that he was ridding on. A stream how bullets flew from it, shedding a Batarian and a Krogan who had poked their heads out from behind a burning gunship.

"From the reports we heard a whole shitload," his wife, Crystal Winters replied as she turned the steering wheel violently, narrowly avoiding a rocket from another Krogan.

They had been pulled from their units, along with dozens of other soldiers, to take part in a high priority mission, the escort of UNSC VIPs to the evacuation area. The VIPs included politician, scientists and civilian advisors. Currently the soldiers were holding a permitter around the site, using half a dozen Warthogs and supported by three Falcons and a Scorpion, while the VIPs were loaded onto an APC from the bunker they had taken cover in when the attack began. Unfortunately the Coalition had somehow pinpointed the location of the bunker. Five Hegemony and Blood Pack Mantis gunships had deployed a strike force to take the bunker, but apparently they had not been expecting such heavy resistance.

The remaining Mantis swerved through the air, firing it's main gun at one of the Falcons, which was returning fire. "I've got a lock, missile away," a voice crackled over the COM lines as two heatseeking missiles flew from the front of the Falcon, hitting the Mantis head on. The damaged gunship spiraled violently as one of it's wings was torn off before it spiraled into the ground, where it exploded. "Kill confirmed."

"Glad to hear it," Damon hissed as he pounded twenty rounds into the Krogan that had fired it's rocket launcher at him moments ago, killing it almost insanely.

"Hold your fire," Crystal said as she slammed on the brakes, bringing the Warthog to a stop. She glanced around momentarily before turning to face Damon and speaking. "That's the last of them, area's clear."

Damon let out a grunt of relief as he loosened his grip on the turret. "Incoming dropship! It's a friendly!" the driver of one of the nearby Warthogs shouted. Damon glanced upward and, sure enough, a Pelican was descending to their position. The dropship leveled out as the rear bay opened and five individuals jumped out.

Damon took his hands off of the turret and rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was seeing things clearly. As his eyes refocused on the five that had jumped out of the dropship. Two of them were Asari, one of them wearing pure white armor with light blue trims while the other wore armor that was a dark shade of the color. A Turian with purple face tattoos and blue armor the same shade as the second Asari's stood next to a helmetless ODST with stunning silver hair. The only person that didn't look out of place being on a UNSC dropship was the redheaded ODST that headed them.

"Uh," Damon said, staring at them dumbly.

"I'm Captain Jane Shepard of the Normandy, who is in command here?"

Finding his voice again, Damon jumped off of the turret and walked towards Jane. "That would be me Captain, Lieutenant Damon Winters. We have orders from Mack Norman to get-"

"I am well aware of your orders Lieutenant," Jane said cutting him off, but with a warm voice. "I'm here to provide extra support." As she spoke, a Warthog that had been attached to the back of the Pelican dropped off. As it fell to the ground, the Pelican turned and began to fly away, heading towards the city.

"Did you have to let that thing go?" Damon asked, staring at the rapidly shrinking aircraft. "We could have used it to get the VIPs out of here."

"I like the way that you think, but I doubt that it would work. The Coalition is deploying aircraft all over the place, and there's little doubt that something as big and bulky as a Pelican would be spotted halfway before reaching the evac point, and with no slipspace capability, there's no way for it to take them out of system itself."

Damon sighed. "I guess we're doing it the old fashioned way," he said as he craned his neck to look at the APC. "Are they finished loading yet?"

"Roger, we're ready to role," an Army trooper shouted as he climbed into the driver's seat. While he did, another army trooper popping out of a hole in the middle of of the roof, gripping the handles of the turret that was there.

"Got it," Damon replied. "Move out!"

XXXXX

"More dropships incoming!" Mack shouted as three more Phantoms descended towards the spaceport, their cannons firing at the UNSC entrenchments. Three of the bright purple spheres hit a wall of sandbags, sending the four soldiers that had been taking cover behind it flying. "Take them down!" Mack shouted as the dropships deployed their load of soldiers, a mass of Jiralhanae and Kig-Yar. One of the Marines next to Mack leveled a rocket launcher at one of the Phantoms, firing both shots. Both of the rockets hit the gunship head on, blowing it's frontal cannon off.

As the Marine crouched down to reload his rocket launcher, a Jiralhanae manning the Phantom's side cannon turned and opened fire on the soldier. The Marine fell to the ground, his shields having done little to defend him from the heavy plasma fire. Mack swore under his breath as he grabbed the rocket launcher and slapped a fresh clip in, firing the two shots at the damaged phantom. Both shots impacted and pushed the Phantom over the edge, causing it to be engulfed in fire. Out of ammunition for the rocket launcher, Mack threw it to the ground, drawing his shotgun and firing it at a nearby Kig-Yar. A handful of the pellets slipped by the alien's shield, killing it.

'I shouldn't even be out here,' Mack thought as he took cover behind a wall of sandbags, next to Taylor and Sarah. 'But it's not like I had a whole lot of choice, my command post was bombed out while I was inspecting the UNSC positions here.' Mack grit his teeth again as he leaned out of cover and fired a shot at a Jiralhanae Major. The pellets impacted on his shields as the Major jumped back out of range. 'What am I supposed to do? Delay civilian evacuations to save my own sorry hide?'

"Incoming!" Taylor shouted as a Jiralhanae wearing Chieftain armor, a Commander, the replacement for the Chieftains, charged towards, a plasma rifle in his left hand. A mass of plasma slammed into one of the Marines at the right flank before he reached the sandbags. Letting out a roar, the Jiralhanae swung his right hand, which was incased in a thick gray gauntlet. The gauntlet slammed into the Marine behind the sandbags and emitted blue gravity shockwave, similar to the one the gravity hammer created, sending the Marine flying, his organs ruptured.

"Take him down!" Mack shouted to a nearby ODST sniper. The sniper nodded as he raised his rifle, firing three shots at the Commander, taking down his shields. Letting out a roar, the Commander charged at the sniper, swinging his his gravity fist at the ODST. The sniper ducked the fist as he slid his rifle onto his back and drew his knife, a long curved blade. A kukri.

The Jiralhanae threw a punch directly at the ODST, but the sniper's free hand darted outward, closed around the wrist and, to the shock of the Jiralhanae, held it there. The Commander so shocked that the Human had managed to hold his punch back, that he didn't notice as the Kukri flew under his arm and buried itself in the Commander's chest. Letting out a roar, the Jiralhanae yanked his arm back, breaking the ODSTs grip as he swung his fist again, the sniper diving to the side to avoid it.

Taylor, Jacob and Tali all leveled their weapons at the Jiralhanae and were about to fire when Ashley shouted "Hold your fire, you might hit the ODST!" The three hesitated before turning back to the Empire forces that were assaulting their front lines, who were viciously pressing forward. The ODST swung his kukri again, cutting the sides of the Jiralhanae, causing the Commander to roar in pain again.

Swinging his fist again, the Jiralhanae nicked the head of the ODST, sending his helmet flying. Charging forward, the ODST jumped upward and thrust his kukri forward, burying in the Commanders throat. The Jiralhanae choked as he fell to the ground, dead.

The other Commander that was among the landing force stared at the affair before turning to his men and shouting. "Return to the dropships, fall back and regroup with the other landing parties!" The Jiralhanae raised the weapons and fired suppressing fire as they slowly backed up towards the landing Phantoms, who was also providing covering fire with their plasma turrets. In a quick organized manner, the Empire forces climbed into the Phantoms, which quickly took off.

Crouching down, the ODST took his kukri out of the throat of the dead Jiralhanae. He wiped the alien blood off on his shoulder plates before sliding it back into it's sheath. The ODST's skin was rather dark, his head bald and he looked as if he had Indian ancestors. By far through, his most defining trait was the tattoo that covered his left cheek, one of a hand gripping three arrows. "Jun, are you all right?"

"I'm fine sir," Jun said as he grabbed his helmet, saw that there was a massive dent in it, and threw the now useless piece of equipment away. "What?" he asked, looking at the Army troopers and Marines that were now staring at him.

"Uh pal, you just took on one of the apes with a knife," Jacob said. "That's not exactly something that a normal Human can do."

"Wait a second," Ashley said, staring at Jun with realization in her eyes. "Are you a-" Ashley was cut of by a deafening roar. A massive freighter was lifting off from the spaceport, heading upwards where it would enter slipspace once it reached sufficient altitude. Ashley looked back at Jun questionably. The sniper simply smiled knowingly at her. Ashley's eyes widened as she realized what message Jun was sending her.

"Keep it tight people!" Mack shouted. "We've still got tens of thousands of civilians trying to get out of here." Mack was about to continue when his COM unit beeped. "Mack Norman here what do you-WHAT? Please confirm. How long do we have." Mack swore under his breath as he craned his head to look at the spaceport. "Fuck," he swore as he turned to look at the soldiers. "I've got bad news, the orbital permitter was breached, the main Coalition invasion force is on it's way down, we've got ten minutes, fifteen minutes tops."

Everybody stared at Mack, some of them at a loss for words, others looking hopelessly lost while the rest looked like they were waiting for orders."

"I want to make something very clear," MAck said adamantly. "No matter what happens, no matter how many Brutes come at us, no matter how many of us are brutally slaughter, we hold this position until this evacuation is complete. We all swore an oath to defend the people of the UNSC and with God as my witness we will uphold that oath." He glanced from side to side, as if daring somebody to challenge him. "Are there any objections?"

Nobody spoke. "Good to hear it. Check your equipment make sure it didn't take any stray hits, heavies get some fresh rockets from the weapons cache, get the wounded medical attention and get them on the next ship out. We're getting these people out or we're going to die trying."

Author's Note: Well Noble-3 makes an appearance. Before you even ask, the kukri is Emile's, he retrieved it and keeps it as a tragic keepsake. Well considering the massive amount of Mass Effect characters in this story, I thought that it would only be fair to put in a halo one besides Thel and Rtas...and the Gravemind. Needless to say he will be play an important role in this story.


	51. Desperate Maneuvers

Chapter 51

Desperate Maneuvers

Author's Note: Well, Jun, AKA Noble-3 made his debut last chapter. Now I practically have all of the characters that I want in this story introduced...mostly. I have one particular character that I have wanted to introduce for a while, he/she will be making an appearance in a couple of chapters more or less. By the way did anyone catch the Bioshock reference in the last chapter?

Marton glanced at Jack who was sitting a couple of feet away from him, fiddling with her SMG. "I did not have to force you to come along with us," he remarked, "you volunteered. Why is that?" They were sitting in the cargo bay of the Marauder CCS battlecruiser the _Evasive Scout_. They were currently at slipspace heading towards where the Cerberus prowler that Miranda had "stolen" was docked. Marton had waited for months for more movement from the prowler, but it had remained in the same position, never exiting the system that it was in.

Marton had taken the _Scout_, not the Salvation as he did not want Cerberus to know the true strength of the Marauders, and had sent out to the source of the signal. He had issued simple orders, kill any Cerberus personal that presented themselves as a threat, and uncover everything they could about the organization.

"I've got my own reasons, know of which are your business ape-man," Jack snarled.

"Is it not obvious Marton?" Rutherforae asked as she stood next to him, loading a clip of .70 caliber slugs into her scoped railgun. "Cerberus hurt her, she wants to hurt them back." She glanced at the convict. "Your motives can hardly be called complex."

"Fuck you."

Rutherforae's hands tightened on her rifle as she turned to Marton. "Are we truly losing so badly that we need assistance from people like her?"

"It is nowhere near the level of desperation Tritus is at if he would willing to use Metal Fist, little more than an entire army of psychopaths and killers," Tesueg pointed out as he spun the barrels of his machine gun, making sure that it was working properly.

"He hated working with Sukron as much as the rest of us did, he did not have any chose in the matter, nor does he now. But her," she gestured to Jack, "If we were to dispose of her it would trigger no civil war, the Marauders would not abandon us by the millions, in fact many of them would probably sleep easier."

"Adolas the Marauders are massively outnumbered, not only does the Empire have it's massive army, it has it's specialist divisions, it's reserve of conscripts, and of course, the Imperial Guard." Rutherforae resisted the urge to shudder at the mention of the last group.

The Imperial Guard were the Empire's finest, they had been given the sole duty of protecting the Imperial Palace, the capital of the Empire. There was always 1000 of them, no more no less, and they were recruited out of the specialist divisions. After being recruited, the operatives underwent years of brutal training before finally being subjected to a final test, a one on one battle with the Emperor, anything goes. If they could survive five minutes against Tritus, they would be admitted into the Guard, but if they fell short, even by a second, they would be denied entry, and be sent back to their original post. Surviving the training and surviving against Tritus was easier said than done, only 5% succeeded. Those that did were the cream of the crop, on the same level as a Council Spectre, and were issued the best equipment that the Empire had. They rarely left their post at the palace, but if the situation was desperate enough and Tritus gave the order, they would.

"Still-" Rutherforae started.

"Adolas," Marton said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "do you really think that I would allow our cause to be jeopardized? I understand your objection to having Jack aboard, but she has the potential to be a major ally, her biotic abilities are on par's with Xeron's." His voice dropped violently he continued to speak, "I will keep an eye on her, if she poses a threat, I will deal with it."

Rutherforae let out a sigh as she slid her railgun onto her back, proceeding to take a pair of automatic maulers off of her thighs and loading clips into them. "Very well," she said as she holstered them again before drawing her screecher.

"Get some rest Adolas, you two Tesueg. We have a few hours before we arrive, I want you two at the top of your fighting capacity."

XXXXX

"How much further?" Rason asked as Tritus and Xeron ran through the streets of Vimeirus City, the remaining Blood Brothers having splintered away from them to attack the plant on multiple fronts.

"Only another mile or two," Tritus said as glancing at the planet which was now visible in the distance. The three of them continued to dash as they closed on the end of the block. "Hold," Tritus whispered holding his hand up as he came to a sudden stop, Rason and Xeron doing the same. "Hostile roadblock," he whispered, gesturing to the intersection half a mile away from them.

A row of purple metal barriers had been set up, with two Ghosts, and a massive mech in the middle that faintly resembled a YMIR, with several staggering differences. For starters, it was easily twice as big as a YMIR reaching a staggering 20 ft. There was also the armament, which was much more staggering with a massive machine gun on each wrist and a rocket launcher on each shoulder, all of which looked like they were heavy enough to destroy anything that wasn't heavily shielded and armored. The biggest difference by far though was that the mech wasn't automated, there was a large circular hatch around the chest of an alien that was large enough for even a Sangheili to climb into. If Tritus had to guess by the look of the mech, he would say that it was designed by the Council, probably the Turians.

"Heavy resistance," Rason muttered, seeing around half a dozen troopers along with the vehicles, Turian ones. "How do you want to deal with them?" he asked Tritus.

"I want you to throw them into disorder," Tritus replied, "use non-lethal gas, we can not afford to accidentally bring harm to ourselves or other Jiralhanae that may not have evacuated the area yet."

"Hallucinogens then," Rason muttered, pulling three grenades from his belt and fitting them into his launcher. "Consider it done," he said as he raised his arm and squeezed the palm pressure trigger. The three grenades were sent flying and landed in the midst of the Alliance roadblock, emitting a puss colored gas. Almost immediately the Turians began shouted in panic, firing their rifles randomly into the air, aiming at beasts that only the could see.

"Xeron," Tritus said as he unholstered his rocket launcher, "the vehicles." Xeron nodded as Tritus raised the aiming reticle to eye level. Tritus fired a rocket directly at one of the Ghosts as Xeron concentrated a Warp and sent it at the other. Both impacted on the lightly armor vehicles, reducing them to balls of fire. At the same time Rason had drawn his spiker and fired small controlled bursts at the Turian troopers, easily killing the hallucinating warriors.

The mech on the other hand, the control room apparently compressed, was unfazed by the gas and turned to face the three Jiralhanae. "COVER!" Tritus roared as a missile flew from both of the mech's launchers. Tritus and Xeron neatly slid into an alleyway on the right side of the street, while Rason took cover on the opposite side, the missiles flying through and hitting a civilian chopper, which exploded violently, sending shrapnel everywhere.

"What now!" Rason shouted sharply into the Battle-Net as both of the mech's machine guns opened firing, keeping them pinned.

"Is there any chance you can shroud us in smoke!" Tritus replied.

"There is no point! No doubt it is equipped with thermal vision!"

"Very well, I will provide a distraction, Xeron, Rason, climb to the rooftops and hit it was everything you have." Sliding a fresh rocket into his weapon, Tritus leaned out of cover and fired at the mech. The missile hit the it head on, causing it to stagger back a few feet before continuing to fire. Swapping his rocket launcher for his machine gun, Tritus began to slide out of cover and fire bursts at the mech, quickly sliding back into cover before his shields took too much damage.

"Fool," Rason muttered as he drew his Forerunner knife, burying it in the building in front of him as he began to climb upwards, Xeron using his Charges to propel himself upwards, using windows as footholds. As the two of them reached the top of the buildings that they had been taking cover behind, Tritus fired another rocket at the mech, this time however the mecha dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the rocket.

"It is rather maneuverable," Tritus muttered as Xeron gathered a Warp in his hands and sent it at the bipedal vehicle. The blast hit the right missile launcher, completely blowing it off. Almost instantly the war machine turned and fired a missile at the top of the building where Xeron was. The biotic raised his hands and blocked the missile with his barrier, but was blown off of the top of the building. As he fell, Xeron extended both hands and fired a Warp from each, slowing his fall and causing him to land neatly on the ground.

Rason paused, glancing at his grenade launcher. "That death machine will zero in on my location and decimate me before I fire my third shot," he muttered. It was then that an idea occurred to him. It was stupid, reckless and above all hastily thrown together, but it just might work. As Tritus leaned out of cover to fire his machine gun again Rason took a deep breath and ran towards the end of the building, jumping off as he reached the end.

As he fell towards the ground, he gripped his knife tightly as he directed himself towards the enemy armor. As he landed he executed a neat roll that harmlessly diverted the energy from the fall away. Letting out a roar, he swung his knife and severed one of the mech's legs in a clean swipe, causing it to overbalance and fall on it's back. Jumping onto the front on the mech, Rason stabbed at the hinges that were keeping the hatch shut, the incredibly dense metal of the Forerunner alloy combined with Rason Jiralhanae strength shattering it.

Ripping off the hatch, Rason plunged his knife downwards into the chest of the pilot before drawing it out and stabbing down four more times, killing him. Panting, Rason got to his feet and saw that the pilot was a Salarian, whose chest he had practically destroyed. "It is disabled," he shouted, glancing at Tritus and Xeron, who had exited the, "let us continue."

XXXXX

On the bridge of the _Endless Assault_, one of the super-carriers taking part in the assault on Haven, the Fleetmaster that commanded it smiled in satisfaction. "Sir the second wave has successfully deployed," one of the navigators said, "All dropships and Scarabs have been deployed. The third wave is standing by for deployment."

"Good, give them the order to deploy. Afterwards give the fourth wave the order to arm up, I want them to follow suit in fifteen minutes." The Fleetmaster glanced at the navigator, "Any word from the Supreme Commander's flagship?"

"Yes, it has deployed it's first wave of invaders itself, Ultimas is among them."

"That is our Commander, always leading from the front," the Fleetmaster chuckled. "What about Sukron's ship?"

The navigator paused as he typed into the controls in front of him. He paused for a second before he began to chuckle. "The _Hidden Rage_ was destroyed five minutes ago by the RSN super-carrier."

The Fleetmaster let out a bark of laughter. "This day just gets better and better. What is the status of the enemy carrier?"

"It's shields are low, not enough to survive even a single salvo of plasma torpedos. I am reading that escape pods are being deployed, apparently the are reducing themselves to a skeleton crew. I can not say for sure through, with all of the electronic activity on the ship the thermal sensors can not detect the individual crew members inside. Perhaps...sir the enemy carrier has changed it's course it's heading straight for us."

The Fleetmaster paused, "How long until it reaches us?"

"It is closing in on us at maximum speed, it's weapons are at maximum power. It is targeting us."

'It must be desperate after the taking so much fire from the Hidden Rage,' the Fleetmaster thought. 'No doubt they are rushing us in an attempt to drag us down with them, or at least soften us up.'

"The RSN carrier just launched another wave of escape pods," the navigator reported. "Fleetmaster, I do not think they believe that they will survive this encounter."

"My thoughts exactly," the Fleetmaster replied. "Lock plasma torpedos and pulse lasers, open fire the second it is in range." The Fleetmaster was about to continue when the bridge shook violently, the crew gripping their stations to maintain balance.

"They have opened fire on us, shields holding at 76% percent."

"Return fire!" the Fleetmaster shouted. "Target their weapons!" A barrage of torpedos and a swarm of pulse lasers flew from from the _Endless Assault_, impacting on the shields of the RSN carrier, which shatter before even half of them had made contact. The remaining projectiles slammed into the ship, melting and blowing away the outer hull of the Sangheili warship. Nearly all of the ship's forward weaponry were destroyed as the front of the ship was burned away, revealing it's inner skeleton.

"Heavy damage to it's bow, it's weaponry has been heavily damaged," the navigator reported. "That...that is odd," he remarked as he read the report off of his console?"

"What is it?" the fleetmaster asked.

"RSN personal that were in the sections we destroyed should have been sucked into space via decompression, but the scanners are not picking any up. It does not make any sense, they sections we destroyed are necessary for space combat."

"That is true, this would only be possible if the ship was on auto-pilot which is next to useless for anything besides besides a..." the Fleetmaster's eyes widened in realization. As the commander stared at the viewscreen, he saw that the vessel was heading towards them in a straight line, making no attempts at evasive maneuvers or repositioning itself to attack from above or below. Instead it was closing on them, at maximum speed no less. "...a collusion course," the Jiralhanae finished EVASIVE MANEUVERS!" he bellowed but it was too late. The RSN carrier covered the distance between itself and the _Assault_ at an alarming rate, smashing headfirst into the shields of the Empire ship.

The Fleetmaster was thrown from his gravity chair as the bridge rocked violently. The RSN warship splattered against the Endless_ Assault_'s shields, massively weakening them in the process. Even as the forward sections of the ship were forced apart by the combined strain of propulsion and the strength of the shields, the engines did not falter, forcing the ship to continue ramming. After what felt like an eternity to the Jiralhanae who were desperately clinging on for dear life, the engines on the RSN carrier finally died, the parts of the ship that were still intact finally slowing before coming to a complete stop as they lost their kinetic energy against the shields of the _Assault_.

The Fleetmaster let out a groan as he got to his feet, a trickle of blood sliding down the side of his head. "Status report," he demanded, glancing at the navigator.

"Shields at 25%" he replied, getting to his feet. "I am detecting a spike in power source from the wreckage of the RSN ship, similar to that of-" before the navigator could finish his sentence, there was a deafening explosion as the hull surrounding the bridge melted almost instantly, giving way to a wall of fire. The crew didn't even have time to scream before they were swallowed whole by the explosion had had consumed the entire ship.

In an escape pod descending towards the planet's surface, Thel watched as the antimatter charges that he had set detonated, consuming the _Endless Assault_ and what was left of the _Just Vengeance_. He sighed as he began to enter the planet's atmosphere, the _Vengeance_ had been a fine vessel that had served him well for years, now it was little more than scorched scrap and wiring floating throughout space.

"It had to be done," he muttered as he lifted his hand to his COM unit. "Admiral Hall, I was able to destroy the second super-carrier but my crew and I were forced to abandon ship. I am sorry but you will have to find a way to destroy the third without my help."

"Understood Thel, thank you for the assist."

Thel smiled grimly before changing the frequencies and broadcasting a transmission to the other escape pods, which the entire crew of the _Just Vengeance_ had escaped in. "You all did well, the Coalition has now lost two of their three super-carriers, but our fight is far from over. The carrier was able to deploy tens if not hundreds of thousands of ground soldiers before it's destruction and the remaining one still deploys it's armies. We must assist all Alliance land forces in any way possible while until our fleet is able to launch a counter attack."

XXXXX

Note: This section takes place from a 1st person POV, this is simply to convey a dramatic feeling for this particular moment and keep a veil of mystery around this character, this will not happen again, I apologize for the interruption.

'Where am I?' I wonder as I stare at the ceiling above me. It is a dazzling pure white made out of some sort of metal. The lights shine brightly in my eyes, causing me to wince. The ceiling didn't look like that of a hospital's and it didn't seem right for a starship either, in fact it looked more like that of a space station. 'What would I be doing on a space station after...oh God, where is she?"

I desperately try to turn my head but my muscles are slow to respond. As I do I realize that I am in some sort of medical bay or at least something resembling it. Upon closer inspection, I reached the conclusion that it was more of a research lab than a med bay. 'But what am I doing in a lab?" I wonder.

A try to get up only to find myself pulled back. My eyes dart downward and I feeling a horribly sinking feeling in my stomach as I realize that there are manacles around my wrists and ankles holding me down to the operating table that I am on. Upon further examination, I realize that I am in little more than a tank top and a pair of boxers, which displays more skin than I am comfortable with.

My head is buzzing with questions. 'Where am I? Why am I here? Where is she?'

"Son of a bitch she's awake!" My head adjusts to look at the voice and I see a red headed man in a scientist in a lab coat rushing into the room, a raven haired woman in a jumpsuit right behind him. "How did this happen?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the woman snarled, glaring at the man with contempt, "you accelerated the reconstruction too quickly, the sedatives in her system aren't enough to suppress the amount of activity. I swear Archer if your carelessness costs us the Illusive Man will have your head."

"Spare me the lectures Miranda," the man called Archer retorted as he scrambled behind a computer console. "Her brain activity is spiking, her senses are regaining focusing."

I glance in confusion at the woman the man had called Miranda and notice a symbol above her breast. A Cerberus symbol. 'CERBERUS!' I thought in rage, my jaw clenching as I thrash against my restraints. 'You people are responsible for everything that happened! You fucked everything up!' Suddenly it struck me, if Cerberus had me then maybe the had, 'I swear to Christ that if you hurt her I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!' I mentally swore, my anger building.

"God damn it Archer!" Miranda shouted, "we can't afford her to injure herself, we need her unharmed."

"I know that," Archer snapped as he furiously typed into the console.

"You could have fooled me with the way you've been handling this whole procedure," Miranda snapped.

I thrash even more violently against my restraints, my strength slowly returning. "Shit, she's overcoming the sedative," Archer swore. "If I were to run an electrical current through her I could shock her into unconsciousness."

"You idiot! They whole reason we reconstructed her was so that we could study her nervous system, if you damage it everything that we've worked for could be ruined." As she spoke, Miranda grabbed a syringe from a nearby trouble. She thrust the syringe forward, burying the needle in my neck and pressing down on the plunger. Almost instantly I felt my strength drained as the sedative takes effect, my struggles faded as my mind went cloudy.

'God damn it,' I think in rage as my muscles slackened. 'You...you...you' "Bitch," I whisper, my voice weak and raspy. Miranda's eyes widened, apparently she had not been expecting me to be able to speak. "What...fuck...I...doing here?" I manage to rasp, the edges of my sight going dark.

"Amazing," Miranda whispered, "there's enough in her system to take down a Krogan yet she can still speak."

"Well," Archer said, sounding rather pleased with himself. "The Illusive Man did ask me to rebuild her, I did a rather good job if I do say so myself."

"Yes I know. Muscle weaves, cybernetic implants, artificial blood, facial reconstruction, why did you feel the need to waste millions of credits on a project that already costs billions? Did you think that this wasn't expensive enough already?"

"Lawson, the Illusive Man wanted her to be completely reconstructed and it happens to be easier to rebuild a Human body with good parts rather than bad parts, even if it is more expensive. Anyway, if I recall you were the one who wanted to put a control chip in her brain," Archer smirked, "and were denied."

"It would have barely effected the functions of her nervous system," Miranda snapped as my eyelids became heavy. "It would simply create artificial electronic impulses that would enter her nervous system harmlessly. The Illusive Man is paranoid about this project, and I can't say that I blame him." She turns to look at me. "This woman is the only know Human that has shown immunity. We need to find some sort of way to replicate it, if we don't not only this project but the goal that Cerberus has been striving towards for years is lost."

'The Hell?" I manage to briefly wonder as I feel unconsciousness beginning to overtake me.

"Elizabeth Conner," she muttered, staring at me. I feel a tiny jolt even as my eyes slid shut. "You have no idea about the wonders that are now open to the Human race because of you. Right before my eyes completely close, I spot a smile forming on the woman's face.

That was the last that heard before I slipped into unconsciousness, but right before I did, one last thought flew through my head. 'I swear to Christ if you people hurt Rebecca, you'll pay.'

Author's Note: For the record, for the time being I am still focusing on Haven and Altena, the sub-plots with the Marauders and Cerberus won't be happening for a little bit, I just wanted to get it out there so that you would know that it is coming.

Also on a side note Thel sees your super-carrier Jorge and raises you one. Some of you might ask why I had Thel take out not one but two super-carriers, well to be frank it's because I see him as the most badass character in Halo, second only to Chief and with Sergeant Major Johnson as a close third (sigh I miss Johnson).

Two more things, the hallucinogenic grenades that Rason used in this chapter were inspired by the ones that the Black Hand use in Command and Conqure. Also the Bioshock reference in the last chapter was a combination of Andrew Ryans and Frank Fontaine's names to create the name for the commander of the super MAC. Well that's all I got, till next time.


	52. The Savage's Strike

Chapter 52

The Savage's Strike

Author's Note: The last chapter marked a milestone in my story, this story achieved it's 1000th review, wow I never thought that this story would ever get that many. Well since last chapter was half dedicated to setting up a sub-plot that I won't be getting to for a couple of chapters, I didn't get to develop the Battles of Haven and Altena that well. Besides it's time to get back to our favorite sadistic, psychopathic, knife obsessed, pyro-erotic, cybernetic nutball.

"Wraiths!" Mack shouted as a dozen dropships descended towards the spaceport, three of them dropping the gun-carriages. Nearly simultaneously the three tanks opened fire, their plasma motars arcing through the air. One blast hit a Scorpion whose turret had been rotating to fire, causing it to explode violently, it's turret sent flying. Each of the other two landed in one of the machine gun nests, reducing them to piles of rubble and sending dozens of soldiers flying.

"Take them out!" Mack shouted as the other dropships descended, deploying their load of soldiers, firing his shotgun as they did. Tali slid over the sandbags that she, Ashley and Taylor were taking cover behind, charging the Spartan laser and leveling a shot off at one of the Wraiths. The beam tore through the middle of one of the tanks, causing a massive tongue of purple fire to erupt from it as it exploded. A Scorpion, the only remaining Scorpion among the hastily thrown together defenses, readjusted it's cannon and opened fire on one of the Wraiths, easily destroying it. Scorpion fired it's cannon again, this one destroying the remaining Wraith before a Jiralhanae wielding a plasma launcher fired on the tank, causing it to suffer the same fates as the Wraiths.

Taylor swore under his breath as he leaned out of cover and fired five shots, blowing the optics out of a Geth trooper. Tali followed his move, taking her hand off of the front grip to the laser to draw her pistol and fire off a handful of shots. They, along with all of the other UNSC forces, did their best to resist the urge to look up, for what they would see would only despair them. A dozen Empire ships of various classes had entered the atmosphere and were deploying both OIPs, not just at New London, but at the surrounding cities and towns as well. They had gotten word that the Empire had lost two of it's super-carriers, but not before both had deployed a good portion of their payloads of ground troops.

They had managed to hold the port for what felt like hours, enabling tens of thousands of citizens to escape the planet, en route to Reach. Unfortunately the civilian transports that were being used for evacuation had nearly all been deployed, with countless more civilians still pouring into the port. The backup plan for evacuation of the city was to use smaller aircraft, Pelicans, Falcons and other such transports that were not capable of slipspace and evacuate the civilians to the far side of the continent, well out of the range of the Coalition invasion forces.

There was however, a flaw with this plan. The new evacuation point for the civilians was safe from the Coalition, but only for the moment. If the Alliance fleet crumbled, it could very well be days until reinforcements arrived, and with no orbital defenses, no where on the planet would be safe.

There was another massive roar as a passenger liner took off. "This is flight-EV-5479," a voice announced, "we have lift off, we are beginning our-" the voice was cut off as a CCS-battlecruiser high in the sky of Haven fired seven plasma torpedos at the personal liner. They all hit. "MADAY MADAY, WE'RE GOING DOWN!" the pilot shrieked as the burning ship plummeted the ground. Taylor found himself involuntarily looking away as the ship impacted on the ground, feeling the heat and force of the explosion even thought it was easily several miles away.

"Keelah," Tali whispered, looking at the burning wreckage in horror.

"That does it!" Ashley shouted angrily, rising up as she opened fire on a nearby Jiralhanae Captain. Ashley kept her finger down on the trigger until the gun overheated, even as the Captain began to fire his needle rifle at her. Holstering her SMG and drawing her magnum, Ashley fired two shots, one that shatter what was left of the Captain's shields, and one that hit him directly in the eye, causing it to explode like a rotten tomato as the Captain fell over, dead. Wit her free hand she grabbed a plasma grenade and activated it, throwing it into the midst of five Kig-Yars with shield gauntlets. The Minors attempted to dive to the side, but before half of them had even tensed their muscles, the grenade detonated. There were anguished cries of pain as the aliens were sent flying, all of them missing various body parts, one it's right an another both of it's legs and a third a massive chunk of it's torso.

"This is Mack Norman to all evacuation ships. Escape via slipspace is now impossible, the skies are too clogged up, I repeat enemy presence is too large. All evac ships proceed with backup maneuvers, I repeat secondary escape maneuvers are no in effect."

"Brigadier Norman," a voice crackled across the COM units, "This is Lieutenant Winters, the VIP convoy is en route, ETA 10 minutes. We're going to need three Pelicans to get them out of here."

"Copy that Lieutenant," Mack replied as he shot a Yanme'e that had flown too close, "I'll have those dropships fueled and ready, but you're going to need to make it quick, the spaceport if hot and it's getting worse every minute. If you don't get here fast their Pelican won't last five seconds in the air. Afterwards I want you to fold in with my men and assist in the evacuation efforts, understood?"

"Got it Brigadier, Winters out," Damon said as he disconnected himself from the COM lines.

Mack fired another blast from his shotgun, taking down the shields of a nearby Minor before finishing him off with a second blast. He grit his teeth in frustration as he spotted Sarah take down a Kig-Yar marksman with four controlled bursts while Jacob took a Batarian's head off with a Warp. No matter how many Coalition troopers they killed, more kept coming, and if what he had seen was any indication this was only the tip of the iceberg.

XXXXX

"Keep moving!" Tritus shouted as he and the others jumped over an overturned Chopper. As they came closer and closer to the power plant, the signs of battle became more extreme. Apparently the Empire military had not given up the plant without a fight.

"Sprits," Rason muttered as the rounded another corner to find five burning Scorpions along with a single burning Wraith. "How did it last so long," he wondered out loud, staring at the destroyed tank.

"It must have funneled them into a kill-zone," Tritus replied, "Most likely it kept blasting the Scorpions as they came around the corner." Tritus glanced around. Dozens of dead Jiralhanae lay around the Wraith, while hundreds of various Alliance soldiers lay around the Scorpions.

"They fought so hard," Xeron remarked, "Yet they fell in the end with no one surviving. An unsung battle." Tritus nodded.

He was about to speak when a noise similar to something being knocked over emanated from the side of the street. "Hostile!" Tritus shouted, bringing his machine gun to bear.

"Wait! Wait!" a panicked voice shouted as a Jiralhanae wearing thick lever clothes a green helmet with two glass eyeholes that covered his face completely, and holding a spiker emerged from the ally. "I-I am not Alliance," the Jiralhanae stuttered nervously. "I was a worker at the power plants. When the invasion started we all tried to get to the shelters when we...oh Spirits, Emperor? Is that you?"

"Yes," Tritus said lowering his machine gun. "What is your name?"

"L-Lotan sir," the Jiralhanae stuttered.

"Lotan, you said that you were worker at the power plant. Please tell me did you see the exact size of the ocubation force there and how did the Alliance take it."

Rason glanced at his friend. "Tritus do we not have an objective? The longer we stay here-"

Tritus raised a hand, effectively silencing Rason. "What this man saw may up us greatly in the upcoming fight."

"Oh Spirits," Lotan said again. "You are Rason are you not? And you must be Xeron," he continued, pointing at the hooded Jiralhanae. "The Emperor and two of of the Supreme Commanders, I never thought that I would ever meet one of you in my life, let alone three."

"While it is nice to know that we are appreciated among the general public," Xeron said warmly, "it would be greatly helpful if you answered Tritus' question."

"What...oh yes of course. Uh, I think that they landed around the lab in those pods of theirs, there was about a hundred of them I think, mostly Human and Sangheili. They killed the guards around the plant and started storming in. We tried to surrender but the just started shooting at us, I am not sure if they thought that we were military or not."

'Or possibly they did not care,' Rason thought, but he did not voice his views, letting Lotan continued.

"We all starting running, some of us managed to get out into the streets and ran in practically every direction. I think I saw some dropships landing around the plant though."

"They are most likely fortifying it," Rason pointed out. "We must make haste."

"Wait, you are going back there?" Lotan asked.

Tritus nodded. "I cannot go into details, but we have a plan to repel the Alliance invasion, but we need the city's power grid online in order for it work."

"But exactly how do you plan to bring it online? Most of the staff are dead and those who are not could be anywhere."

"Not to boast but I am a rather proficient mechanist, there is a difference between building machinery and managing power plants and it may take some time but I will manage." It was true, Tritus had drawn up designs for several of the new technologies that been developed since the end of the Covenant, including their rocket launchers and the new Choppers armed with fuel rods. "It...runs in the family," he said, his face suddenly growing dark.

"I...I could help," Lotan pointed out. "I could help you bring the plant online."

"Do not be absurd," Rason said harshly, "We are heading into a heavy combat zone. You are not a specialist, you are not a warrior, you are not even a conscript, you have no combat training. If you come with us you will be little more than a liability. Why should we? If we did you'll most likely have a bullet pierce your cranium."

Rason's insults seemed to cause Lotan to steel himself as his hand tightened around his spiker. "Why exactly do you expect me to do? If I was to run as fast as I could manage to the nearest shelter, there is still a major chance Alliance soldiers will find me and kill me. From what you have been telling me if we can reactivate the power plant we will be able to use some sort of secret weapon to save this planet. I have the technical knowledge to help you do that twice as fast and protect the world that I have lived on for my entire life. If you trust homicidal maniacs to wield weapons and defend the Empire, why can I not?"

He looked daringly as Rason as if he was challenging him to reply, but the Supreme Commander was actually smiling. "You make a good point, if this does not work, I have a feeling that the Alliance is not exactly in a merciful mood today."

"But then...why did-"

"I have seen countless die on the battlefield because they did not put their hearts and have a proper understanding of the situation, I wanted to see if that was the case with you."

Lotan gave a small smile and was about to speak when he heard a noise similar to that of something flying through the air at a rather high speed. The others heard it too and looked up just in time to see an object fall from the sky and land in the city several dozen miles away. The was a blinding blue explosion so powerful that the fur of the Jiralhanae was blown back despite the distance. "Oh Spirits," Rason muttered as he looked through the buildings at where the missile had hit, seeing that several buildings had had their outer layers completely burned off by heat and radiation and that one was slowly beginning to tip over.

"There...there is more of them," Lotan whispered, pointing upward. Sure enough dozens of missiles were descending towards the city from orbit, impacting on sections of the cities miles away each of them having enough force to bring down a block by itself.

"I have had enough of this," Tritus hissed. "Move it! We are ending this battle NOW!"

XXXXX

Mack let out a sigh as he glanced at the Jiralhanae whose heart he had just blown out before glancing around. They had managed to fight off the latest wave of Coalition forces and for the moment the spaceport was free of hostile activity though he had a feeling that would change in a couple of minutes.

"Incoming convoy!" a nearby Marine shouted. Mack looked up and saw several Warthogs an APC and a Scorpion approaching with three Falcons above them.

"Good," Mack said as the vehicles came to a stop in front of the spaceport.

"Bridager, we've got those VIPs," Damon said as he jumped off of the turret, Jane climbing out of the passenger seat of the same car. Not far behind them Liara Neriena and Rebecca exited the Warthog that they had been using while Garrus exited the one that he had been riding in.

"Well Damon I can honestly say that this isn't the kind of backup I was expecting you to bring," Mack said bluntly, looking at the aliens and the silver haired woman.

"Sorry about that, Captain Shepard certainly runs a strange ship," Crystal remarked as she exited her Warthog.

"I would imagine," Mack said, smirking slightly, "after all your kids are on it. Speaking of which you may be interested to know that they've been keeping me company. You've got a few minutes if you want to have a word with them, actually scratch that you have plenty of time to talk to them considering that you're slatted to help me with the evac once the VIPs are gone. Speaking of which I need to get them out of here don't I?" As he spoke Mack made his way to the convoy while Damon and Crystal walked towards Taylor and Sarah, who were now standing behind a row of sandbags, Tali not far away.

"Good to see that you two are keeping yourselves in one piece," Crysal said as they stopped in front of the two of them.

"Yeah well Taylor hasn't exactly been doing that," Sarah said grimly, gesturing to her brother. "A couple of his current body parts aren't the one he was born with. But he set the son of a bitch on fire, so good riddance."

"Well glad to see that that he's staying creative," Damon interjected, causing all four of the Winters to laugh.

Tali smiled slightly and began to walk away, only to be blocked by Damon's outstretched arm. "Hold on little lady," he said glancing at at Tali with a massive grin on his face. "Taylor sent me a rather interesting message about you, mainly about the circumstances between you two, if you know what I mean."

Tali's face turned a furious shade of violet as she turned to face Taylor, who was rubbing the back of his neck. "Did I forget to tell you that?" he asked sheepishly while his sister had a look on her face that suggested that she was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Yes!" Tali snapped, her face growing darker. Ever since Feros Taylor and Tali had reached an agreement. Due to the rather uniqueness of their relationship and the unwelcome attention that might come about if it went out into the open, they had been rather subtle a bout it, only telling Sarah. What Taylor had forgotten to tell Tali was that a couple of days ago Sarah had convinced him to let them in on their little secret.

"Well," Crystal said, smiling widely, "I recall Taylor bringing you by the house a couple of times, I honestly can't say I saw this coming." She raised an eyebrow, "I take it we're not getting grandchildren then?"

"Oh Keelah," Tali muttered, burying her face in her hands.

"Come on stop torturing her," Taylor said slightly exasperated.

Crystal chuckled. "Just having fun." She turned to face Tali again. "So have you told your parents yet?"

"Um," Tali muttered, rubbing her hands nervously. "Not exactly. I was thinking about writing to my mother but...I don't exactly have a very close relationship my father."

"Wait, is your father's name Rael'Zorah?" Damon asked.

"How did you know that? Did Taylor tell you that?"

"Uh, not exactly. He's...he's one of the VIPs that we just escorted. He said something about running experiments on recovered Geth"

Tali felt her heart jump into her throat as she looked around Damon to look at the VIPs that were making their way towards the spaceport. Most of them were Humans wearing either business suits or lab coats but a couple of them were Quarians, one of which she could easily recognize. "Father," she whispered.

She stood where she was, uncertain of exactly what to do. "You ok?" Taylor asked comfortingly, walking up next to her.

"I'm not sure," she said honestly. "I don't know what to do. I never really talked to my father about major things like this, I mainly went to mother."

"If you don't want to it might be for the best if you don't rush it and wait until you feel that you're ready," Taylor suggested.

"Tali?" The Quarian nearly jumped out of her skin as her head snapped to see that her father had spotted her and was making his way over."

"Oh Keelah," Tali whispered, her hands becoming a typhoon as she continued to twiddle them.

"Want me to help?" Taylor offered.

Tali looked at Taylor, and the ODST couldn't help but notice that something seemed to steel behind her eyes. "No," she said, turning to face her father who had reached them, her hands falling to her sides.

"Tali what are you doing here?" Rael asked, looking confused as he stared at his daughter. "What happened to your face!" he exclaimed, noticing Tali's scars, evidence of her session with Sukron.

"I was stationed here," Tali said, her voice slightly shaky. Her hands instinctively began to raise up but they stopped halfway up as she realized what she was doing and fell back down. "Um, father there is someone I would like you to meet," she said, gesturing to Taylor. "This is Taylor Winters he's...my boyfriend."

The second that she spoke Tali felt the overwhelming urge to kick herself. 'Boyfriend? BOYFRIEND! That's the best you could come up with? You made it sound like we're just teenagers in a month long fling!'

Tali managed to keep her face straight even as she felt heat creeping up the back of her neck. "Pleased to meet you," Taylor said, extending his hand towards Rael.

Tali looked at the hand as an excuse to avoid eye contact with her father and noticed something that surprised her. Taylor's hand was actually quivering slightly. 'He's nervous?' Tali thought. 'Well what do you expect, he's meeting your former Admiral father for the first time.'

Rael simply stared at the two of them, a look of utter confusion on his face. "But when did...when did you...how did...does your mother know about this?"

"Not exactly," Tali replied, while repeatedly reminding herself that she was in her 20s, "I was planning on telling her in a few days."

"I...when did you meet this boy?"

As Tali continued to talk, Taylor noticed something behind Rael. As his eyes focused on it he realized that it was some sort of shimmer in the air. He initially thought that it was a heat haze caused by the exhaust from the dropships, but then it hit him that they were too far away from the spaceport for that to be possible. He realized exactly what was making that shimmer just as a Marine near it suddenly burst into flames. There was a chain reaction of painful howls as dozen of Jiralhanae decloaked all around the perimeter, firing their wrist mounted flamethrowers.

Taylor raised his rifle while Tali did the same with her shotgun and began to line up shots when they heard a massive thump a couple yards away. Both of them glanced in that direction before diving to the side behind a barricade dragging Rael with them, narrowly avoiding a jet of fire.

The both leaned over the barricade to see what had attacked them and felt their stomachs drop and looks of fear cover their faces. "Rael'Zorah," Sukron said, walking towards the barricade with his scorcher lit and a grenade launcher in the other hand, his bright red cybernetic eye glowing brightly. "I have been looking for you."

Author's Note: Someone pointed out that they weren't really sympathizing with the Coalition that much, so I decided to put in Lotan. He's a character I've kind of been flip flopping about, not sure if I wanted to put him in. Well I made up my mind and decided that the story would be better for it if he was in.

In case you haven't noticed I'm being subtle about established Sukron as a villain, subtle as an anvil to the head that is. Someone pointed out that I wasn't giving Taylor and Tali that much attention now that they're together, well I have a reason for that, several actually. First off after Fighter For a Purpose I felt like the main pairing in that story involved way too much puppy love moments and I've been holding off on them, they'll still be around I've just been holding them in reserve. Secondly this is a very big story, their romance is one part in a very big machine I'm building so it isn't always the center of attention. Third, they're UNSC personal first and lovers second, meaning on the battlefield they tend to suppress their feelings to keep themselves form making stupid decisions. And the final reason, as I mentioned in story, is that due to the nature of their relationship (Human x Alien in a world were Humans don't really get along with Aliens and where a relationship like that is largely unheard of with the exception if Asari) they keep it under wraps in order to avoid attracting flack caused by oh I don't know a bitchy news reported "wink wink".

By the way some of you may be wondering what Sukron wants with Tali's dad. I'll give you a hint, remember how Rael fucked up on the Alarei? That' all I'm saying

EDIT: The next chapter may not be out for some time, I am going back through this story and trying to get rid of the mass of grammar mistakes and editing sentences and paragraphs that I don't like.


	53. Back to the Wall

Chapter 53

Back to the Wall

Author's Note: The Battles of Altena and Haven are intensifying, soon they will reach their peak. These battles will end in a couple of chapters...let's just say I have something planned and you will finally see what this Divine Thunder is. I hope that you enjoy it. By the way, just because the battles will be ending soon, doesn't mean we'll be having another time skip just yet.

"Fire MACs!" Elizabeth Hall shouted as she sat on the bridge of the _Midway_, which was part of a battle group of fourteen other UNSC warships that was desperately attempting to prevent any more Coalition warships from breaking through the hole in the orbital defenses. Two MAC rounds flew from the _Midway_, one blowing a hole right through a Geth frigate, and the other a Batarian.

"Damn it," Hall whispered, whipping the sweat off of her forehead. While the RSN had lost their super-carrier, the Jiralhanae still had one of theirs and for the entire battle it had been obliterating any ship that came into range of it's weapons. The Alliance fleet was taking heavy losses from it and from the other Coalition ships. Things were looking bad and there were no reinforcements available. All nearby UNSC ships had been pulled for the mission that had never happened, they were on their one.

"Elizabeth!" Sarah shouted, fear emanating from her voice. "The Empire super-carrier is making it's way to our location, closing fast!"

"Distance?"

"Half a minute at the very most. MAC rounds and Archers are loaded."

"Relay this command to all other ships, concentrate all fire on the super-carrier, ignore all other ships. Fire!"

As Hall bellowed her orders, the super-carrier unleashed a salvo of plasma torpedos and pulse lasers upon the battle-group. Four of the UNSC ships were instantly destroyed by the bombardment, their shields and armor completely overwhelmed. Three other vessels took massive damage, the plasma tearing away at their shields and melting the outer hull of the front of them. The power loss that those ships suffered effectively made them dead in the water, of no help to UNSC in the battle.

The ships that had been spared from the onslaught fired their MACs and Archers at the oncoming behemoth. While the MACs impacted on the carrier's shields, a wave of pulse lasers rose to meet the missiles. Countless missiles detonated prematurely, causing no harm to the carrier. Little less than half of the missiles made it through the point defenses and even then they caused minimal harm to the warship.

Hall grit her teeth as she looked at the display of the carrier on the viewscreen. Despite the MAC rounds and missiles, it's shields still seemed. "Sarah, status," Hall demanded, glancing at the A.I.

"The Jiralhanae ship's shields are holding at 61%" the Empress replied.

Hall slammed her fist into her armrest in frustration. How the Hell were they supposed to take that thing down without a Super MAC? Then an idea struck Hall. "Sarah are there any nukes left on board?"

Sarah hesitated before replying. "Three, but I doubt that even they would be able to punch through the carrier's shields, even if by some miracle they got past it's pulse lasers."

"Sarah, do you remember that little strategy I told you about couple of days ago?"

Sarah blinked. "Admiral I told you that while impressive the odds of you successfully performing such a feat is 8% at the very most." Hall snarled at Sarah but before she could reply the _Midway_ rocked violently.

The super-carrier had fired another salvo at the surviving UNSC ships, clearly intent on ending the battle. A handful of torpedos hit the disabled ships, completely obliterating them. The rest of the projectiles hit the surviving ships, destroying another four. The remaining torpedos hit the surviving three ships, the _Midway_ a Halcyon-class cruiser and a destroyer, and while the cruiser and the destroy's shields faltered, they still held. The _Midway_, however, had had more torpedos aimed at it, and was not so lucky.

The Marathon-class cruiser was heavily bombarded by the plasma torpedos, easily peeling the thick armor away. The hull of the bow was completely burnt away as were the sections behind it, revealing the bare skeleton of the ship. Dozens of crew members were sucked onto the vacuum of space before emergency shield generators activated, saving the rest of the ship. Massive chunks of the ship floated away, including parts of the MAC guns, leaving the Midway several hundred meters shorter.

Hall grit her teeth as the ship rocked violently. "Massive damage damage to the MAC guns, both are offline," Sarah reported. "Engineering is reporting a massive loss in power, we're at 32% battle capacity. The slipspace drive is offline"

Hall opened her mouth to give orders, but before she could one last torpedo hit the Midway. It hit the bridge directly. There was a massive explosion as the bridge rocked violently, and the very front of it was blown off, sending a wave of shrapnel into the room. There were cries of agony as the shrapnel buried themselves in the bodies of the bridge crew, killing them almost instantly. An emergency shield activated in front of the gaping hole in the front of the ship, pressurizing the bridge.

"Elizabeth, we are in no condition to fight," Sarah said as she turned to face Hall. "I suggest that we make an emergency retreat and attempt to-ELIZABETH!" Sarah shrieked as she looked at Hall. The Admiral's breaths were coming in short desperate gasps as she clutched her left arm, a dozen jagged pieces of metal sticking out of it. It was not just her arm, the explosion had blown shrapnel into her stomach, chest and one piece had even landed in her right eye, which had completely burst open. She was bleeding badly and would die within minutes if not given proper medical attention.

"Medical team to the bridge," Sarah said hastily into the COM lines. "Prepare for emergency landing."

"Cancel that," Hall rasped as she desperately attempted to maintain conciseness.

"Admiral you don't understand, we don't stand a chance of destroying that thing, we need to retreat!" Sarah snapped.

"Where to? Nowhere's safe with that carrier here." Sarah tried to think of a retort, but for the first time she was unable to counter Hall's argument. "Contact the remaining ships, tell them the plan. You know what to do."

XXXXX

Taylor felt his stomach clench as Sukron stared at him and Tali, a malicious gleam in his eye. 'How...how the Hell is he still alive?" he wondered, feeling his hands clench around his rifle 'Reconstructive surgery?' His line of thought was broken when Sukron fired three grenades at them, forcing both Taylor and Tali to duck behind the sandbags.

"Oh the Spirits must be smiling upon me, _both_ of you are here?" Sukron said, a crooked smile spreading across his face. "Fortunately for you though I am not interested in you two at the moment, I am just here for Rael."

"Fuck off!" Tali shouted, leaning over the sandbags and firing a blast at Sukron, her pellets doing little more than taking the edge off of his shields.

"It would appear that you are rather protective of him," the Supreme Commander commented, firing three more grenades and forcing Tali back into cover. Sliding a fresh belt into his launcher, Sukron took cover behind a burning Wraith. "I cannot help but wonder if you would feel the same way about him if you knew the truth about him," he continued, poking his head around the tank. While he did he saw that his Metal Fist operatives were striking the spaceport perimeter from all sides, with the defenders desperately attempting to repel the surprise attack. He smiled, all of the other UNSC forces were too busy with their own fights to interfere with his.

"The Hell are you talking about!" Taylor shouted, firing three shots at Sukron, forcing him back into cover.

"So he still does not know," Sukron muttered, smiling with glee. "Tell me Zorah, did your father ever tell you what he was doing while I was burying my knife in your chest? Did you ever wonder what he was doing while my scorcher burned away your skin. Did you even know where he was while you were screaming in agony?"

"Shut up!" Taylor shouted, throwing a plasma grenade around the corner of the tank, the explosion weakening Sukron's shields slightly.

"What is he talking about?" Tali said, staring as he father as they both crouched behind the sandbags.

"Do not ask him, he is still unaware of his own blunder," Sukron scorned.

"What blunder?" Rael muttered.

"Rael you fool," the Jiralhanae taunted, glee filling his voice. "I am well aware that President Richards authorized the reconstruction of Geth that you captured to study them, with you heading the research team." Sukron fired two grenades at the sandbags, ducking back into cover to avoid three shots from Taylor and a blast from Tali. "But tell me, exactly how careful were you?"

"Father, what is he talking about?" Tali repeated, starring at her father with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She had a bad feeling that whatever Sukron was talking about had to do with her father committing some unspeakable act.

"Very interesting," the cyborg sneered, "it is very dangerous to take the Geth lightly, I would thought that your kind of all people would have learned that lesson. Your population is at 34 million correct?" Sukron poked his head out and quickly withdrew it, narrowly avoiding a Warp.

"I'm getting tired of your bullshit," Taylor growled, his heart hammering.

"Ah, but you have not even heard the point of all of this," Sukron replied, his grin threatening to split his face. "Tell me Rael, did you monitor the Geth you activated closely? Did you make sure that they did not record everything that they heard? Did you take steps to prevent them from sending out a transmission to the rest of the Geth, telling the Coalition _exactly _where to find this planet? I know for a fact that all three of these are false."

Tali's head snapped to look at her father, a horrorstruck look on her face. For a second, she merely stared at him. "Tell me he's lying."

"What?" Rael blinked, looking at his daughter.

"Tell me that he's lying, tell me that you didn't give the Coalition the location of Haven," Tali said, her voice choking slightly.

"I really should be thanking you Rael, without the help you gave us we would not have found this planet for months or even years." Sukron fired the four grenades still in his launcher at the sandbags, leaning back into cover and reloading his weapon.

"Father," Tali choked, looking desperately at her father. "Please tell me it's a lie." Rael gapped at his daughter, at a loss for words and completely overwhelmed by the situation."

"Oh the dark, dark truth," Sukron mocked. "Your own father's blunder is the reason this planet is being invaded, that so manny people are dying at our hands." He let out a bark of laughter.

Tali gapped at her father, Sukron's words resonating in her mind. "Y-you did this?" she whispered.

Taylor felt his jaw drop. He had not exactly formed a high opinion of Rael from how Tali had described him, but he had thought that Quarian was merely aloof. He had never thought that he would do anything like this, intentional or not.

"Oh look," Sukron said, staring upwards. "It would appear that they received my orders.

'The Hell is he talking about?' Taylor wondered. He received an answer when a deafening roar tore through the landscape, accompanied by a shockwave that actually caused nearby trees to bend under it's force. A massive heat wave followed the shockwave, making Taylor feel like he had walked into a sauna. Craning his neck to look at the source of the heat wave, Taylor felt his eyes widen in horror.

The Empire ships had descended and were hovering over New London. One of them had fired it's energy projector. The blast had landed directly in the center of the city, buildings within miles sagging to the ground as the slowly melted, the soil already crystalizing into a glass like appearance. As Taylor looked on, he saw that more ships were descending in the distance, bombarding other cities while the other ships over New London fired their own energy projectors. New London was lost, there was nothing the UNSC could do to save it now and who knew how many other cities were also doomed.

XXXXX

"There it is," Tritus muttered. He, Rason, Xeron and Lotan were watching the Vimeirus City main power plant from behind a heavy truck. The Alliance had formed a perimeter around it, infantry and light vehicles passed by every minute on patrols. "No doubt they have a large force inside."

"How are we supposed to get past them all?" Lotan asked, looking nervous as he clenched his spiker.

Instead of directly answering, Tritus lifted his hand to his COM unit. "This is the Emperor speaking, all forces within range of the Vimeirus City power planet respond."

"Emperor," the voice of a Jiralhanae Commander replied. "My legion is within range of the plant as is a limited amount of heavy armor support. What are our orders?"

"Commander you are to attack the Alliance forces guarding the plant, but check your fire. The plant must be recaptured and therefore not harmed. Also Commander we have biotic specialists approaching the plant from all locations, they have orders to assist you."

"Emperor, what will you do?"

"I will lead a small team into the plant and re-activate it. With your attack they will most likely leave only a handful of guards, only a fool would leave it unguarded." As he spoke, a scowl spread across Tritus' face, recalling the report that he had read on Feros. 'I knew that the conscripts were poorly trained, but I thought that even they had enough common sense to leave a handful of sentries to defend their artillery.' "Start your attack now."

"Very well Emperor," the voice said. As he spoke, three plasma mortars flew through the air, smashing into the perimeter defenses, sending five Humans and four Sangheili flying. A massive volley of fire flew from the Empire warriors that had emerged from in-between the buildings, killing dozens of Alliance soldiers. Immediately they returned fire, a tank even firing a shell and destroying one of the Jiralhanae's tanks.

"Now is our chance," Tritus whispered. "Go, go, go." He and the other Jiralhanae scurried forward, their weapons tightly clutched in their hands. Within a matter minutes that had reached the plant, sliding behind a set of crates as a squad of Humans run past, heading to where the main force was attacking.

"Stay behind me Lotan," Tritus whispered. "Let me and the others do the heavy lifting. Defend yourself if you must but stay alive." Lotan nodded as he raised his spiker, which was shaking slightly. 'He is frightened,' Tritus noticed 'but he is trying to hide it...interesting.' "Xeron," he said, turning to face the biotic. Xeron nodded as he reached into his cloak and withdrew a syringe filled with Serum 43.

"Time to see the fruits of your labor Rason," Xeron muttered as he slid the needle into his neck before pressing down on the plunger. He let out a hiss as his muscles tensed, dropping the syringe without a second thought. Xeron's bright purple aura flared up around them, much thicker than it normally was. Rather slowly it began to darken, until it was pitch black, seeming rather unnatural and sinister. "How do you feel?" Rason asked.

"How do you think you miserable old skeleton?" Xeron hissed. "I am in agony."

Lotan looked rather confused as he glanced at Tritus. "Why is he-"

"It is a long story," Tritus interrupted, "I will explain later." Tritus gestured for the others to follow him. The got to their feat, only to nearly be knocked to the ground. A massive explosion tore through the sky, accompanied by a wave of heat and force that was comparable to punched in the stomach.

Lotan, his ears ringing from the explosion and feeling slightly deaf, turned to face the origin of the explosion. He felt his jaw drop as his hand loosened on his spiker, which clattered on the ground as it fell from his hands. "Oh Spirits," he whispered. As he gazed off at the horizon, he saw something rising upwards towards the sky, a rather ugly shape that defaced the sprawling landscape of Altena. It was a mushroom cloud.

"Spirits," Lotan repeated. "How could they-why did-Spirits." The engineer felt his stomach drop, he simply could not register what was happening. "They can not have-why would they-what do they stand it gain?" he whispered, feeling panic spreading throughout his body.

As the others saw the explosion, their tightened their fists in anger, Tritus going to far as to bare his teeth. 'I knew this war would be costly,' he thought, 'but that they resorted to using nuclear weapons so quickly, and on targets so heavily populated, I expected more from them. What you see in these savages Marton I will never know.' The voice of reason in Tritus tried to put this in perspective. After all the Empire themselves had used WMDs against the Alliance, and it would only make sense for them to return the favor. These words of logic did nothing to calm the rage that was now building up inside of Tritus though.

"Lotan," he growled, glaring at the distressed Jiralhanae. "If I know the UNSC like I think I do, they were be deployed more nuclear missiles against us. If we do not stop them millions will perish, so I will ask you one last time, can I rely on you? If you doubt yourself, this is your last time to back out." Lotan stared at Tritus for a few seconds before bending down to pick up his spiker. "Follow me," the Emperor muttered, making his way towards one of the entrances to the plant.

'You were too harsh on him,' Tritus thought to himself. 'He had every reason to panic, a true leader does not take out his frustration on his followers...after this is over I will apologize, if we succeed that is.'

Author's Note: Yeah Rael'Zorah screwed up big time. I basically took his mess up in the Migrant Fleet and multiplied it by a hundred thousand, in terms of bodies that is. WMDs are being deployed across both Haven and Altena, with Haven being glassed, Altena being nuked, and Admiral Hall is in critical condition. Yes, these battles are coming close to their climax.

Sorry that this is a little short and that it took so long, but I have a lot of things going on and I just couldn't find a way to make this chapter longer, ah well it's not like a couple hundred words makes or breaks a chapter.

Also before you go flying off the hook saying that the Haven and Altena battle scenes in here were carbon copies of each other, with the WMDs and all, and that I'm creatively bankrupt, THAT'S THE POINT! I'm trying to set up a Not So Different scenario here. Also I will be taking breaks to revise this story, finally I'm cleaning this mess up.


	54. Hail Mary

Chapter 54

Hail Mary

Author's Note: I'm trying to get this chapter up as fast as possible, mainly because I think I finally have the rest of this story planned out. A couple dozen more chapters before I end this I think.

On board the _Calculated Strike_, the flagship of the Supreme Commander Ultimas and the only remaining Empire super-carrier in orbit above Haven, the Fleetmaster acting as second officer sat in the gravity chair, a stoney look on his face. "What is the status of the hostile ships?" he asked.

"The destroyer's and the cruiser's shields are still holding, but the flagship has sustained massive damage to it's weapons, engines and bridge. A single torpedo would be enough to finish it off," one of the navigators reported.

"As soon as our weapons recharge fire again and wipe them out, then deploy our main invasion force."

"Sir, the surviving Human vessels have fired another volley of missiles at us, several hundred are heading in our direction."

"Fire pulse lasers, I want you to stop as many as you can."

"Understood," the navigator said as he rapidly typed into the console in front of him. As the missiles sped through the vast emptiness of space, the turrets on the front of the _Strike _rotated to face them and opened fire, sending concentrated bursts of lasers at the missiles. As the hoard closed on the supercarrier, the lasers hit the warheads of dozens of the deadly projectiles. One laser destroyed a missile and exposed the one that was directly behind it. Almost instantly another missile maneuvered in front of the one that had just been exposed, just in time to intercept another pulse laser, taking the shot.

The navigator's eyebrow raised as he watched this spectacle. That had been extremely unusual, why would the missiles bother to maneuver like that? His thoughts quickly vanished as he continued to enter commands into his terminal, making sure that the pulse lasers continued to fire. The pulse lasers were quick, numerous and above all accurate, even as the missiles closed on the ship only a quarter of them were still intact.

As another laser detonated one of the Archers, another one moved to take it's place, directly in front of another missile. The navigator frowned again as he noted the strangeness of the situation, unless he was mistaken the missile that was being shielded was the same one from earlier. Why would the Humans go to such lengths to sacrifice other missiles to protect one that was no different from them? 'Unless it is not a regular missile,' the navigator thought, 'but what could it be?' he wondered.

Another pulse laser fired as the distance between the warship was reduced to meters, destroying the missile that was protecting the one behind it. Instead of another one moving into position to protect it, secondary rockets activated, causing the missile's speed to double. While the other Archers impacted on the Strike's shields, the other one slipped through the hole in the shields that had been opened so that the pulse lasers could exit. The navigator gaped as the missile sped through the hole with the precision it took to thread a needle.

'Impressive,' he thought as the missile sped towards the hull, 'but rather pointless. A single missile to the outer hull will only do minimal damage.' Unconcerned he turned back to his console and began targeting the UNSC ships with plasma torpedos, which had just finished recharged, as the missile hit the ship.

There was a massive explosion that rocked the entire ship as the missile detonated, a cloud of force and fire blooming from the warhead. The explosion expanded outward rapidly until it hit the shields of the Strike that were placed all around it. With nowhere else to go, the explosion was forced back into upon itself, causing the force of it to multiply to massive levels. With it's own shields containing the explosion, the super-carrier was engulfed by the magnified flames, unable to escape the inferno. As it burst through the hull and swept through the ship, the navigator had just enough time to recognize what the missile had truly been before he was reduced to a charred skeleton in a second. The flames consumed the rest of the ship, overloading the reactors and causing them to rupture.

Back on the _Midway_, Sarah watched in amazement as the super-carrier was destroyed. "I don't believe it, it actually worked." She glanced to her side, "Elizabeth your plan worked...Elizabeth?" Two medics were standing next to the Admiral, desperately plugging up her wounds with biofoam while attempted to pump fresh blood into her system, but she had slumped into her chair, her eyes closed.

"She's lost conciseness," one of the medics explained, glancing at Sarah. "We're doing our best to stabilize her but there's a lot of damage and half of the medbay got blown away with the rest of the ship."

Sarah seemingly glanced off into space when in reality she was checking the status of the ship. "We're in no condition to be fighting," she muttered. "All hands," she said, her voice echoing throughout the ship. "We have sustained major structural damage and must withdraw from the battle, brace for an emergency landing."

"Are you crazy?" one of the medics shouted, "the Admiral is in critical condition, the turbulence created by reentry could be enough to kill her!"

"While I appreciate your concern for Elizabeth's health there are hundreds of crewmen and women that are still onboard this ship. We have minimal defensive capabilities and power, if a single Coalition ship gets anywhere near us then everyone on board, including Elizabeth, is as good as dead. Now unless you have anything else to say I suggest you focus on keeping her alive why I do my job."

Not turning to see the medic's reaction, Sarah stared vaguely in front of here as she took control of the ship's functions. With a turtle like speed compared to what the had been capable of doing before, the _Midway_ began to maneuver towards Haven, thrashing as it entered the atmosphere. As the ship began descend towards the planet's surface flaps extended and emergency rockets fired in an attempt to slow the fall. 'Please Elizabeth, please don't die,' the A.I. mentally begged.

XXXXX

Xeron gritted his teeth as he blasted the door to the power plant off of it's hinges with a Warp, amplified by the combat stimulate in his system. His pitch black aura thickened around him as he used a Charge to propel himself across the room, landing on the far side. The dozen Alliance troopers that were there spun and immediately opened fire, their bullets harmless impacting in Xeron's barrier.

Snarling in disgust he sent a burst of Warps at them, catching a Salarian a Human and a Turian while the others dove for cover. They had just begun to lean out of cover to return fire when Tritus, Rason and Lotan fired on them from behind. Rason's grenades and one of Tritus' rockets exploded in between them, sending them flying, even some of Lotan's spikes buried themselves in one Asari Huntress.

"That is all of them," Tritus said as he slid another rocket into his launcher, as he and the others made their way forward. Glancing around, he saw a massive, purple metal cylinder in the middle of the room that extended from the floor to the ceiling with consoles on all sides, dwarfing all of the other machinery in the room. The main reactor.

"Xeron, other Alliance soldiers will notice the lack of communication from here, kindly clear the rest of the plant before they do so."

"Of course, it is not like you could do anything without me," Xeron growled as he blasted a door off of it's hinges before disappearing into it.

"Last chance to back out Tritus," Rason said as he looked at the reactor. "If the draw isn't enough the strain could very well cause the plant to explode. Are you certain you want to do this?"

As Rason spoke, one of the Turian bodies that coated the floor stirred slight grasping for a rocket launcher that lay a foot away. "We did not come this far just to take in the sights," Tritus replied as the Turian grasped the heavy weapon.

Rason sighed as the Turian raised the rocket launcher, aiming it at Tritus' back. "Well one way or another it certainly will be a sight to-" he was cut off as a burst of gunfire tore through the air. As the two Jiralhanae whipped around, the saw the Turian slump to the ground and drop the rocket launcher, fourteen spikes sticking out of it's back. Lotan was holding his spiker in both hands, shaking violently.

Crossing the room, Tritus put a hand of Lotan's shoulder. "Are you all right?" he asked in a concerned voice.

Lotan nodded stiffly, looking at the Turian. "I did not mean to fire so many," he whispered. "This...this weapon fires so fast."

"It is normal to feel uneasy after your first kill."

"But I killed one earlier, I did not feel this way then."

"It is easy to kill in the heat of battle, there is so much adrenaline pumping through so system and so much chaos that you most likely do not even know what you did. In a calm environment on the other hand, you see exactly what you did. After this it might be for the best that you seek professional counseling."

"That can wait," Lotan said, attempting to compose himself as he approached the main reactor, with minimal success. Reaching one of the terminals, he activated it and began to type commands into it.

"It is not considered healthy to repress these kinds of things," Tritus said as Lotan continued to type into the console.

"Millions of Jiralhanae warriors kill on a daily basis in this war, I can handle this," Lotan said stubbornly.

Tritus frowned, "Those warriors have months of mental and physical preparation before ever seeing combat, a luxury you do not have. Do not force yourself to complete tasks you are not capable of."

"I just...I do not even know who he was," Lotan admitted. "He could have been a father, if so his children will never see him again because of me. Everything that Turian ever was...I just destroyed." He lowered his head, "It is shameful that I am such a coward that I feel guilt when defending my own home."

Tritus put a comforting hand on Lotan's shoulder. "You do not have the mind set for war, and to be honest I am rather glad about that. Are you familiar with the Tribal Wars?"

Lotan nodded. "Most people call it the Ten Thousand Year War, but yes."

"I fought in it, so did Rason." Lotan's head snapped to look at Tritus. "I do not blame you for being surprised, it is not a very well known fact. Let me tell you now that the history books only convey so much. Jiralhanae were trained from birth to be utter savages, taught only to destroy their enemies. Even after contact with the Covenant this continued until the end of the Civil War, only recently have we been coming around. That is why other races hate us, because of how brutally we fought back then."

"But we have changed."

"Not all of us," Tritus remarked grimly. "Many Jiralhanae still wish to return to the ways of the Tribal Wars and cleanse the galaxy of other species. Some of these people take glee in me declaring war on the Alliance." He let out a sigh. "I will not lie to you Lotan, sometimes I lie awake at night wondering if I made the right choice."

"I thought that there was a large possibility that they would attack us if they learned of our rapid expansion."

"There was a chance, and had we opened negotiations with them we could have given them the chance to launch a crippling permeative strike against us. Still there was a chance that they would not have done that, but I am not a gambler, especially with billions of lives on the line."

"If it helps, seeing viciously and quickly they were able to match decades of preparation, it appears that you made the right choice."

Tritus gave a grim smile, "Thank you." As they spoke, a humming noise filled the room as heat began to emit from the reactor, lights all over the room flickering on.

"It is online," Lotan said as he glanced at Tritus.

Tritus nodded as he lifted his hand. "This is the Emperor to the _Divine Thunder_ firing squad. Our test date has been pushed forward, as soon as power is restored, target and destroy the enemy fleet."

"Understood, we are starting pre-firing procedure, estimated time to firing is four minutes."

"This _Divine Thunder _what is it?" Lotan asked.

"Watch the heavens and you will receive you answer."

XXXXX

Jane's ears perked as she glanced in the direction of Taylor, Tali and Rael after putting a burst of bullets into the head of a Metal Fist operative. Was she hearing things or had what she had just heard been the truth? "Rael'Zorah leaked information?" she whispered. Her thoughts immediately turned back to the battle as a burst of bullets pierced the head of a Metal Fist operative five yards away from her.

"Not the time to be daydreaming Shepard!" Garrus shouted as he slid next to her behind the sandbags she was taking cover behind.

"You don't think I know that?" Jane replied as a tongue of fire flew over their cover, narrowly avoiding them. They both rose up and fired bursts each, collapsing the operative's shields and penetrating the his organs, killing him.

"How the Hell did these they sneak up on us like this?" Garrus asked as they both ducked down. "We didn't see any dropships land anywhere near here."

"You mean like those ones," Jane said, pointing upwards. Garrus looked up and emitted a string of curse works in a Turian language. Another dozen Phantoms were descending to their position, Jiralhanae in dark blue armor visible in the open hatches. The were holding rather odd looking rifles that they were holding up to eye level. "Get down!" Jane shouted. As she shouted the Jiralhanae opened fire, the rifles shooting high velocity spikes.

Several Marines were unfortunate enough to be caught out into the open and were brought down by combined arms fire before they could react. The Phantoms served backwards before slowly descending a good distance away from the spaceport, the Jiralhanae remaining within the dropships and continuing to fire their rifles. "Why aren't they deploying?" Jane muttered.

Back behind the destroyed Wraith, Sukron was about to lean out of cover when he heard a loud thump behind him. As he turned around a massive furry fist slammed into his face, shattering his nose and forcing him to slam into the wrecked tank. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!" Wiping blood off of his face Sukron glared at Ultimas who had just dropped from the Phantom that was flying to rejoin with the orders. "I gave you orders to command the fleet while I handled the ground operations!"

"And I told you I do not take orders from you," Sukron sneered, confident in himself even as blood streamed down his face.

"I disagree, I was given command of this mission, that means I was given command OVER YOU! Now get on the Phantoms, NOW!"

"And why would I do that?"

"Simple really, we're withdrawing."

Sukron stared at Ultimas, disbelief mixed with rage in his organic eye. "What?"

"The Alliance destroyed all three of our super-carriers before any of them could fully deploy and a third of our landing forces were wiped out, so I am ordering a retreat," Ultimas explained coldly.

"Coward," Sukron hissed, "A mere fraction of our forces fall and you want to run away like a sacred child?"

"Unlike you I want to keep the warriors outside of my specialist division alive. We are at a disadvantage, for the moment we are winning but with a massive proportion of our reserves gone it is only a matter of time before the enemy regroups and launches a counter-attack, one that I doubt we will be able to handle."

"You can run and hide if you wish but I happen to have unfinished business here, so if you do not mind-"

"I do not care about your petty personal gripes!" Ultimas roared as he charged forward, slamming Sukron into the Wraith with one hand around the cyborg's throat and the other drawing a spiker that he pressed against Sukron's temple. "Let me make something very clear Sukron, step out of line in a manner that costs us another major battle and Supreme Commander or not I will kill you myself."

"Do not pin your failures on me, exactly how do I think I caused our super-carriers to be destroyed?" Sukron asked, a crooked smile spreading across my face. "Also, kill me? Are you trying to make me laugh? You know what will happen."

"Yes Sukron, your followers will be outraged and wage a rebellion, but tell me something Sukron, how will you be able to enjoy that rebellion when there are super heated spikes in that barely functional brain of yours?"

Sukron stared at Ultimas, the inner gears of his mind gnashing furiously. He wanted nothing more than to incinerate him then and there, but he had plans, plans that had been in the making for too long to throw away. His revenge would come another day. "Very well Ultimas," he said, feigning submission. "Now take your hands off of me before I have an accident with my scorcher."

"Do not make threats unless you intend to keep them," Ultimas growled as he released Sukron.

"I do."

"So do I, now order you men to withdraw before I uphold it."

Sukron hesitated before lifting his hand to his COM unit. "All Metal Fist operatives, pull back to the dropships. We are abandoning the assault."

"Glad to see that you somewhat deserve your position," Ultimas said as he turned and began to head towards one of the dropships.

The second he was out of earshot, Sukron spoke again. "Stealth Phantoms, hold off on that withdraw, I have one last mission for you." Stealth Phantoms were prototype dropships used by Metal Fist for behind the line insertions and precision strikes. Sukron smiled, it looked like he would get his revenge after all.

Author's Note: I got the idea for Hall's maneuver by clicked around Halowiki kind of like what Keyes did on Reach. I haven't read Fall of Reach but from what I can gather Hall's maneuver is different from what he did, I think he literarily punched a hole in the shields while Hall threaded her nuke through a hole that was already there.

By the way people, we need to talk. When I first introduced Admiral Nelson, I got a couple of reviews saying that he was an ass, which is good because that is what I was aiming for, for wanting to drop nukes on Altena. Now that one of those nukes has actually hit people are calling it poetic justice. What? I am sorry what? 'Sigh' I'm starting to get a little worried about exactly what you guys want out of this story and how it's radically different from what I have planned, or at least things are for a couple of you. There is a difference between using WMDs on military targets and using them on civilian targets, a major one. Nelson is supposed to be an officer that goes way too far to destroy the enemy, and to make it interesting I haven't stated that he is committed a war crime because due to the seriousness of the situation, the UNSC will actually ACCEPT what he is doing. And before you pull out the argument "Well the Jiralhanae did it first" let me go on record and say that's a weak defense. If America committed mass genocide of German civilians in WW II then they would have been no better than the Nazis. What I'm trying to get at here is that the Joker had a point in the Dark Knight "Their code...it's a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble." In case you haven gotten it by now let me spell it out (Nuking military targets = somewhat acceptable. Nuking civilian targets = BAD) Hate to break it to you guys but this story is going to be playing the Gray and Grey Morality card, I am doing the very best I can to portray BOTH sides sympathetically, if you think I could be doing a better job of that, please feel free to give me some advice. Also if any of my readers really do despise the Jiralhanae and want them to be wiped out, I suggest you stop reading now because I know that you will despise how this story ends...that's all I guess, I guess I'm just a little nervous that I've been trying to make my Jiralhanae characters three dimensional (Minus Sukron) and that people are cheering that nukes are being dropped on their civilian targets. Again it's just a couple of reviewers, it's just getting me a little nervous.


	55. Divine Thunder

Chapter 55

Divine Thunder

Author's Note: After voicing my concerns last chapter I received mixed responses. To my relief some of my reviewers agreed with me, some of them took the neutral ground saying that Nelson only represents the worst of the UNSC, and some actually defending his nuking...dear God. Screw it If there's one thing I've learned about debating it's that all you get from it is a headache. I will just say this, if Bioware has taught us anything, it's that you can't judge a race by stereotypes, they told us that Asari were diplomats, Turians heavily disciplined, and Krogan blood thirsty, and then proceeded to show us the shy Liara, cowboy cop Garrus, and reformer Wrex respectively. Oh and by the way I'm sticking by my guns, sticking to gray and grey, interesting characters, and nearly everyone is sympathetic. Ever war in the history of this fucking planet has been grey and gray, with the exception of a couple that were gray and black. Also in case I didn't make it clear, I didn't say that the UNSC shouldn't be using nukes, I would give that order myself, it's just that just because you need to do something doesn't make it morally stable and you shouldn't be praising it like it was divine punishment from god like some of my less moral reviewers are.

"Status report of the hostile fleet and the planet's surface Ensign," Admiral Nelson ordered as he sat on the bridge of the _Devastator_.

"Tubes five and six have been fired and the Shivas have impacted on their targets. Combined with the Shivas deployed earlier and the Archers, estimated Jiralhanae ground casualties range from 50 to 100 million. The Empire fleet has also sustained massive damage with only 42% of their ships still operational, another 3 to 5 million casualties. Our fleet has taken moderate damage, 21% of our ships have been destroyed, I'd say around a million casualties."

"Good continue bombardment." The Ensign nodded as he continued to type commands in, but his movements were rather stiff. "Something the matter Ensign?" Nelson asked sternly.

"Admiral, won't there be repercussions for what we've done here? We will be put on trial and-"

"Are you dense?" Nelson asked scathingly. "Do you really think that I would drop Shivas on a Jiralhanae planet if it meant I would spend twenty years in a maximum security prison? I received a direct order from the UEG authorizing the use of nuclear weapons, no doubt Admiral Hall received the same orders in her mission to Dosiac."

"The UEG senate approved this?"

"Try higher."

The Ensign's eyes widened as Nelson spoke. "Pr-President Richards authorized the use of Shivas?"

"I can't blame you for being surprised," Nelson remarked. "I was taken aback as well. Who would've thought that President 'Goody Goody' Richards, the man that opted for peace with the Council and the annexation of the Quarians," Nelson's lip curled as he said the word Quarian, as if he had just stepped in something fowl, "would have had the stones to use WMDs. He tried to sugar coat it of course, saying that it was a last resort and he was only doing it because it was the quickest way to end the war and how uneasy he was about giving the order, but at the end of the day a hundred million Jiralhanae are dead because of his orders. I am rather glad that he decided to finally grow a spine though, those gorillas are finally getting whats coming to them."

The Ensign turned back to his control panel, a look of shock on his face. 'I never thought that Richards would do anything like this, I can see Udina, but Richards?' His line of thought was broken as his console beeped. His eyes darting down, he blinked in surprise. "Sir I am picking up slipspace ruptures, the Jiralhanae fleet is withdrawing from the sector." He glanced at Nelson, "Do you want us to pursue?"

"No, let them go, we have bigger fish to fry." The navigator nodded as he turned back to his console, before jumping as it began to beep loudly. Nelson let out a groan, "What is it this time?"

"I'm picking up a major power surge from the planet's surface, approximately twenty miles away from the city where our troops landed."

On the surface of Altena in a clearing twenty miles from Vimeirus City, there was a massive grinding as the ground slid apart, really a five mile long camouflaged door. Gears shifted as a massive platform was lifted up to ground level from an underground facility, a massive structure on it. _Divine Thunder_ was easily thirty kilometers tall, half of which was the massive barrel, itself a mile in diameter, which was being rotated to face the heavens. A multitude of power cables stretched from underground and into the bottom of the weapon. At the base of the structure were a dozen of Jiralhanae in purple armor, working at consoles. "_Divine Thunder_ firing squad here, we are receiving power from the Vimeirus City power grid, all systems online," one of them reported into his COM unit. "Target acquired, waiting for you command Emperor."

"Do it, vaporize them all," Tritus commanded through the Battle-Net.

"Understood," the operator said, typing commands in. There was a humming noise as _Divine Thunder_ received power and the firing squad slid on protective ear ware. "Fire," the operator said, and one of his subordinates pressed a button.

With a crack similar to that of a lightning bolt, Divine Thunder fired, a massive, continuous pink beam of plasma soared from the barrel with near light speed and broke through the atmosphere in a second. Back on the _Devastator_, the blast from _Divine Thunder_ registered on the scanners, but even as the navigator turned to report it, the ship was hit. The sheer heat and the force of the beam caused ship flash sublimate, reducing the massive dreadnaught to gas with the exception of a few scorched pieces of metal. In the fraction of the second that Nelson had before the blast hit, he felt the intense heat of the plasma. Just before he was vaporized, one word was able to fly through his head, 'How?'

As the _Devastator_ was destroyed, the beam _Divine Thunder_ swept through space, tearing through the Alliance fleet before coming back to destroy those that had been missed. _Divine Thunder _swept back and forth for a solid minute before the structure back on the planet's surface deactivated as gallons of coolant were pumped into it in a frantic attempt to cool it. In orbit of Altena, all that was left of the Alliance fleet was a handful of scrap metal aimlessly spinning in space.

The firing squad stared up into the sky, not saying a word as they took in the sight. Then one lifted his hand to his COM unit. "THE EMPEROR PROTECTS!"* he bellowed, his words echoing in millions of COM units across the planet, a massive roar of approval rising up. Altena had been defended.

*Before you completely lose your marbles and accuse me of being unoriginal IT'S CALLED A SHOUT OUT!

XXXXX

"They're...running," Mack mouthed in a disbelieving voice as the Jiralhanae warships which were heading upwards towards space. "I...I don't believe it." It was bizarre, one moment Jiralhanae dropships were raining down torrents of spikes, and the next second all of the troops in the area had pilled on to them and evacuated.

"I'm not complaining," Damon said as he and the other Winters sat nearby, his armor having being removed from the torso up because of a spike imbedded in her shoulder that a medic was currently tending to. "Gah God damn it would you be careful!" he hissed as the medic slid the spike out before quickly wrapping bandages around the wound. "Can't you just slap some biofoam on?" he asked as the medic knotted it off.

"Sorry but we're having a bit of a shortage and we're holding them in reserve for those in critical condition, same goes with morphine."

"So I'm supposed to suck it up then?"

"Aw, would you like be to kiss it and make it better?" Crystal asked teasingly, brushing her light brown hair out of her eyes in a slightly seductive manner.

"The kids are here Crystal," Damon muttered, chuckling slightly.

Taylor gave a grim smile as his eyes turned to focus on Tali, who was staring at the edge of the permitter staring blankly off into space. When he had tried to approach her after the battle had ended she had rebutted him, saying that she needed to be alone and that he should catch up with his parents as he hadn't seen them in awhile. Taylor found himself twiddling his thumbs as he looked at her, he couldn't help but feel nervous and that Tali was a time bomb waiting to go off. From what he had heard, Rael and Tali had not had a very healthy relationship to begin with and now this bombshell had been dropped on her.

Just then, Taylor saw Rael walking towards Tali and stopping right behind her. He couldn't help but notice that his throat felt rather dry as he watched the two, slightly nervous about what was going to happen.

"Tali," Rael said to his daughter's back. She didn't reply. "We need to talk," he continued, attempting to get a response. Instead of speaking, Tali silently began to walk away, not looking at her father. "Tali where are you going?" he half asked, half demanded.

"Why do you care?" she whispered in an extremely quiet voice.

"Tali we need to sort this out, I am your father and-" Rael's sentence died as Tali spun on the spot to face him, a look of sheer rage on her face.

"You're my father are you, well you could have fooled me," she hissed. "Two and a half decades you act like a military instructor to me instead of a parent, you never gave a damn what I was feeling, all you cared about was getting the homeworld back. All of a sudden you come back into my life and try to act like you actually have a place there? You had your chance my entire life Rael, it's a little late now."

"You think that I don't care about you?" Rael asked angrily. "What do you think that I've been doing ever since you were born? Every single thing that I have ever done has been for you and Sirona and now you accuse me of this? You ungrateful little-"

"Oh, so I'm ungrateful now?" Tali shouted, cutting her father off, "Is that it? I don't fully appreciate you and what you've done for me is that what you think Rael? Name one thing you've done for me in the last five years Rael, I'm rather interested in what you have to say."

Rael's brow furrowed in anger. "Since the start of this war President Richards asked me personally to conduct high level research on the Geth, trying to find ways to bypass their firewalls and disable them in mass quantities, perhaps even rewrite their programming. I'm sorry that you didn't realize this by now Tali but I can't hold your hand every step of the way like a child."

"I child am I?" Tali growled. "You remember that cybernetic Jiralhanae that was trying to rip your head off ten minutes ago? His name is Sukron, and you probably don't know this but on Feros he cut me, stabbed me, burned me, broke most of my ribs and nearly choked me to death, I apologize for being upset that I was tortured and nearly killed and couldn't tell you because I had no way of contacting you!"

Rael looked momentarily stunned at his daughter's revelation, but regained his composer in seconds. "It was out of my hands Tali, any communications that we had could have been traced to our location, we were limited to top priority, our research on the Geth was vital and critical to the war effort."

"And now we come to the root of my problems," Tali whispered, her voice suddenly dangerous quiet. "Would you care to explain why Sukron was saying that it was you that lead the Coalition here."

"You're telling me that you actually believe him?"

"You haven't denied it yet," Tali replied, her voice icy cold. Tali gave Rael a piercing glare, and the Quarian man instinctively found himself fighting a little as something stirred in the back of his mind. "What exactly did your experiments entail?"

"I hope that you can understand that it's classified and that I can't go around talking-"

"Classified?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "From what I heard the entire Coalition knows the details of your plan now, so would you care to tell me why Sukron said that this entire invasion was your fault?"

Rael stared at Tali before speaking. "We were reactivating Geth and connecting them together in an attempt to find ways to attack their communication network. I had a lead and accelerated our process to follow up on it, now we'll never know, the Jiralhanae destroyed the lab in the attack."

Tali held up a hand, silencing Rael. "I've heard enough," she said, "you got greedy, that's all I need to know." She began to turn, intending to walk away.

Rael's hand shot out and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Daughter we are not finished here ye-" Rael's sentence died in his throat as Tali, her eyes brimming with rage, buried her fist in her father's stomach.

"Never," she said as Rael staggered back, attempting to catch his breath, "call me your daughter again. Your actions here could very well destroy the bond we have created with the UEG and if things go bad we will be without a home once again. That's one thing you could never understand, you were constantly trying to find me a home when I already had one," and with that she turned and walked away from her father. Watching her with worry, Taylor noticed that she was blinking furiously, as if she was holding back tears.

Rael stared at his daughter, a look of sheer shock on her face. "Sir," said a voice, and Rael looked to the side to see Mack staring at him. "We need to go." He glanced at Tali. "I'm sure that with time and patience you'll be able to patch things up with her." Rael nodded dumbly as he followed the Brigadier to the one of the three Pelicans were the VIPs were waiting to take off. Even as they both boarded, Mack didn't have the heart to tell him that if he had indeed leaked UNSC intelligence, he was looking at thirty years as a minimum.

Taylor approached Tali cautiously as the Pelicans slid their doors shut and began to take off. "You ok?" he asked.

"My father was an accomplice to genocide, how do you think I feel?" she snapped.

Taylor couldn't help but flinch at Tali's comment, but he refused to back down. He couldn't help but wonder if that was a stupid move. "He had a point, do you really trust Sukron?"

"He practically confessed to me," Tali said, turning to face Taylor, "Everything fits, it explains how the Jiralhanae found this planet, why Sukron was looking for him of all people, how do you explain how Sukron knew where he was is there wasn't a leak?"

Taylor bit his lip, feeling like Tali had backed him into a corner. He let out a sigh as he Pelican's flew overhead. "Don't you think that-" he began, but was cut off by a massive explosion. Snapping his neck upwards he saw Two Phantoms firing their main cannons and the Pelican that Mack and Rael were on exploding in the air.

Taylor felt his jaw drop and heard his father bellow, "MACK!" before the Phantoms flew away. Tali stared at the debris now showering that earth, her eyes wide.

XXXXX

"Amazing," Lotan whispered as he, Tritus and Rason stood outside of the Vimeirus City power plant, the beam from _Divine Thunder_ visible even from this distance.

"_Divine Thunder _Tritus said, staring at the concentrated plasma. "An exterminate weapon designed specifically for destroying targets in geosynchronous orbit. A single shot is enough to obliterate an entire fleet and shatter any attack." He glanced at Lotan, "The main threat to this planet is over, thank you for everything that you've done Lotan."

"But still," the engineer muttered, his eyes sweeping the landscape, where several mushroom clouds were still present. "So many dead."

"We did all that we could, the Empire has powerful enemies, causalities are inevitable, no matter how hard we try to prevent them."

"Emperor, I must ask you something." Tritus raised an eyebrow. "Why did you chose now of all times to declare war? Would it not have been better to wait until the Marauder rebellion was crushed. Also we could have had more time to prepare against this."

Tritus sighed. "After today the least I can do is answer that question. Truth be told I had originally planned to squash the Marauders and then spend decades building up our forces. But someone pushed me over the edge."

"Who?"

"The one who was able to win the loyalties of both the Geth and the Batarians, Saren."

"The Spectre that defected?"

Tritus nodded. "He made contact with us three years ago, in part he is the one who persuaded me to declare war. While I had my own reasons and motivations to do so, he put the nail in the coffin so to speak. He more or less said that he wouldn't be able to hold the hearts of his followers forever and if he wanted us to be allies we would have to strike soon. So we did."

"That makes sense...in a way," Lotan said. "I just...ugh this is rather complicated."

"War always is," Rason remarked. "So many angles, so many motivations so many fronts."

Tritus sighed. "I am well aware of that. Even though we have won today our victory is hollow. Millions are dead...I have made up my mind," he glanced at Rason. "When you have a chance, send a message to Dosiac. I want the Imperial Guard deployed."

Lotan jumped in surprise as Rason stared at Tritus. "The Guard Tritus? Would it not be for the best if they remained on Dosiac guarding the Imperial Palace?"

"The Palace holds symbolic value and nothing more," Tritus replied. "The Guard is the best of the best, I want them on the front lines defending our people. Their talents are wasted having them lounge around the Palace."

Rason paused before nodding. "Very well."

Before they could say anything else, there was a loud thump and the three of them turned to see that Xeron had landed a few yards away, his aura purple again. "Ah Tritus, I see that you have succeeded," he said smiling warmly as he dropped two metal spheres onto the ground.

"Xeron what are those?" the Emperor asked.

"Anti-tank charges," Xeron replied. "I found two Humans attempting to arm them inside the plant, and several others elsewhere. They were clearly attempting to destroy the building, had we arrived later they might have succeeded."

"That disturbs me greatly," Tritus muttered. "But there is little purpose in dwelling on what could have been. Lotan we should have the Alliance forces destroyed or captured in a matter of hours. Afterwards we will begin emergency relief efforts, you and any other civilians are allowed to join if you wish, but until then I cannot ask to take any further part in combat."

"Emperor now that you mention that there is something else I wanted to ask you."

"Yes?"

"There has been an idea that I've been entertaining for some time now. I have been considering...joining the military."

"I thought that you hated the sorrow of battle."

"I do," Lotan remarked bitterly. "But after seeing what has been done here today I realize that the Empire needs every last able bodied person that it can manage defending it. I am willing to make that sacrifice, I was just wondering what you thought," he said, looking at Tritus for guidance.

"I cannot give you the answer you are looking for Lotan," Tritus admitted, "this is something you must answer for yourself. This decision will no doubt affect the rest of your life and I do not want you to be killed because of an impulse of anger brought on by this battle. If you want my advice, think this through for a couple of days, make sure that joining the armed forces is a choice that you must be truly committed to. Some join for poor reasons, such as for glory, for easy money or simply because they want to kill for the sake of killing." His lip curled in disgust. "I ask that you truly think this through and why you want to do it. Only then should you make your choice."

Lotan bowed his head, "Thank you Emperor."

Tritus gave a small smile. "Is it not the duty of a leader to guide his people?"

Author's Note: I think I just noticed a pattern in my stories, female OCs seem to outnumber male ones 3 to 1 and 5 to 1 by the end of the story because I killed off all of my male ones and maybe one female. I don't know why I do this, I mean Male OCs I've killed this story alone, Michael Rivers, Mack Norman, Ryan Nelson, Ramos 'Mortam and Demas 'Mortam, hell even Taylor had an unpleasant encounter with Sukron's knife. My ladies on the other hand seem to be getting off scoff free with the exception of Falys' back story and Rebecca's tragic mind rape, I just ran a scan through my head and no female OCs have died this story, Hell I haven't even killed any female characters in general, in fact Crystal was supposed to be the one to go down in a ball of fire this chapter but I changed my mind at the last second and killed three male characters in one go. Personally I think that there's this subconscious thing going around inside my brain that female characters are easier to create and sympathize with and you can't really kill them off because they're women and now because I typed that I'm going to go bash my brains out with a frying pan because I'm starting to talk like a feminazi. Yeah just a weird little thing that pops up in my writing that I wanted to address.

Also something else I would like to say about this chapter, I know some people are going to complain about what Tali did, mainly because nowadays you can't walk down the street without someone saying that you did it wrong and acting like your actions doomed the Earth, like online if you have the nerve to get -1 in a Halo game you're the scum of the Earth. Let's face it good intentions or not Tali's Dad is kind of like Thane, neither of them are winning father of the year awards. I think I listed all of the reasons that she would be mad at him in the chapter and you can only take so much before you flat out explode. The invasion of Haven did not help her relationship with her Dad either.


	56. Open Wounds

Chapter 56

Open Wounds

Author's Note: This is the second to last chapter that I'm going to have before another time skip, mainly it's going be about wrapping up loss ends. Well let's get to it.

Hours after the Battle of Haven had ended, Taylor sat in his room on the Normandy, staring dumbly at the wall across from him. 'Mack...dead?' he thought, his thoughts sluggish and uncoordinated, 'No...how could he...dead?' He had been sitting there for at least an hour, or at least he thought he had been, trying to comprehend what had happened. It seemed like a dream to him and he was half expecting to wake up at any second. Mack had been a part of the Winters family, even before Taylor had even been born and now he was gone?

Taylor heard a quiet rapping on the door which he promptly ignored. The rapping grew slightly louder, and rather slowly he got to his feet and opened the door. Tali stood on the other side, her eyes swollen. "Can...can I come in?" she quietly whispered. Taylor silently nodded and stepped to the side as Tali entered the room, closing the door behind her.

She sat down on the bed, Taylor sitting down next to her. "My father's really dead isn't he?" she whispered, turning to look at Taylor. He nodded. She swallowed stiffly, her eyes tearing up. "Th-the last thing I told him is to never call me his daughter again," she whispered.

Sliding his arms around Tali, Taylor pulled Tali into a hug. The Quarian wrapped her own arms around the ODST, tears beginning to flow down her face. "How could I have been so selfish?" she sobbed.

"Come on," Taylor muttered, his words shaky, "don't say that. Do you think for a second he stopped loving you as his daughter."

"I'm never going to know am I?" she whispered, tightening her grip.

"We all do things that we regret, we all say things when we're angry that we don't mean. I think that your father understood what you were going through and didn't hold a grudge against you. He would've forgiven you I know it."

"How can you be so sure?" she asked, looking directly at Taylor. "I punched him for Keelah's sake."

"Trust me, no father would be able to hate his daughter."

Tali and Taylor continued to hold each other and Tali's sobs slowly subsided. "Thank you," Tali whispered, whipping her eyes. "I needed that Taylor. Sometimes I really feel like I need you to be there for-Taylor?" Tali blinked in surprise as she looked at him. Tears were now slowly sliding down Taylor's face as he glanced downward at the bed. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't remember if I ever told you," he managed to choke out. "The Brigadier General that died down there. His name was Mack Norman, he was a family friend. He knew my parents when they fought together in the Second Contact War. He was one the same Pelican that your father was on." Taylor's hands tightened into fists and his jaw tightened.

Silently, Tali slid her arms back around Taylor and pulled him into a hug. Taylor returned the favor, as the tears thickened. "I think I know what you're going through," he forced out, his voice strained. "Mack was like an uncle to me."

"I'm sorry," Tali replied, tightening her hold around Taylor.

"Don't be," he muttered, looking at Tali. Even as he cried about the loss of Mack, tears still streamed down her face as she mourned the death of her father. They tightened their grip and held each other close as they desperately attempted to find comfort in each other.

Tali leaned forward a little too much causing Taylor to overbalance and making both of them fall onto the bed. Lifting her head up slightly, Tali stared at Taylor, tears brimming in her eyes. "Promise that you'll be there for me," she quietly requested.

"Only if you do the same for me," he said, softly stroking Tali's cheek.

"Of course," she muttered, smiling slightly. The two of them remained where they were, silently looking at each other before silently leaning forward and gently kissing. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," he replied as they hugged even more tightly.

"Um Taylor," Tali said, suddenly rather nervous as she pushed herself back into a sitting position, "there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What would that be?" Taylor asked, looking slightly confused.

"Um," Tali said, wringing her hands nervously. "This is something I've kind of been thinking about for some time now but I never could really decide if I wanted to or not, at least this early on."

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Oh Keelah," she said. "I was going to wait until this war was over before even thinking about talking to you about this, but after today...I don't want to take any chances. Both of us could be killed at any moment, I don't want there to be anything left undone between us, and I'm babbling aren't I?"

"Sort of," Taylor said.

"Oh Keelah," she said, taking Taylor's hands in her own before pressing them together, clasping her own hands over them. Taking a deep breath Tali looked directly at Taylor and spoke. "Taylor, will you marry me?"

Taylor's eyes widened as he stared at Tali in disbelief. Tali firmly kept her hands around his, desperately attempting to avoid the rising panic in her stomach. "Is...is this how Quarians propose?" Taylor asked, feeling rather numb from this sudden turn of events.

"Yes," she said, the panic in her stomach doubling. "Why? What do Humans do?"

"Well, for staters the man proposes."

"They do?" Tali said, cocking her head slightly. "That's...weird. I mean during sex the woman is the one who is...well you know. It just seems to make sense that she would be the one to invite the man into marriage."

"We really are a different species," Taylor said. Tali gave a small chuckle as she nodded. Leaning forward, Taylor's lips connected with Tali's as he kissed them again. "Of course I will."

Tali's eyes softened as she smiled, her eyes still wet. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Don't mention it."

Both of them stared at each other as their eyes filled with tears again. The the pain of who they had lost today gripped them once again as the tightly embraced, desperately attempting to find comfort in each other. While the concept of being bound by holy matrimony had helped ease the pain, it was still sharp. In reality the pain would never completely leave them, while eventually it would dull and fade. It would be like a scar, forever imprinted on them.

XXXXX

"Illusive Man with all due respect the experiments need to be pushed back," Miranda said, frustration heavy in her voice. Both she and Dr. Archer were standing in front of a hologram of the Illusive Man, who was sitting in his chair, a cigarette in-between his fingers.

"Lawson is paranoid sir," Archer retorted. "Conner's life signs are stable, I have run thorough scans on her and have found nothing wrong. The longer that we wait the more people will die in this war because we were unable to counterattack."

"You of all people should know how we will be able to turn the tides if we execute this properly. We cannot afford to be hasty, if Dr. Archer accidentally damages or kills her."

"Lawson I out you in charge of this cell for a reason, I trust your judgement. Do whatever you please," the Illusive Man turned to look at Archer. "You will follow her orders to the letter Archer. Also the other project that I assigned to you, I trust that you take the utmost care in dealing with it. It is rare that I have one cell deal with two assignments at the same time, but I needed you and specifically you to deal with this. Don't disappoint me, the repercussions will be extreme if you do."

"Don't worry sir, everything has been progressing smoothly and according to plan, I see no reason why something would go wrong here."

"Arrogance is the key to downfall," the Illusive Man warned as his hologram flickered off.

Archer let out a sigh as Miranda glanced at him, a small smirk on her face. "Exact orders huh?"

"Oh would you just shut-" Archer was cut off as a deafening alarm blared throughout the station. "What the fuck?" he swore.

"All Cerberus personal!" a panicked voice shouted. "A Jiralhanae vessel is approaching the station, proceed with predesignated evacuation proceeders."

"Wait what?" Archer said, sounding dumbstruck.

"What are you standing around for?" Miranda snapped. "We need to get all of the experiments out of here!"

Within another section of the station, Elizabeth Conner's eyes snapped open as the alarms blared. For a second, she was confused and befuddled, but then she remembered what she had seen the last time that she was awake. Teeth tightening in anger, she strained against the manacles holding her and, to her great surprise, snapped the chains to the one around her right arm. Looking in shock at her free arm, she realized that the manacles had no keyholes or keypad, but a simple release mechanism. Unlocking it, she quickly undid the locks on the other manacles and quickly slid off of the table.

'This is unreal,' she thought, looking at her hands, 'they said that they sedated me, so why does my mind feel so clear?' Her face contorted as she attempted to remember where she had been before waking up her. As she did she remembered dangling from the back of a Pelican, Rebecca desperately holding onto her and a massive claw driving through her chest before everything went black. Glancing downward, she gently touched her chest. The hole that the creature had torn in her was gone. 'How long was I out?' she wondered, noting that her bright blonde hair was still cropped before something hit her. 'If they have me, they could have her!'

Springing to her feet, she dashed towards the door, coming to an abrupt halt when she heard footsteps behind the door. Swearing under her breath, she pressed herself against the wall as the door slid open. "We need to get her out of here undamaged or Lawson will have our heads," a man in armor said as he entered the room, his head glancing over his shoulder. "Let's make this-wait where the fuck did she go?" he shouted as he saw the empty bed.

Not hesitating, Elizabeth struck outward, hitting the guard in the neck with a chop. He gagged as he fell to the floor, his hands clutching at his throat. As the guard collapsed, Elizabeth grabbed a pistol from his side. Stepping away from the wall, she saw another guard in the doorway with a shocked look on his face. As he reached for his COM piece, the ODST opened fire on him, dropping his shields and piercing his skull with seven rapid shots.

She gawked at the pistol in her hand. She had never been able to fire a gun that quickly before, especially after grabbing it from a man in the middle of falling to the ground. Bitting her lip out of nerve, she flinched as she accidentally broke the skin. Reaching up and wiping the blood away, she was about to flick it away when something caught her eye. The liquid on her hand was not bright red, but instead a pure white. "What...what did they do to me?" she gasped, staring at the liquid.

Her train of thought was broken when she heard footsteps in the distance. Panicking she ran in the opposite direction of the footsteps until she spotted another door to her side. Opening it, she slid inside before closing the door behind her. She had to get out of here, but first she had to find Rebecca.

Turning to face the interior of the room, she let out a shriek of pure terror. The room that she was in was filled with glass tubes filled with a yellow liquid. Floating freely in the tubes were creatures of different sizes and shapes. Flood. Elizabeth stared in terror at the monstrosities before her, recalling how they had torn apart the natural landscape of Elysium and nearly killed her. Her breath growing shallow as she began to hyperventilate, she heard metal grinding on metal and gunfire out in the hallways. What was going on?

XXXXX

Lightyears away from Alliance controlled space and within the depths of Geth territory, a massive fleet of ships maintained orbit around a barren planet. For the most part the ships were Geth, ranging from frigates to dreadnoughts, but one ship was different. The ship at the center of the fleet was black and red with six vicious claws and glowing lights that resembled eyes and a lengthy 15 kilometers. Sovereign.

Within the depths of the ship, the renegade Spectre Saren sat on a chair within a control room. Several holographic squares floated in front of him, each of them displaying a news article. He was focusing on two in particular, both of which were UNSC news reports.

August 4, 2634: The Battle of Haven: A massive Coalition fleet attacked the UNSC colony Haven, clashing with the fleet that had been present there. The Coalition aggressively pushed forward and managed to cut a hole of the orbital permitter, through which massive amounts of land troops and ships pushed through. Heavily casualties were dealt to UNSC ground forces, the Alliance fleet, and UEG civilians, but the loss of three of their super-carriers forced the Coalition to retreat before a counterattack could be mounted against them.

Casualty report:

Human: 447.3 million

Quarian: 24,791

Asari: 134,294

Salarian: 254,937

Turian: 364,624

Sangheili: 245,594

Jiralhanae: 2.7 million

Kig-Yar: 3.4 million

Yamne'e: 4.2 million

Krogan: 521,000

Batarian: 245,000

Geth platforms: 264,000

Geth programs: 0

The Battle of Altena: An Alliance fleet lead by Admiral Ryan Nelson and using an experimental dreadnaught launched a massive invasion on the Jiralhanae world of Altena. The Alliance fleet broke through the Empire defenses with little effort and proceeded to deploy ground forces and bombard the cities. However the tide of the battle was turned when Emperor Tritus activated an experimental weapon known as Divine Thunder which destroyed the Alliance fleet in a single shot, preventing further damage to the planet.

Human: 2.1 million

Quarian: 12,479

Asari: 624,941

Salarian: 854,819

Turian: 951,517

Sangheili: 1.5 million

Jiralhanae: 394.4 million

Kig-Yar: 57.4 million

Yamne'e: 7.9 million

As he read them, his already skeletal face stretched into a smile as he read them. He had known that the Coalition were planning to launch a massive strike against the UNSC, but he had had no idea that the Alliance was planning to do the same to the Jiralhanae. On the same day, both sides had launched massive attacks at each other, with the combined body count at nearly a billion. "Excellent," he muttered.

"Pardon me, what is excellent?" Saren turned from where he sat and saw Matriarch Benezia standing behind him.

"It matters not," Saren remarked. "Everything is proceeding as planned, that is all that is important."

"With all due respect, you have kept me in the dark about your overall scheme. All that you have told me is that supporting the Coalition will help us achieve our end goals. I would appreciate it if you would enlighten me."

Saren sighed. Even in her current state there was still some trace of free will left, mainly curiosity. Not that that ever proved to be a problem whenever he needed something done. This was not the first time she had pestered him for answers on this subject. He might as well tell her, it wasn't like it would hurt considering how faithful she was...and it would get her to shut up. "Very well, you have worked long and hard, I suppose that it is only fair that you learn."

"If you kind is as old and wise as you claim then I would imagine that you have a very good grasp on the concept of war. It varies from conflict to conflict, some wars are small guerrilla wars with casualties numbering only in the dozens, while others are like the Krogan rebellions, massive wars where the goal is to render entire species incapable of continuing to fight."

"This war is the largest in the history of any existing species, nearly a dozen massive factions have made their own alliances and gone to war against each other. If Haven and Altena are anything to go by, both the Alliance and the Coalition have decided that they will do whatever it takes to not only defeat the other, but make sure that they were never pose a threat again. The UNSC has authorized the mass use of nuclear missiles, and the Empire had been using their energy projectors from the very start."

"When there is a massive blow struck to a faction they do one of two things, either they collapse under the strain, or their rise up in a fiery rage, thirsty for vengeance. The Alliance is bitter, they view the Coalition as the scum of the universe united to overthrow them. The Coalition on the other hand is paranoid, viewing the Alliance as a group of oppressors that they cannot afford to surrender to. They do not realize that they are all part of a much larger scheme then they could ever imagine."

"The Reapers."

"Exactly. There is a reason that they have remained in Dark Space and there is a reason why I have kept Sovereign off of the front lines. If either the Alliance or the Coalition were to learn the true origins of the Mass Relays and the Citadel, they would put aside any personal grudges that they had and unite against the Reapers. When faced with extinction, any alternative is preferable."

"The Reapers have been put in a difficult situation that stems back to those who broke the cycle."

"The Forerunners?"

"Their plan was based off of the species of the Milky Way evolving along the Mass Relays, the existence of the Forerunners had caused multiple species to evolve along another route. When they used the parasite to wipe them out, they were able to gain a limited understanding of their technology and design massive upgrades for themselves, but with the galaxy no longer fully dependent on Mass Relays," Saren grimaced, "A frontal assault will be costly."

"That is why they had me engineer this war, the galaxy is tearing itself apart even as we speak. Every world that falls, every ship that is destroyed, ever last soldier that dies is one less problem for the Reapers to deal with. It was not even difficult to incite this war, the conditions had practically been set up for me." Saren grinned slightly, "All I had to do was give the Coalition a little push. They think that they're fighting for their freedom, while they are insuring that it will never be known to them."

"The Reapers are doing this because they are scared that the galaxy may be able to defeat them if it's people are not weakened first?"

There was a pause as Saren turned to face Benezia, his face furious. He began to growl, and as he did they room was dimly illuminated by red lights. Jumping from his chair, he charged at the Matriarch as he drew a knife from his waist. He thrust his knife forward, but came to an abrupt stop when it was a mere inch away from her face. Saren's face was covered with a look of forced concentration as he threw the knife away, Benezia rather unfazed by the whole event. "Do not underestimate them," he whispered as he turned and walked away.

Author's Note: Yeah I took some liberties with the concept of Quarian marriage there but I think it fitted in nicely, kind of reminds us that the woman Taylor is in a relationship with isn't Human and there may be some awkwardness down the line. Also consider it the next step forward in their relationship, they're kind of rushing but then again that's the point.

And before anyone even thinks of flying off the hook and saying how unrealistic it is that Elizabeth wasn't sedated, two things. 1. She has received multiple enhancements that puts her above normal humans, making her much more resistant to sedatives, so the one that she received in her last appearance would've worn off by this point (Several hours ago in case you wonder) and 2. The exact same thing happened at the start of ME2.

One more thing...wow...I just watched Bungie's new documentary...I'm gonna miss them. I can only hope that they and Activision make something truly epic and that 343 and keep Halo afloat and keep Bungie's dream alive, I suppose only time will tell. It made really think about what I'm trying to pull off here. Both Bungie and Bioware have created beautiful, original and unique universes and I'm trying to merge them to create complex stories with (A LOT) of characters that I created myself. I know that some people will berate me for using so many OCs and not that many canon characters, but the thing is I'm not trying to create a story that's like "What would happen if Master Chief met Commander Shepard" I'm not just mashing the two games together and walking away, I'm trying to tell my own story using the elements that they created. Isn't that what fanfiction is all about? It hasn't been easy and I lot of times I felt like putting my head through a wall, but I've managed to get this far. Thanks guys, you've helped me out a lot, if you realize that or not.


	57. Old Faces

Chapter 57

Old Faces

Author's Note: Well this is the last chapter that I'm going to have before my next time skip. I've just got a couple of loose ends to tie up...and make a reveal I've been planning since this story started. Let's get going. Oh one more thing, I apparently misspoke in my earlier chapter, when I said gray and grey morality, I didn't mean that they were the exact same shade of gray. The Alliance is a very light shade of gray while the Coalition is a very dark shade, I'm not asking you to root for the Coalition, I'm just trying to make them more three dimensional than the typical, Brutes declare war because they're like that story. Tritus IS still a villain and what he's doing IS wrong, he just doesn't see it that way and I'm trying to make him more fleshed out, I see that may or may not have backfired depending on who you ask. I think what set me off for the last couple of chapters is calling the nuking of cities as "Divine justice," whereas I would call it "A necessary evil." You know maybe I should just shut up and let you enjoy the story.

Ashley Williams let out a sigh as she gazed at the smoldering remains of New London from the military base she was standing outside of. In the 24 hours that had passed since the battle had ended, a relief fleet under the command of Fleet Admiral Anderson had arrived. While his forces were committed to treating the injured and finding shelters for them, Anderson himself was currently speaking with Jane Shepard and Admiral Hall. She ran her fingers through her hair in impatience, she had remanded on the surface to assist Jane in directing the relief forces, but the Fleet Admiral had asked to speak to the Captain alone.

"So I'm stuck out here until they're done basically," she muttered impatiently, "I wish they'd hurry up."

"Excuse me." Ashley turned and saw a rather eastern looking woman with a camera drone floating by her head. "Khalisah al-Jilani, Westerlund News, is there any chance that I can get a word miss..."

"Major Ashley Williams," the Marine said, folding her arms and looking at Jilani in disgust. "I've heard about you, I saw the report on Feros."

Jilani frowned slightly but didn't back down. "People deserve to know what's going on in this war, most of the media try to sugarcoat it but the pure truth needs to be known. Just one question, you're a crew member of the _Normandy_ correct?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with-"

"Ah perfect, we're live," Jilani interrupted, and before Ashley could object, a light on the camera drone lit up. "Coming to you live with UNSC Major Ashley Williams, crew member of the prototype starship _Normandy_. Major what is your view on the battle that took place here on Haven yesterday? How do you explain the Coalition finding a world that had been hidden from them and breaking through our orbital permitter with such ease. Even after years of digging in and preparing we were still able to let very vital intelligence slip. What is your opinion on this?"

As the reporter spoke, Ashley fell a bubble of anger forming in her stomach as she listened to the woman in front of her insult the UNSC. Forcing herself to remain calm, she replied. "Both the Alliance and the Coalition are listening in on each others communications with zeal. Every last scrap of information that can be found is used without hesitation. I don't know how the Coalition found this planet, they could've done it by intercepting a simple conversation between a mother and her son, but what I do know is that they outnumbered us massively and we held our ground. The Alliance fleet was outgunned and not only did they survived, they sent the Coalition scurrying back to wherever they crawled out from."

"Well spoken Major," Jilani remark, her face twitching slightly. "There are rumors flying around that the Normandy was part of the Alliance fleet during the battle. I was wondering why so many Coalition ships were able to enter the atmosphere when it could have stopped them."

"You need to do your research, I don't know if you knew this but the _Normandy_ is a stealth _frigate_," Ashley replied, putting emphasize on the last word. "It's a rather light ship and while it does have stealth capabilities the second we fire one shot our position is given away. Had the Normandy attempted to attack the Coalition ships as the enter the atmosphere, it would've been destroyed before it even took out one."

"You make a fair point Major," Jilani said, "but I have one more question. Are you familiar with the people in this recording?" As she spoke she slid a chip into the drone with one hand and handed a datapad to Ashley. Knowing that the chip she had inserted was no doubt playing the same clip that was on the datapad, Ashley stared down it. She saw a recording of a clearing near the New London spaceport, no doubt taken by a security camera. Two figures were facing each other, a Human and a Quarian. She could see that they were slowly leaning towards each other, before exchanging a gently kiss.

Ashley felt her heart jump into her throat as she watched the two. As the two broke away and boarded a Pelican, Ashley felt an unwelcome feeling creeping through her stomach, a feeling of nausea. "I can see the look of disgust on your face, I can't say that I blame you. I checked the faces of the people in the recording and I discovered that they were subordinates of yours, Taylor Winters and Tali'Zorah. Tell me Major, how do you feel that two of your fellow crew mates have indulged in such an unnatural and revolting act?

Continuing to look at the datapad, Ashley felt another pang of anger against the reporter. "You know I've had just about enough of you," she growled. "Ever since you started this interview you've done nothing but insult the UNSC, despite everything they've done to save your sorry hide. Apparently that wasn't enough if you're resorting to digging up dirt on individual personal."

"But Major, are you saying that you approve of interspecies relationships?" Jilani asked, a faint smirk on her face. "Your reaction when you saw the video suggests otherwise."

"The concept of two people from different races becoming romantically involved makes me feel uncomfortable I admit," Ashley replied, her voice icy. "But you know what, it's their choice not mine, if they want to be together they have every right to."

"Let me tell you something about these two in particular, on Feros they were among a hundred soldiers that destroyed a Jiralhanae heavy plasma canon and allowed us to get the remaining civilians off world, every last one of those men deserves a medal for what they did. But the two of them were captured by the enemy for what they did, and both of them were held prisoner and tortured by the enemy, they barely escaped with their lives and even after that it took a month for both of them to recover. After all of that your main concern is if they're sleeping with each other? It's none of my business, and it sure as Hell is none of your business. Now if you have any intelligent questions to ask, please do so, if you don't SHUT UP!"

Ashley glared at Jilani with untamed furry, the reporter looking rather dumbstruck. "Um, thank you for your time Major," she said blandly, the light on her drone going off. "Great, humiliated on the air," she muttered under her breath as she turned and walked away.

"I swear to Christ," Ashley swore, rubbing her forehead as her COM unit beeped. "What?" she snapped, answering the transmission.

There was a long pause before the speaker quickly stuttered, "Thank you."

Ashley blinked, then smiled. "No problem Tali."

XXXXX

Iasa's eyes narrowed in distrust as she and Viluse flanked Isonia through the markets of Illium. They had been sent to the planet in order to investigate reports of gang wars between the Blood Pack and Eclipse. Normally something of this nature would not bother them, but with the Blood Pack allied with the Empire the RSN believed that there might be a possibility to gain vital intelligence.

"Iasa," Viluse said, glancing at the female Sangheili, "I heard that a date had been set for your trial."

"Yes," Iasa replied, not looking at the biotic. "In several months I will go before the RSN council to face charges of treason."

"Why did you do it?" Viluse growled, glaring at Iasa, "Why didn't you burn the Queen? You are a warrior of Sangheilos, what will you do if the Rachni destroy it?"

"You are not my commanding officer," Iasa snapped.

"Open your eyes Iasa," Viluse snarled, "The Rachni only made contact with other races when they were destroying them, what make you think that this time will be so different? Demas died on that planet, and for some reason you saw fit to let them go?"

"Viluse, shut your mouth before I ram my swords through your chest," Iasa threatened, her voice dangerously low."

"Unless you wish to challenge me to a duel do not make idle threats."

"Enough!" Isonia snapped, rounding on the two. "Whatever petty argument you two are having ends now, you are warriors of the RSN and you will focus on the mission at hand. Do I make myself clear?" Both Iasa and Viluse nodded their heads stiffly. "Good," she said as she turned and continued to walk, both of them following her.

Ever since Noveria, a wedge had been driven in-between Iasa and Viluse. Iasa had been adamant about freeing the Rachni while Viluse violently disagreed with her. Every since then not a day had gone by without them arguing, in fact one argument had nearly ended with a rather brutal brawl.

"Viluse, come with me," Isonia said as she spotted a group of Asari police officers not far away. "Iasa say here and keep your eyes open. If you spot anyone that might lead you to the Blood Pack cloak and follow them, they sometimes have merchants sell their goods here." Iasa nodded as her mother and Viluse made their way towards the officers, no doubt to inquire about the mercenary groups.

"Excuse me." Iasa glanced to her left and saw an Asari walking towards her, seeming rather off balance.

"Yes?" Iasa asked, looking at her with curiosity.

"Are you Iasa 'Cirate?"

"How did you know that?"

The Asari gave a lopsided smile. "A friend of yours asked me to pass on a message." Before Iasa could ask any more questions, the Asari's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she continued to speak, the shapes her mouth were making not matching the words that she was saying. " _'Cirate, we hide, we dig, we reconstruct. We have not forgotten what you have done for us, we are forever in your debt. When the time comes we shall shall emerge from the darkness to repay your kind in full. Our children sing once again, thank you 'Cirate._"

Iasa grabbed the Asari by both of her shoulders. "Release your hold on her!" she demanded, "I did not release you so that you could turn others into your puppets!"

"Be at ease," the Asari said, her eyes and voice returning to normal. "The Queen is not controlling me, that was merely a memory she implanted into me, one of many. I met them on a distant world, they saved my life. They are like nothing the galaxy has ever seen before, the galaxy has been given a great gift because of you."

"How did you encounter them?" Iasa asked.

"I was delivering a package when my ship was ambushed by the Blood Pack, there were about to destroy my ship when dozens of others emerged from nowhere and destroyed them. They healed me, repaired my ship...I am in their debt. That is why I am here, acting as an agent for them, sometimes they require items they cannot build themselves you see."

"Where are the Rachni?"

"Even I do not know, at least for now. When I must return to them I will remember. I hope that you can understand that even though the Rachni reproduce at an incredible rate even they need time to rebuild. But know this 'Cirate, they owe all Sangheili a great debt, and in your darkest hour, they will come to your aid."

"Thank you for this information," Iasa said, bowing slightly. "I am pleased to know that my actions of Noveria were not in vain."

The Asari mirrored her bow before taking a step backward and disappearing into the crowd. Iasa stared at where the Asari had been before smiling. "I do not regret my choice."

XXXXX

Elizabeth felt panic coursing through her body as she looked at the tanks filled with Flood forms. Hearing footsteps from behind the door, she quickly slid behind one of the tanks as the door slid open. "Move it! We need to get some of the samples out!" Dr. Archer shouted as he stormed in, three Cerberus operatives behind him, firing their rifles at something outside of the room.

There was a thunderous crack and the head of one of the operatives exploded. Swearing, Archer ran across the room to a much smaller set of tanks, these ones containing Infection Forms. His hands reached forward but as he did Elizabeth, recognizing him as one of the people that had been in the room when she had first woken up, aimed her pistol at his leg and fired. Archer let out a cry of pain as the shot tore through him and he fell to the ground. The two remaining operatives turned to shot at her, but as they did a swarm of .60 bullets tore through them, killing them.

Elizabeth slowly crossed the room, her pistol trained on Archer. "Where is she?" she hissed.

"What?" Archer asked, before flinching as Elizabeth fired another shot that barely missed his head.

"Don't play games with me," she hissed. "Rebecca Frost, 5'9, long red hair, green eyes, thick Russian accent, where is she?"

"You don't get it do you?" Archer asked as he desperately squeezed his leg, trying to stop the bleeding, "You don't know what happened to you on Elysium. You died."

Elizabeth blinked as she took a step back. "That...that can't be true. How is that possible?"

"I am rather interesting in knowing that myself," said a deep synthesized voice. Elizabeth turned and raised her pistol at the voice. Marton, Rutherforae and Tesueg were entering the room, Legion not far behind them.

"Jiralhanae? What are you doing here?" she demanded

"Before I answer that question I want you to answer this one, are you with Cerberus?" Marton asked.

"What? No I'm not. I don't even know how I got here, I woke up strapped to an operating table and ever since then I've had no idea what the Hell is happening."

"Based off of heartbeat, body temperature and hormone levels, we calculate the chances of her lying at 0.00281%," Legion calculated.

"Then we have no quarrel with you," Marton said. "I will answer your question in more detail later, all you need to know is that we are here to disrupt Cerberus' operations here and locate data on other outposts that they may have."

"Hate to break it to you Sasquatch, but we don't have any information on that. Cerberus cells are completely isolated from each other."

"Well then, maybe should explain what you meant what you said that she died," Tesueg said.

"Exactly why should I tell you any-GAH!" Archer shouted as Marton stepped on his injured leg and pressed downward.

"I insist," he growled, as he removed his helmet and placed it on the ground " I imagine it something to do with these abominations of life," he said, gesturing at one of the Flood tanks. "What were you doing here?"

"This girl died on Elysium," Archer gasped out, "no big deal plenty of people did, but when our spies looked through the debriefing they found something interesting. She has an immunity to the Flood, but you don't even know what they are do you?"

"I know exactly what they are," Marton growled, pressing down on Archer's leg again. "continue."

Archer cried out in pain as he half said, half shouted, "We recovered her body, took us months to find the damn thing. After that Cerberus poured billions into reconstructing her, the Illusive Man wanted to study her immunity, find a way to replicate it."

"Why?" Marton demanded, pressing down again.

"AGH, he wanted to find away to make Humanity immune to the Flood, so that we wouldn't be harmed when we tried to weaponize it!" Before he could speak any further, Marton grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall.

"You were planning on weaponizing the Flood," Marton growled. Archer watched in horror as the pupil in Marton's organic eye changed from round to silted with the rest of the eye became bloodshot. Roaring in pure rage, Marton drew his Forerunner blade with his free hand and violently stabbed Archer three times in the chest before dropping him. Taking that blade in both hands, he stabbed downward against viciously, the size of the blade and Marton's Jiralhanae strength tearing the the long dead doctor to pieces.

"MARTON, ENOUGH!" Rutherforae shouted, starting forward.

Almost instantly Marton's machete stopped in midair. He panting heavily as he stared at Archer's body, a look of horror on his face as his eye slowly returned to normal. Wiping the blood off of his blade, he slid it back into it's sheath. "Adolas, what is the status of the rest of the raid?" he asked, his voice quiet.

"The teams we deployed control most of the station. A prowler took off not that long ago, but unfortunately it was not the one with the tracking devices on it."

"Good," he said, looking slightly ashamed of himself. "Have every databank on this station examined, I want every bit of data uncovered."

While the two were talking, Elizabeth slowly backed up into a wall and slid into a sitting position. "I...I died?" she whispered. "No...that;s impossible."

"Are you well?" Elizabeth looked up to see Tesueg standing next to her, his helmet under his arm as he smiled warmly at her.

"I...I don't know?" she said, "this...this is just so much to take in. I have no idea what's going on."

"I think that we can help you there."

Elizabeth paused as she looked at Tesueg. "Thank you," she whispered.

XXXXX

"So exactly what did the Fleet Admiral want from you?" Garrus asked as he walked alongside Jane into the depths of the UNSC base that they were in.

"He said that he would explain when we got there," Jane replied.

"Do you know him very well?"

"Me and Anderson? Yes," she answered, smiling brightly, "I've known him for years, we go back to when he was just a Captain. He helped me through a couple of tough spots in my life. He has a tendency to keep interesting company, did you know that he served alongside President Richards before he went into politics?"

"So you met the President?"

"Can't say that I did, he retired five years before I ever met Anderson." Both of them stepped through a doorway into a command room. Both Fleet Admiral Anderson and Admiral Hall were standing in front of a holographic map of the Milky Way. Hall had an eyepatch over her damaged eye, her arm in a sling and was standing rather gingerly. She had been pumped full of biofoam in order to keep her standing and the second that this meeting was over she would be taken to the infirmary to receive proper treatment.

"I'm glad to see that you're all right Admiral," Jane said, looking at Hall. "I heard about how you destroyed the super-carrier, very impressive."

Hall gave a weak smile. "Well I wouldn't exactly say that I'm all right, but thank you."

"I'm glad that you're here Jane, there's a couple of things we needed to talk to you about. Around the time that the Coalition was attacking us here, Admiral Nelson led an Alliance attack against the Jiralhanae world Altena. We lost all contact with his fleet, but before that we received this message." As Anderson spoke, the hologram of the Milky Way disappeared, replaced by a two dimensional image of _Divine Thunder_ cutting through Nelson's fleet.

"God," Jane whispered, staring at the image in shock.

"Frightening isn't it?" Anderson asked as the hologram disappeared. "The scary part is that we don't know if this weapon is a prototype unique to that planet or standard issue for all Jiralhanae worlds, and that's where you come in."

"This is about the Normandy's stealth systems isn't it? You want us to recon every Empire colony before you hit it?"

"Exactly, we're also deploying all the prowlers that ONI can spare, but I want the _Normandy_ in on it as well, mainly because unlike a prowler it can hold in a fight. We saw what the Normandy can do when you tracked down the fleet that destroyed Stronghold, but we having been using it to it's full potential. From this point on practically all of your missions are going to be concerned with operating from behind enemy lines, espionage, sabotage, hit and run, whatever's in your capability."

Pressing a button, the recording was replaced by a three dimensional hologram of a black sphere with a red light on the top. "Are you familiar with this Jane?"

"Yes, it's a HORNET nuclear mine."

"Correct, as of today the Normandy will be carrying HORNETs in addition to is regular arsenal. The plan is to lay mine fields should you be detected while on recon in order to aid in your escape, or do so while defending an Alliance position. I would've given you these earlier in the war, but ONI is rather reluctant to let them go, especially when they're mainly used on prowlers."

"What's more, I want you to keep a sharp lookout for these individuals." The image of the mine disappeared, replaced by five Jiralhanae. "The Emperor and the his Supreme Commanders, Tritus, Rason, Ultimas, Sukron and Xeron. They are the military leaders of the Jiralhanae Empire. Along with Matriarch Benezia and Saren, I want you to forward any information on them directly to me. I warn you they follow they old Covenant rule of the higher up you are the more skilled you are in combat, they are extremely dangerous. Xeron is especially dangerous as we have evidence that supports that he was part of a biotic super soldier program, that's the only explanation that we have considering his skill at his age, which we put at around nineteen."

"Nineteen?" Jane asked, disbelief covering her face, "You've got to be kidding me."

"We suspect that he has been trained since he was a child, and not just in the ways of combat. I suspect that the Emperor groomed him to be a perfect fighter."

"I get the feeling that your pilot is going to be very excited about learning this," Garrus remarked.

"No kidding," Jane, "but Anderson why did Ashley need to stay outside of this, she would've figured this out the second she went on a single mission."

"That isn't the reason I wanted to be alone with you," Anderson said, a faint smile spreading across his face. "I'm folding someone into your crew, someone that you can rely on, Hall was very understanding when I pulled him out from under her command. I do believe that you're familiar with him."

As he spoke, a figure stepped through the door behind him and stepped through. "It's been awhile."

Jane spun around and looked at the man that had entered the room. "Jun?" she said, surprise heavy in her voice.

"Good to see you too six."

Author's Note: ...yeah, you read that right. To be honest I've been planning that since this story began

Before you say anything, I based Ashley's views on interspecies relationships on my own views on homosexual relationships. Also something else I want to get out of the way, you might ask why Jane and Jun aren't wearing MJLOINR to which I say, they are, it's just disguises as regular ODST armor. Also I can see the Illusive Man using the Flood as a weapon, he was morally bankrupt enough to implant a man with Reaper cybernetics wasn't he?

Well, now that that's all wrapped up, we can have another time skip.


	58. Behind Enemy Lines

Chapter 58

Behind Enemy Lines

Author's Note: Glad to see that people were shocked by that little twist that I threw at you last chapter. Well, no point stalling, let's get going. Also I would like to thank Sarge1995 for helping me out a little on this chapter.

August 9, 2634: Battle of Vidara: An Empire fleet launched a coordinated strike against the Asari colony Vidara. Massive damage was dealt to the defensive fleet as the Coalition hit it and highly populated areas with plasma bombardment, partially glassing the surface. The Asari were able to regroup and repel the Coalition, but only after sustaining heavy losses.

Causality Report:

Asari: 464,347

Jiralhanae: 58,000

Kig-Yar: 75,000

Yamne'e: 64,000

August 24, 2634: Sixth Battle of Harvest: A Batarian, Krogan and Empire fleet numbering at 350 ships attack the UNSC colony Harvest. The UNSC forces initially put up a strong fight, but they began to take heavy causalities due to being massively outnumbered. Most of the fleet retreated into slipspace, but not before one ship fired a missile into the heart of the Coalition fleet. The missile traveled through the fleet and out to the other side before exploding, actually a NOVA bomb, albeit a weaker model designed for orbital defense. 80% of the Coalition fleet was destroyed, forcing them to retreat when the UNSC fleet reentered the system.

Causality Report:

Human: 284,517

Quarian: 5,094

Jiralhanae: 194,000

Kig-Yar: 254,000

Yamne'e: 221,000

Batarian: 279,000

Krogan: 348,000

Vorcha: 415,000

September 18, 2634: Destruction of the colony Telna: Coalition forces comprised of Empire and Krogan forces launch an attack on the Turian colony of Telna. The Jiralhanae created an opening in the Turian's lines while the Krogan directed a mountain sized asteroid towards the planet's surface. Despite the Hierarchy's best attempts, the asteroid impacted on the planet's surface. The dust kicked up by the asteroid rendered the planet uninhabitable, forcing the Turians to abandon it.

Causality report:

Turian: 5.84 million

Jiralhanae: 124,000

Kig-Yar: 167,000

Yamne'e: 198,000

Krogan: 24,000

Vorcha: 48,000

October 24, 2634: Blue Sun Raid: A Blue suns raider fleet, desperate for a leg up on the Blood Pack, launches an all out attack on a deep space shipyard that they were using. For the first few hours, no one had the upper hand, until the Blood Pack used a starship engine repurposed into a bomb to drive the Blue Suns back.

Causality Report:

Human: 26,000

Turian: 28,000

Batarian: 34,000

Krogan: 12,000

Vorcha: 21,000

November, 9, 2634: Marauder Tactical Strike: Using slipspace drives and nuclear warheads salvaged from UNSC ships destroyed in previous battles before recovery teams could arrive, the Marauders launch a series of strikes against the Empire. Attaching the drives to the missiles, the rebels programed the missiles to enter and exit slipspace by themselves. Using them, they destroy several Empire military targets, taking extreme care to not harm any civilians. The destroyed targets included three shipyards in orbit of Dosiac, two scouting fleets on the verge of Empire territory, a listening outpost and a vessel carrying personal effects for Empire ministers.

Causality Report:

Jiralhanae (Empire): 547,000

Kig-Yar: 705,000

Yamne'e: 841,000

November 12, 2634: Distribution of the Victory combat suit: The UNSC finish producing enough Victory combat suits to distribute it to all UNSC soldiers. The UNSC also developed a version of the suit for Quarian sue that is also given to all that are serving in the military. UNSC command is hopeful that this will lead to more ground victories against the Coalition.

December 5, 2634: Battle of the Relic: A massive Alliance launches an offensive on a garden world that the Empire had uncovered a Forerunner relic on. The Coalition had been fearful of an attack , and had placed their own fleet to guard the planet. The two fleets exchanged volley after volley, both sides sustaining massive losses. The UNSC commander was about to give the order to deploy a NOVA bomb to the planet's surface and retreat when a plasma barrage destroyed the forward of his ship. The NOVA bomb, however, had already been armed and detonated. The resulting explosion consumed both fleets and destroyed the planet.

Causality Report:

Human: 1.8 million

Quarian: 89,141

Sangheili: 1.4 million

Unggoy: 3.7 million

Mgalekgolo: 840,547 (5.9 million Lekgolo)

Asari: 1.1 million

Salarian: 1.3 million

Turian: 1.6 million

Jiralhanae: 2.4 million

Kig-Yar: 3.6 million

Yamne'e: 3.9 million

Batarian: 4.1 million

Krogan: 3.5 million

Vorcha: 5.4 million

Geth platforms: 3.1 million

Geth programs: 0

January 10, 2635: Present day.

Marton let out a yawn as he relaxed into a chair in his private quarters on the _Eternal Salvation_. The room was fairly large and every last square inch of wall was taken up by something. Most of it was covered by pieces of paper with designs of rifles, tanks and starships on them. A good portion of the wall was blocked by three Jiralhanae sized glass cases. The first contained a set of leather clothes with a pair of googles around the neck, the second contained a pure white set of armor that lacked a helmet, and the third contained a rather bulky set of dark red armor. The final thing that decorate his room was an ornate, vacuum tight glass case that contained a doubled bladed. staff, made out of iron.

Marton gazed at the sets of armor and the bladed staff, causing a rush of memories to blaze through his head. Shaking his head, he turned back to the computer that he was sitting in front of. Tiny mechanical arms were running back and forth over the chip that he had found on the derelict ship all those months ago, scanning it. It was rather frustrating, Marton had been dedicating all of his spare time to analyzing this chip and he had barely made any progress on it, mainly because the design was so advanced.

There was a silent rapping on the door that caused Marton's head to turn. "Come in," he said, looking at the entrance. There was a click and the door slid open. Elizabeth nervously stepped through, wearing ODST armor that she had found on the Cerberus station (she suspected that they had had it for undercover missions) and had a sniper rifle slung under her back. "Um, am I intruding?"

"Not at all," he said, beckoning for her to come in. "I must admit you have been much more welcome than the last two Human women that I have had on board."

"I met Jack...unfortunately, but who was the other woman, I haven't met her yet."

"She is no longer on board, when she was though we kept her as a prisoner, her being a Cerberus officer. We intentionally let her lose and bugged her ship, that is how we found you."

"Wait, did she have long raven black hair and a bit of an accent?"

"You saw her?"

Elizabeth nodded. "I saw her talking to that Archer guy when I woke up for the first time, it sounded like she was in charge."

"We did not find her on the station, she must have escaped on the prowler that took off. I am upset that the trail has gone cold, but at least we stopped their experiments there. Speaking of which I hope that you understand why we have not brought you back to UNSC space, if we attempted to we would have been fired upon, all pleas for peace would have been ignored."

"I understand," Elizabeth said, smiling slightly. "Besides, after you got me out of there the least I can do is help you."

"Very well, so what can I do for you?"

"Um," Elizabeth said, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "I was just thinking, I've been on this ship for months now, and I could be on it for years. All you've really told me is this that there's this massive war going between the UNSC, RSN the Council and the Jiralhanae and their allies. You've told me that you're trying to bring the Emperor down, but you haven't told me much else, like why you started this war or anything about yourself really."

Marton let out a sigh as he glanced down at his right arm. Elizabeth followed his eyes and realized, with a jolt, that the armor over it had been removed, revealing a silver mechanical arm. "You have a cybernetic arm too?"

"Yes," Marton remarked, looking at it, "I was doing some maintenance on it not long ago, I lost my original in the Civil War?"

"Is that how you lost your eye?"

"Not exactly. Getting back to your earlier topic you have a good point, it is rather miserable to be stuck in the dark. I suppose if you want to understand I will have to start at the beginning. Did the Sangheili happen to share any of our history with your kind?" Elizabeth shook her head. "I didn't think so," he muttered.

"What many do not know is that over 10,000 years ago the Jiralhanae were actually in the late days of Tier-4 technology, we were even attempting missions to our moons. Unfortunately, we fell to the same thing that has prevented so many species from breaking free of the holds of their planets."

"What?"

"Nuclear war. Records have all but been destroyed so it is impossible for modern historians to tell how and why it started, but it was apparent that it did happen. What followed was the beginning of a new war, a war of survival, the Tribal Wars. After the nuclear winter the my kind formed together into dozens of tribes that constantly fought."

"What did you fight over?"

"Everything, food, water, weapons, territory, a couple of times just out of pure hatred and revenge." As he spoke he reached across the table and picked up a datapad showing an image. "Do you recognize everyone here?" he asked, showing it to Elizabeth. Glancing at it, Elizabeth saw five Jiralhanae holding blades made out of Forerunner alloy, looks of triumph on her face.

"I recognize you, Rutherforae and Tesueg, but who are the other two?"

"Tritus and Rason, the Emperor and one of his Supreme Commanders."

Elizabeth's eyes fell upon Tritus. He looked remarkable familiar. "Tritus is your brother isn't he?"

Marton smiled grimly. "Am I that bad at hiding it?"

"The resemblance is there that's all. Is that why you haven't gone to the Alliance?"

"I would not say that it is the reason, but it is a major factor. Anyway the five of us used to be very close, we fought together in the Tribal Wars, we stuck together."

"Exactly when do Jiralhanae die of old age?"

Marton frowned, clearly in thought. "We do not really know, in the Tribal Wars it was less of a question of if you were going to be killed and more of a question of when you were going to be killed. Barely anyone died of old age except for the very best. I do believe one of the elders said that the Spirits took a mighty warrior in his sleep at the age of 521, so I will say around that age. I myself am in my mid 200s."

"Now then, about the Tribal Wars..." Elizabeth sat down on the massive bed that Marton had, looking interested.

XXXXX

"Damn," Ken said as he and Gabby stared across the mess hall at Jun. "Who the Hell can eat five plates of food in a row...especially Gardner's?"

"Hey, if you don't like it you can cook your own food," the Mess Sergeant called.

"Is it me or has not taken his armor off since he's come aboard?" Gabby asked, "And am I the only one that thinks that he has a history with the Captain?"

As they continued to whisper, the armored man stood up, crossing the room before handing his plate to Gardner. "Thanks for the meal."

"No, thank you for stomaching it without whining," he said dryly. Jun chuckled as he turned before turning and leaving the mess hall.

"This seat taken?" Ken and Gabby looked up and saw Taylor and Tali sitting down across from them. Taylor's armor was a slightly darker shade of black while Tali was wearing a suit that resembled a helmetless version of a Quarian environment suit.

"That the new Victory armor?" Ken asked.

"No Ken, they just built new suits themselves from scrap metals." They all laughed.

"So do you have any idea where we're heading this time?" Taylor asked. Since Jun had come aboard the _Normandy_, the ship had made several runs into Coalition territory. These has included passing over Altena to check the damage done by Admiral Nelson's attack and run scans on Divine Thunder, gaining vital data on it. The majority of the surveillance that they had done had mainly been frontline bases that had been serving as rally points for Coalition forces.

"I think that the Captain was still getting orders on that," Ken said. "I heard a rumor that it was pretty big though."

"Aren't all of them big?" Tali asked. "If the stealth systems fail we're a good day away from the nearest Alliance fleet. We've had a couple of close calls too, on some of this missions the heat in the engines built up to rather dangerous levels."

"What I do know is that Jane wants ground teams ready for this next mission. There's going to be three, she's leading one personally, Ashley and Jacob are leading the other ones."

"Why would she need people on the ground?" Gabby asked, "What could she possibly need that couldn't be acquired from orbital scans or by Richard hacking their computers?"

"Maybe what we're doing isn't espionage," Ken suggested. "Maybe it's sabotage...or an assassination." The other three stared at Ken, quietly thinking about he had just said. It sounded rather plausible.

While this was happening, Jun had stopped in front of an elevator, pressing a button to call it down. "Jun right?" Glancing to his side, the SPARTAN saw Garrus approaching him.

"Yes, can I help you?"

"You got a call to head up to Shepard's cabin too?" Jun nodded as the two of them stepped into the elevator, the doors closing as it began to rise. An awkward silence followed for several seconds. Garrus broke it. "Shepard said that she knew you a long time ago but she never specified when or where, care to fill me in?"

"I hope you can understand that a good deal of six's working in the past is classified, as is mine...but I'll tell you what I can. A while back we served in the same unit under a man named Carter, who sacrificed his life so that she could complete her mission. That's all I can tell you."

"So you can't tell me why you keep calling her six?"

"That's easy enough, in our old unit we all had designations. Her's was six and she never told us her name, so we called her six."

As they spoke, the elevator door slid open and the two of them stepped out. Entering the Captain's quarters, they saw Jane sitting at her desk in full armor with a datapad in her hand. "Shepard, you wanted to see us?" Garrus said.

"Yes," she said, glancing at them before turning her eyes back to the datapad. "Just checking my reports on the crew. Rebecca's having less nightmares, Kelly reports the crew as stable is a little shaken, there aren't any major injuries and morale is solid." She sighed in relief as she put the datapad down. "Glad to see that even after everything we've been through they're still holding together. Oh by the way Tali and Taylor are engaged," she added, as if it was an afterthought."

"Glad to hear it now why d-wait WHAT?" Garrus shouted, completely caught off guard. "When did that happen?"

"I would have to say...around the battle of Haven, Jun would you agree on that?"

"Without a doubt."

"Wait a minute how do you two now about this?" Garrus asked, looking completely lost.

"It's in their body language," the two said almost simultaneously.

Garrus was about to ask more questions about this stunning revelation when he shook his head. "Whatever, you wanted to talk to us?"

Jane nodded as she stood up. "I just received fresh orders from the UNSC," she said activating her omni-tool and typing in a set of commands. As she did the omni-tool projected a holographic image of a planet with two moons. "Galnu," she said, pointing at the planet. "It's one of the Jiralhanae's core worlds, but the brass wants us to do more than just another recon run."

Pressing a button, the hologram vanished and was replaced by a Jiralhanae in blue armor and a gas mask. "Rason, one of the Empire's Supreme Commanders and head of the specialist division Chemical Corps. We've intercepted transmissions that put him on one of Galnu's moons. He's the head researcher on all major Jiralhanae medical projects, medicinal or otherwise, so the UNSC wants us to collect any and all data on his research. What command especially wants is information on the biotic Jiralhanae that we've been starting to see."

"So that's it?" Jun asked "grab and run?"

"Not exactly," Jane said grimly. "Admiral Anderson gave a very specific order. If we get the chance, we are to terminate Rason." There was silence as the Spectre and the SPARTAN stared at Jane while she deactivated the hologram.

"From the Fleet Admiral told us that's easier said than done, not to mention he'll probably be heavily guarded," Garrus remarked.

"If they thought that this was easy they wouldn't have sent us," Jun remarked.

Jane smiled. "I'm telling you two this now because I want you down there with me. I'll tell the rest of the crew when I've formed a plan or strategy with Richard, that'll be all."

As if on cue, the avatar of the Smart A.I. appeared on her desk. "Whenever you're ready Captain," he said in his crackling voice.

Garrus turned and walked back towards the elevator. Jun followed him but stopped to look back at Jane. "This mission is probably impossible," he said, a slight smile playing around his lips. "Then again if it wasn't it wouldn't be a Noble mission."

Jane grinned. "My thoughts exactly."

XXXXX

Iasa inhaled and exhaled deeply as she sat with her legs crossed as she meditated in her room on the _Righteous Justice_, which was currently orbiting Sanghelios. Her eyes slid open as her mother gently knocked on the door before entering the room. "Iasa," she said as she walked in, "are you well?"

"Yes," she said, unfolding her legs and standing upright.

"The date for your trial has been set, in three days you will go before the RSN Council. I trust that you have prepared your defense?"

Iasa nodded. "Several of the warriors that accompanied me overheard my conversation with the Queen, they have agreed to testify in my defense. Still I cannot help but feel nervous."

"I cannot blame you, I have spoken to the Council many times about my theory on how the Flood controlled the Rachni, but they are skeptical. They are under a great deal of stress keeping this a secret from the UNSC and the Council, the last thing we need right now is high tension between us when we are relying on each other for survival. It is only a matter of time before they find out though, with the Queen no doubt rebuilding her species, and if you were wrong the RSN will use you as a scapegoat."

"If I truly was wrong I will do the honorable thing." As she spoke, her hand trailed downward, gilding over the hilt of one of her energy swords. Isonia knew exactly what she was talking about.

"I pray to Staliu that it will not come to that, but if it does I will respect your decision to cleanse yourself.

Iasa smiled as she looked at her mother, who returned the favor. Iasa was about to reply when an alarm blared out throughout the ship. "Shipmistress Isonia, you are needed on the bridge immediately!" a voice rang out through the ship. "A Coalition fleet has entered the system, their ships number at over a thousand!"

Iasa gaped as the voice echoed. "A thousand warships?" she said in a disbelieving voice. The Sangheili home fleet had around 500 ships and countless heavy defense platforms arm with plasma torpedos and pulse lasers. It had been thought that it was enough to repel any fleet, but a fleet of this size had never been heard of in all of the centuries that the Sangheili had traveled through the stars.

"Iasa, get to the lower levels, I want you to take a lance of SpecOps and be on standby with the other lances in the boarding pods, we need to be prepared for any possible eventuality."

Iasa nodded as both women bounded out of the room towards a row of elevators and entered a different one. Iasa's elevator sped downward towards the lower decks while Isonia ascended, heading upwards. As she did, a voice crackled over the Battle-Net on all frequencies.

"People of Sanghelios and all of it's defenders, I am Ultimas, Supreme Commander of the Jiralhanae Empire. I bring a message from the Emperor, while you are enemies of the Empire we have no desire to destroy your race. I offer you the chance to surrender and abandon your ships, if you do your homeworld will go unscarred. If your race surrenders to the Empire, you will be allowed to survive and to thrive under our rule. Know this though, if you do not accept our offer, we will burn Sanghelios and break the back of your kind."

Iasa let out a snarl of anger as another voice crackled across the Battle-Net. "This is Thel 'Vadam Arbiter of the RSN, do not insult us with offers to make our kind an imperial state of your species. Thousands of years ago while your kind was struggling for survival on your homeworld, we had already spread to other worlds. Strike down our homeworld and we will unleash the same wraith upon you a hundred times over, if you can destroy Sanghelios that is. We have endured for over 3,000 years against the Covenant, the Great Schism, the Council and horrors you could only imagine, yet you honestly think that you can defeat us?"

"I am sorry that you see it that way, perhaps you will be more open to reason when this world is a lifeless rock," Ultimas replied before disconnecting himself from the Battle-Net.

"Defenders of Sanghelios," Thel continued as Isonia stepped onto the bridge of the _Justice_, "your responsibility has always been a heavy one, but now the planet that every Sangheili calls home is threatened, and it is our duty to defend it. If the Coalition breaks through our defenses, the lost in infrastructure and lives that will we suffer will be a crippling loss. We cannot allow even a single vessel to enter the atmosphere, we are warriors of the Republic of Sovereign Nations we will stand our ground and fight no matter the cause and we will save Sanghelios, OR WE WILL DIE TRYING!"

There was a tidal wave of roars throughout the Battle-Net as RSN personal throughout the fleet cheered while Isonia sat in her gravity chair. "Send these savages back to the barren wasteland that they call home," Isonia hissed, "charge weapons."

XXXXX

Author's Note: Something you might have noticed from this chapter, I have something very important planned for Marton but it doesn't involve fighting. That's right, it's time for EXPOSITION! Before you ask, YES the Marton in this story is the same Marton in Tribal Wars, when this story is done I am actually going to write that story.

Also I have reached a new milestone, Jesus Christ, 200,000 words.


	59. Insertion

Chapter 59

Insertion

Author's Note: Starting another arc, this time with a focus on space battle and behind the line insertion (Hence the title). I see no reason to delay, let's go.

"The Tribal Wars were brutal, the second that children hit adolescence they were trained in the ways of combat, and even before then they were forced to work in factories or in the fields. What you need to understand is that for the people that lived back then there was only war, everything you did had to benefit the tribe in some way, nothing else was tolerated. Food was scarce, even with the tribes doing everything that they could to grow food and raise livestock, there was never enough, mainly because the elders had ordered the tribes to breed whenever possible to replace warriors lost in combat. In order to counteract the shortage of food, a universal tactic was developed, survive off of the flesh of your enemies."

Marton shook his head slightly before continuing. "I lost count of the number of villages that I was sent out to attack, as well as the people that I killed and the people that died around me. When you are constantly ordered to show no mercy to everyone that is not part of your tribe for years...it is hard to break that habit. In part I think this is why Tritus believes that negotiating with other species is impossible, he may say he wants peace, but deep down inside of him he still believes that whoever isn't his ally is his enemy and that conflict is inevitable...he will lead our kind to extinction."

Elizabeth, looking completely entranced, asked, "Why didn't the Tribal Wars ever end? Wouldn't the tribes die out one by one until there was only one left?"

"The tribes of the war all had the same top priority, survival and they would go to any lengths to ensure it. It is true that every once in awhile a tribe would be destroyed by another, but other tribes would form in time. If any tribe gained too much power, neighboring tribes would form an alliance simply to attack them until they were no longer a threat. These alliances never lasted very long, the second the eminent threat disappeared the tribes would go back to fighting each other."

"Even technology was among the casualties of war, one century the tribes would be using nothing but blades, then bolt action rifles would be used, then mounted machine guns would be put on trucks, artillery and zeppelins would be used, that is until the secrets to these weapons were lost, not to be discovered again for hundreds of years and then lost again."

"Wow," Elizabeth muttered, "I can't imagine what Jiralhanae are made out of if they survived 10,000 years of that."

"I will take that as a compliment."

"Well, you've painted a good picture of the setting that was the war, tell me about yourself."

Marton's face fell as he glanced at the case holding the bladed staff. "It is not a part of my life that I am proud of," he muttered. "We were encouraged to use the most brutal tactics imaginable, to the point where it became second nature to us."

"Is that why you killed Archer? Natural instinct? I mean it doesn't sound like you enjoyed it."

"I wish that you were correct," Marton said sadly. "When I killed him...I did enjoy it. When you are fighting every day your body subconsciously adapts to it...and you grow to find pleasure in it. When the Covenant found our planet and forceable ended the Tribal Wars, I found myself looking at things in a different light. I did not want to kill everyone I met, I wanted to find the more peaceful route. Try as hard as a might though, I still feel the urges to slaughter, and an uncontrollable rage. I lost so many people that I cared about in the war that I simply gave into my anger, doing whatever to took to completely and utterly destroy my enemy." As he spoke, he glanced at the bladed staff again.

"Is that yours?" she asked.

"Technically, though I do not truly feel that it does. It belonged to another warrior I fought alongside, her name was Shara. We were...close."

"What happened to her?"

"We received intelligence that an enemy tribe had uncovered the secrets to nuclear weapons and was constructing a warhead. We could not afford to send a large force with our forces so scattered, so the elders sent me, Tritus, Tesueg, Adolas, Rason and Shara. We managed to slip in through a crack in the village wall and went undetected until we reached the underground complex where they were constructing the warhead. From what I remember from it, it was a pre-war bunker and the enemy tribe had built their village on top of it."

"We managed to get to the warhead but Shara...she was very badly wounded. Her leg had been completely crushed by a war hammer and several of her ribs had been broken. Rason said that there was no way that we could move her without killing her. Tritus offered to mercy kill her so that she wouldn't be captured and tortured, but she refused, she was the kind of person that despised showing weakness. She told us to run, she actually had to fire her pistol at me to get me to leave. When we climbed out of the bunker, she used a set of charges to block the entrance. We ran back to the truck we had used and sped off, fighting off our pursuers.

"We had been driving for five minutes when there was a deafening, blinding explosion."

"Shara detonated the warhead didn't she?" Elizabeth asked.

Marton nodded. "The entire village was destroyed in the blast, and the secrets to nuclear weapons went with it. What's more we had found plans in the village detailing how they planned to use the warhead and several others to cripple all other tribes. In a sense she saved us all. All I have to remember her by is that staff. When we got back to the village I gave it to my little sister Kalta. She and Shara were always close."

"You have a little sister? Where is she now."

Marton blinked as he stared at Elizabeth, his eye widening as if he had just remembered something terrifying and awful. "I am sorry," he muttered, "that is a very personal subject, one that I would rather not discuss."

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

"I understand. Is there anything else you wished to ask?" Elizabeth nodded, but as she did she couldn't help but wonder why Marton wished to keep details about his sister private.

XXXXX

"We're coming up on Galnu," Joker said through the COM lines as Jane and around a dozen other members of the Normandy stood in the cargo bay, all of them wearing breathing equipment. "We'll be orbiting it's moon in a couple of minutes. Stealth systems are online, provided no one's stargazing at the moment we should be fine. Do me a favor a get me a souvenir will you?"

"Would a live plasma grenade qualify?" Garrus asked dryly.

Jane chuckled as she looked at those gathered around her. "Ok, from what we've been able to gather about Galnu's moon, it doesn't have many facilities on it, hell is hasn't even been given a name yet. We've managed to get a positive identification on three major facilities." As she spoke, a hologram activated in the middle of them, showing a rough map on the moon's surface.

"We have no idea which one Rason is in so I want a team to infiltrate each one. Ashley, take Taylor, Tali and Sarah and breach this one," she said, pointing to one of the facilities. "Jacob, you hit this one with Liara, Neriena and Rebecca. I'll take Garrus and Jun and take care of the third. Remember killing Rason is a secondary objective, our main mission here is espionage. Get in, find whatever terminals you can, sap them for info and get out. Stay under the radar if you can, only use your weapons if you need to, the longer we can go without detection the smoother this whole thing will be. We would have Richard do it from orbit, but no matter how fast he is the Empire would have zeroed in on us before he finished. Any questions?"

"How are we going to land on the moon without them detecting us?" Taylor asked. "They may not be able to see the Normandy but they'll pick up the heat residue from the Pelicans."

"Ah, I forgot to mention that," Jane muttered. "We're not going to be using dropships. Just like Eden Prime, we're going to fly in low, open the cargo bay and jump out. We're getting out the same way. The moon is only 0.4 Gs so it should be nice and smooth."

"What kind of data are we looking for?" Liara asked.

"Any kind would be welcome, but for the most part we're looking for information on the Empire's biotic, super soldier program. Anything you can get, experiment results, entry logs even scrap notes would be helpful."

"What kind of resistance can we except?" Jacob asked.

Jane gave a frustrated sigh, "I hate to admit it but we're blind there. The scanners aren't picking up any heat signatures outside, but we can't see inside the facilities, there's too much interference from life support and artificial gravity systems. We're hoping that since we're so far behind enemy lines that they're be defending for a major assault, not a small insertion."

"How much of a threat is this Rason?" Ashley asked.

"High," Jane said grimly. "We've got intelligence that puts him on level with a Council Spectre, maybe even higher. We have orders to eliminate him if we get the chance, but considering how dangerous he is, I want you to avoid engaging him if possible. Anything else?" No one said anything as Jane looked at them.

"All right," Jane said, pulling her battle rifle off of her back. As she did she grazed a massive weapon that had the complexity and the shape of a brick. It was an experimental weapon that had been given to her specifically for this weapon. The M-920 Cain, or just the Cain. Jane had yet to use it but Anderson had informed her that it made a rocket launcher look like a popgun in comparison.

"Joker," she said into her COM unit, "bring us in, open the cargo bay when we get to the designated elevation. Richard, run as many scans as you can and see what you can find out from orbit."

"I doubt that I will find much, but I will do what I can," the A.I. said. There was silence between the members of the infiltration team as the Normandy entered the thin atmosphere of the moon, the turbulence shaking the ship slightly. Descending at a rapid pace, the ship suddenly leveled out, a hiss filling the room as the ground slowly slid out underneath them.

Jane inhaled and exhaled before jumping out of the ship and slowly drifted towards the surface of the moon, the rest of the team right behind her. Grunting as she landed, Jane glanced upward and saw the Normandy speeding away, the cargo bay floor sliding back into place. Lowering her head, Jane spotting the facilities, all of them lying in different directions.

"All right, split up and head for your target. We're regrouping here in one hour, no later, possibly sooner if things go bad. Keep radio chatter to a minimum." The team nodded their heads as the three teams split off.

"Just like old times huh Six?" Jun asked.

"Yeah, I just wish things would stop being just like old times," she replied, a look of sadness hidden by her helmet.

XXXXX

Isonia gripped the armrests of her gravity chair as a barrage of plasma torpedos impacted on the front of the _Righteous Justice_. "Return fire!" she bellowed. The main batteries of the super carrier roar to life as they fired dozens of concentrated plasma spheres, destroying three Empire CCS-battlecruisers.

"Enemy assault carrier approaching!" one of the navigators reported. "It's opening fire!" No sooner had he spoken than the _Righteous Justice_ shook violently as more torpedos impacted on it's shields. "Shields holding at 51%!"

"Fire the remaining torpedos and lasers at it. Contact the closest defense battery and order it to do the same." The navigator nodded as he quickly punched commands into his console. As the _Righteous Justice_ fired at the approaching assault carrier, one of the defense stations orbiting Sanghelios targeted the ship and did the same. The torpedos all impacted on the bow of the vessel, draining it's shields rapidly.

"The carrier's shields have been severely weakened, I am reading several holes in them." The navigator turned to look at Isonia. "Fleetmistress the assault carrier is retreating and our weapons are still recharging. By the time they are finished it will be out of range."

'A vessel that heavy will be a major threat to the rest of the fleet later on.' Isonia thought. "Deploy boarding pods, tell those on board to do whatever they need to do to disable or destroy that ship."

Within the depths of the Justice, Iasa stood in a boarding pod with a lance of Sangheili Spec Ops operatives, holding a pair of plasma rifles.

"All boarding lances, prepare for deployment. You will be boarding the cargo bay of an Empire assault carrier. Do whatever it takes to disable it." Iasa grit her mandibles as she felt the pod rocket out of the _Righteous Justice_, heading towards the assault carrier. Iasa tightly gripped the side of the pod, as did the rest of the lance, as it sped through the empty vacuum of space.

Thirty seconds after being deployed, the pod impacted on one of the sections of the ship that were unshielded. The screech of metal grinding against metal filled the pod as it drilled through the hull of the assault carrier, sparks flying as it did. Iasa raised her plasma rifles and aimed it at the exit it to the pod, the rest of the Sangheili mirroring her. The seconds slowly ticked by as they patiently waited, ready for anything.

The pod finished drilling through the hull and the section that had been cut out fell to the ground with a clang. Iasa dashed out of the pod, firing both of her rifles as she did, killing a Minor. She slid behind a Wraith that was placed nearby where they had entered, her lance doing the same.

All across the cargo bay boarding pods were drilling through the hull, dozens of Sangheili pouring out and firing their weapons at the guards that had been stationed in the cargo bay. Iasa leaned out of cover and aimed both of her rifles at a Jiralhanae Major, dropping his shields before finishing him off with another burst of plasma. Iasa dropped back into cover as her rifles cooled as saw a flash of purple light out of the corner of her eyes.

Turning, she saw Viluse standing on the other side of the cargo bay as he threw a Warp at a Jiralhanae from across the cargo bay, killing him. Iasa watched as Viluse put his hand back on his needle rifle and firing it rapidly, dropping the shields of another Jiralhanae before killing him with a headshot.

A Jiralhanae Commander, spotting Viluse, brought his carbine to bear on the Ultra and opened fire with quick accurate shots. The concentrated bursts of plasma impacted on the biotic's shields, dropping them rapidly. Viluse turned to face the Commander and, instead of ducking into cover, returned fire, four needle rifle shots impacting on the Commander's shields. Undaunted, the Jiralhanae aimed his rifle at the Ultra, his finger tightening on the trigger. He was about to fire his rifle again when there was a quiet hiss as a bolt of blue plasma tore through the Commander's head. His face was blank as he fell to the ground, having no idea what had killed him.

Viluse blinked and glanced to the side to see Iasa holding her beam rifle and firing it at another Jiralhanae, piercing his skull. The Jiralhanae were slowly falling back, backing up towards the exit while still firing their weapons at the Sangheili. As a Sangheili heaved a fuel rod onto his shoulder and fired it, sending five Jiralhanae flying through the air, they survivors reached the exit and fled through it. As they did, a thick metal door closed behind them and a hissing noise filled the room as all of the air was sucked out. Fortunately, the boarding party was wearing breathing equipment.

Viluse growled as he reloaded his needle rifle, noticed Iasa approaching him out of the corner of his eye. "I didn't need your help," he hissed, turning to face her, "I could have handled him without your-" he was cut off as Iasa's fist connected with his jaw.

"Are you insane!" she bellowed. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Viluse glared at her with icy contempt. "I do believe that you are the last person to be lecturing me on anything, especially after what you did on Noveria. Why don't you just save the RSN council time and just drive your sword through your hearts?"

"Viluse, I really could not care less what you think of me," she hissed. "We have a mission to complete, this ship is part of a massive fleet that is doing everything in it's power to destroy Sanghelios. If a single one gets through our defenses, millions will die, if not billions. We must destroy this ship at all costs, and we cannot do that if we have personal that are risking their lives in completely pointless ways. You can decide weather I am a disgrace or not AFTER our homeworld is safe, understand?"

"I don't take orders from you," Viluse hissed, "I can't help but wonder if you truly earned your rank or if you used your mother's position as a springboard. She must be ashamed to have someone like you as a daughter."

"I wouldn't criticize the family of another if I were you Viluse. Your grandfather is not exactly a respectable figure for the next gen-"

Iasa was interrupted as the butt of Viluse's rifle slammed into her stomach. Taking a few steps back, Iasa recovered her balance and glared at Viluse, who was looking at her with pure rage. "Speak of him ever again," he hissed, "remind me that I am related to that whelp, and I will save the council a hearing."

"Do not make a threat that you don't plan on following through on," Iasa hissed.

"I intend to," Viluse retorted.

After glaring at Viluse for a second, the Spec Ops officer turned to face her lance, who were looking at her with shock. "Our best chance of removing this ship from the battle is to reach engineering, from there we can disable and possibly destroy the ship. Half of us should make our way there while the rest of us remain here. We'll need these pods to escape and it will be safer than attempting to take the hanger. Any objections?" As she said the last sentence, she looked not at her squad, but at Viluse.

"I never doubted your understand of tactics, merely your common sense," he replied coldly. "My lance will accompany yours, just to make sure that you do not lack the will to disable the core." Iasa felt the overwhelming urge to punch Viluse again, but reminded herself that this was a mission that they were on, and already they had wasted time with there arguing.

"Follow me," she muttered, gesturing to her squad. "Someone cut through that door."

Author's Note: Sorry about the wait, but with school starting up again soon I've had things that I needed to do. Oh but there is one thing that I want to share with you, the other day I was playing Invasion, and I don't like playing in xbox live parties so I got a team of randoms...I think thats the term. We got paired up against a Legend, three Forerunners, a Reclaimer and an Inheritor...and we won 1-0. It was...amazing. Don't believe me I have it on my file share, my tag is macdonald210. And they had rather fowl mouths (Something WAY too common on live) I recall one of them calling on of my teammates a fag, saying that they had really won because they had better K/D ratios...if we had been playing slayer his argument might have carried weight. Just wanted to share that with someone...boy that was an exciting match.


	60. Inside

Chapter 60

Inside

Author's Note: Not much to really say here, let's get going.

Ashley and the rest of her squad kneeled outside of one of the facility that they had been ordered to infiltrate. "Tali, get us in, Sarah check their computer systems and disable any alarms." Ashley muttered. Both women nodded as they brought up their omni-tools, furiously typing away.

"Their firewalls don't look too complex," Tali muttered, "Then again they probably weren't expecting a cyber assault. I've got the controls for the door."

"Hold on," Sarah muttered, "I'm reading alarms that'll go off is anyone without access tries to open any doors."

"I see them, hold on a second," Tali muttered as she typed furiously. "There, that should do it, alarms are down." She looked up at Ashley. "We won't set them off but it's only a matter of time before they find us. "

"Let's make this quick then," Ashley muttered as she pressed a button and the door slid open. The four of them quickly clambered inside and found themselves in a bare square room. There was a silent hiss as air filled the room. "Air lock," Ashley muttered as she crossed the room, the others right behind her. Opening the door on the far side, the squad slipped through and found themselves in a long hallway made out of purple Covenant alloys, mechanical doors doting the sides, some open some closed.

"Ok, we need to stick together, keep an eye out for anything of impor-" Ashley's mouth clamped shut as she heard heavy thumps in the distance. "In here!" she whispered dashing for one of the open doors. Taylor, Tali and Sarah quickly slid in after her, pressing themselves against the walls by the door. One of the doors from across the room opened and five Jiralhanae stepped out before turning and walking down the hallway. They were all wearing dark blue armor and breathing masks over their faces. 'Chemical Corps operatives,' Ashley thought as she watched them pass by.

"I heard the attack started not too long ago," one of them remarked.

"To think that the Emperor authorized the formation of such a large fleet, he must be planning to take the RSN out of the war permanently."

"With a loss that heavy it would certainly do it," the first one replied as they continued to walk down the hall and out of sight.

"What was that all about?" Tali whispered.

"I don't know," Ashley admitted, "but whatever it is there's nothing that we can do about it." Getting to her feet, she glanced around the room that they had taken shelter in. It seemed to be a laboratory of some sort with four tables littered with various pieces of equipment, including Jiralhanae versions of microscopes, bunsen burners, test tubes, scanners and computers.

"What is this place?" Sarah asked.

"Don't know," Ashley admitted, "but there are terminals here. Tali, Sarah get everything you can off of them. Taylor, you're watching the door with me." The ODST nodded as he and Ashley stood on either side of the door, Taylor closing the door as they raised their weapons.

"How long do you need?" Taylor asked, looking at the two women who were typing away at their omni-tools.

"I say a couple of minutes, maybe a little longer," Tali replied. "This data defiantly looks like research data. Logs, experiments, even a couple of damage reports." As she continued to type, a look of curiosity crossed her face. "This is odd, there's a couple of audio logs here, it looks rather out of place considering most of the files here are text based."

"Play it," Ashley muttered, "but keep the volume low. Might as well make sure we're not burning time to steal data on a new type of crop the Brutes are developing."

Tali nodded as she pressed a button. "Rason's record," a dry voice said. "It has been...three weeks since Tritus has ordered me here. It has been rather frustrating, since this war started Tritus had kept be off of the front lines, preferring to keep me in labs. I wonder if this is because he believes I do not have the will to harm Marton and the others...I suppose it matters not. He has ordered me to research the disease that ravages Xeron. I must admit it is extremely frustrating, I have studied this strain of bacteria for years and I am no closer to curing it. My theory is that when he was implanted with his biotic implants, a normally harmless bacteria was mutated into an organism that has been ravaging Xeron's organs, causing them to fail after some time. I have attempted to extend Xeron's limited life span with organ transplants and even antibiotics that I was able to create, but I am still no closer to curing him."

"Thankfully the disease is not contagious, and even the tissue of other biotics has remained healthy after being exposed to it. What is more, I have seen that Serum 16, the combat stimulant that was originally used for our biotic program, accelerates the growth rate of the bacteria. To this very day I have tried to draw a connection between the two." Rason groaned in frustration. "If only I could discover the source of this, then I would at least have something to go on. But all I know is that the implants caused the bacteria to emerge somehow...wait," Rason's tone changed, a sense of excitement in it.

"After the implants nearly killed all of the first generation of our biotics, I always assumed that they were the cause of the bacteria...what if I was wrong?" As the recording continued to play, a shuffling noise was heard and there was a clang as something was laid down. "I am now applying a dose of Serum 16 to a healthy tissue sample of biotic Jiralhanae tissue." There was silence and a faint dripping noise could be heard. A long pause followed. "Oh Spirits," Rason muttered. "The Implants did not mutate the bacteria, Serum 16 did...HOW COULD I BE SUCH A FOOL?"

Everyone flinched at the shout, which was immediately followed by a cackle of laughter. "I cannot believe it, after all this time I finally found the origin of Xeron's disease. It may take months upon months of work, but with this information a cure for him is finally a reality. I will have to run tests, see how exactly the bacteria is affected and see how I can use this information to purge it from Xeron's system. I must contact Tritus."

Tali looked up as the recording ending. "Well, that sounds rather important," Taylor said.

"No kidding," Ashley said. "One of the Supreme Commanders is sick? Keeping working at that data. Afterwards we'll see if we should check for more or not get greedy and make a run for it."

XXXXX

A Jiralhanae dressed in the robes of the Blood Brothers exhaled deeply as he stood in the middle of a bare room, his hood covering his head. "The fight is not yet over Zalton!" Zalton jumped backwards and barely avoiding the massive two handed sword that his opponent was swinging at him. Landing neatly on his feet, Zalton extended his hand and fired a Warp at the heavily armored Jiralhanae in front of him.

His opponent rolled to the side, sheathing his sword as he did. As he came to a stop, he drew a rocket launcher off of his back and fired it at Zalton, the missile impacting on Zalton's barriers. The biotic was blown off of his feet and landed with a thud on his back. Drawing his blade again, the armored Jiralhanae charged forward, raising his sword over his head and brought it down on Zalton.

Throwing his arms up, Zalton created a barrier in front of himself. The sword bounced off of the barrier, but the armored Jiralhanae raised it again and brought it down, shattering the barrier this time. Zalton watched with fear as his opponent raised his sword again, preparing for the killing blow. He was about to bring it down when a chiming filled the room. Looking up at the speakers that were emitting the noise Tritus smiled as he sheathed his sword.

"Congratulations Zalton," he said as he extended his hand, helping the biotic up. "You have lasted against me for five minutes, you have passed the final test."

"But Emperor, you were clearly the victor in that battle, had it lasted a second more-"

"It matters not," Tritus said cutting him off. "As a member of the Imperial Guard, not every battle you fight will be won outright with superior tactics and firepower. Sometimes to must merely survive until reinforcements arrive, or cover an evacuation. Also the terms of the test were not that you beat me, but merely survive against me for five minutes, which you did, and I might add that thousands of other applicants failed to do even that. Congratulations, you are now a member of the Imperial Guard, a privilege that few experience."

Zalton stared at Tritus' hand for a second before smiling and taking it as the Emperor helped him up. "Xeron, you were right to recommend him," Tritus said, turning to face the other hooded Jiralhanae in the room, who was staring at Zalton was a wide smile.

"I had little doubt that he would fail."

"Emperor, Xeron," Zalton said, bowing his head, "I thank you for this chance that you haven given me, especially since Guardsmen must go through years of training before behind allowed to take this test."

"Considering that you are a member of the Blood Brothers and have already received years of training, I believe that it was a fair prospect," Tritus said. "Now then there is the matter of your equipment, I do know that the Blood Brothers prefer simplicity when it comes to what equipment that they use and dislike the use of firearms, but if you are to be a member of the Guard, you must use the equipment of one."

As Tritus spoke, a Jiralhanae wearing thick brown robes entered the room, carrying a folded set of bright golden armor covered with runes made out of Forerunner metal armor, a dark purple rifle lying on top of it. The Jiralhanae stopped in front of Zalton, handed him the rifle and the armor, and walked away.

"Emperor, what is this?" Zalton asked, looking at the rifle, "I have never seen a weapon like this before."

"I only recently designed it, it is a ravager plasma rifle. It cost half a billion credits just to make that one rifle, not to mention another billion credits for your armor. Like your armor, the devastator will be used only by the Imperial Guard, with the exception of myself."

"Why is it so expensive? What role does it fulfill?"

"Both of those questions have the same answer. The ravager is a multipurpose weapon. Do you see the dial on the side?" Zalton glanced at the weapon before nodding. "It has many settings, the first setting is rapid fire and is used for midrange combat, the second is a concentrated beam and is used for sniping, the third is a burst and is used for close range, and the fourth is a massive blast used for anti-tank combat."

"The inner mechanics of the ravager manipulate the plasma depending on the setting, making it useful in any situation. You will be required to master the use of this weapon before you are deployed to the field."

Zalton bowed slightly, "Of course Emperor."

"Very good," Tritus said, smiling slightly. "You have been given a position coveted by hundreds of thousands of warriors, do not disappoint me," he said as he turned and began to walk away.

"Where are you going Emperor?" Zalton asked.

"I have a meeting with the Kig-Yar ambassador, there is a system that his kind is interested in colonizing. I do believe that I will allow it, it is too far away from Jiralhanae territory for it to be valuable to us."

Although the Empire was ruled by the Jiralhanae, the Kig-Yar and the Yamne'e were also a part of it. Technically both species were imperial states of the Empire but the enjoyed more freedom than those outside the Empire would imagine. While the Jiralhanae did rule over them, they were allowed to form their own governments and pass their own laws. With the exception of the Empire's permission being required for them to colonize new worlds, being limited to the Empire's military if they wished to serve in the army with little chance of them becoming officers, and each planet being forced to pay a yearly tribute based on population and economic status, the Jiralhanae mostly left the Kig-Yar and Yamne'e alone and even protected them with it's military.

As Tritus walked away, Zalton looked at Xeron. "I have heard rumors that the Emperor plans to control other species in the galaxy the way that he does the Kig-Yar and Yamne'e. Is that true?"

"I do believe so," Xeron said as he and Zalton began to walk together, exiting the sparring room and entering a lounge. "He has not spoken to me directly about doing so, but he has hinted at it."

Both of them stopped and looked out of a window. They were five miles above the ground in one of the upper sections of the Imperial Palace, a starscraper that was six miles tall, a beacon of Jiralhanae achievement that towered over all other buildings and a city in it's own right. "I cannot help but wonder," Zalton said as he looked down at the city bellow him, barely visible from where they stood, "what will the galaxy be like once this war is over? Practically every faction with any influence is taking part in it."

"Only time will tell," Xeron replied.

XXXXX

Iasa's hands tightened around her plasma rifles as she watched two Spec Op operatives cutting through the door to the cargo bay with their energy swords. "How much longer?" she muttered.

"Almost there," one of the operatives muttered as he continued to cut through the metal with his sword.

"Good," Iasa said, turning to face her lance. "No doubt the Jiralhanae will be waiting for us on the other side with loaded weapons. I want you to get into cover on either side of the door of behind or behind the cargo."

"We don't have time to entrench ourselves and pick them off one by one," Viluse snarled, looking at Iasa. "The longer we wait the more damage this vessel will do to the fleet. A swift and powerful strike will handle whatever lies beyond this door."

"And how many warriors do you plan on sacrificing?" Iasa retorted.

"This is battle Iasa, casualties are unavoidable, and since when do you care about preforming actions that costs the lives of your comrades?"

"There is a difference between losing allies in a crossfire and ordering them into a meat grinder, not that you would understand that," she retorted. "Order your lance to their deaths if you must, but I will not do the same with mine." She glanced at the Spec Ops lance behind her, who were looking at her expectantly. "You have your orders," she said. Nodding silently, the lance scattered throughout the cargo bay.

Snarling, Viluse gave the same orders to his lance. As much as he did not want to admit it, without support from Iasa's lance, his would not be enough to break through whatever the Jiralhanae had waiting for them.

"We're through!" one of the operatives shouted as he slammed his elbow into the weakened door, causing it to fall over as he and the over operatives slid to the side. No sooner had they done so than a volley of plasma and spikes flew from the doorway, hitting two Sangheili who had chosen a poor moment to lean out of cover. Iasa popped up from behind the Wraith she was taking cover behind and fired both of her plasma rifles, killing a Major.

Iasa ducked back down into cover as a storm of fire tore over her cover, a handful of shots scrapping her shields. She grimaced as she looked at the Wraith that she was taking cover behind. She would've enjoyed using it against the Jiralhanae but in quarters this tight she doubted that she would be able to pull it off without killing at least half a dozen friendlies.

"Heavy weapons, open fire!" she roared as she threw a blind plasma grenade and heard a roar of pain as it detonated. The two heavy weapon specialists that they had both raised their fuel rods and fired them at the door. The ten orbs of plasma detonated among the ranks of the Jiralhanae defenders, shattering their bodies as they were sent flying. Before the survivors could even register what had happened, the Sangheili boarders had exited cover and open fired on them. The Jiralhanae that still drew breath, around half a dozen, fled deeper into the ship, firing their weapons as they fled.

"Good work," Iasa said to the heavies as they reloaded the fuel rods. "I want you two to stay here, guard the pods."

"We will no doubt encounter heavy resistance on the way to the engines," Viluse criticized. "The Jiralhanae will be more interested in the team heading there than those left on guard duty, we should take the heavies with us."

Iasa didn't like to admit it but Viluse made a rather good point, on the other hand if the pods were destroyed they would be stuck on this vessel unless they wanted to take their chances with fighting their way to the hanger, which would no doubt contain hundreds if not thousands of Jiralhanae. "The are with me, they stay here."

"If our mission fails, it would be because of that," Viluse snarled before turning away and heading towards the door. "I trust that I can rely on our warriors to do what they were supposedly trained for?"

Resisting the urge to bite her tongue, Iasa nodded as one by one her Spec Ops operatives activated their active camouflage. "We will be right behind you," she said as her camouflage activated.

Author's Note: Ok, ok I promise this is the LAST character that I am going to introduce. It's just that one of my reviewers (I forget which one) suggested that if I wanted to flesh out the Empire I should give the Blood Brother's names and personalities. I can't do that to all of them, so I decided to create Zalton, a Blood Brother and a member of the Imperial Guard. Also I think I told one of my reviewers that the Kig-Yar and Yamne'e were basically slaves at one point, I apologize for that as I changed my mind and considering that I didn't write about the Jiralhanae, Kig-yar Yamne'e relationships yet I think that I have room to maneuver. Yeah, thought I slip in a little world building there.

By the way there is something I need to ask you guys. You see, I've been looking around the internet and I've been seeing a lot of stuff for Deus Ex Human Revolution, and I'll be blunt, I'm interested. I've never played a Deus Ex game before, all I know about it is that it is some sort of cyberpunk dystopian game, but I've heard good things about it. I just want to ask you something, do you think that I should buy it?


	61. Detection

Chapter 61

Detection

Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait, but with school starting up, me taking an AP class this time around, College starting next year and picking up more hours at my job, a lot's been going on in my life. I'm going to try and still make as many updates as possible, but I hope you understand if I won't be able to do it as often. Ok, here we go.

"Keep moving," Jacob muttered as he, Rebecca, Liara and Neriena crept through the hallways of the Empire base that they had infiltrated. Slipping through a doorway, they entered a room filled with massive data stacks. "Ok, I'm going to rip as much data as I can from these," Jacob muttered as he activated his omni-tool. "I'm no Quarian so I'm going to need some time, keep an eye on the entrance and keep me covered."

The three women muttered as they took up positions near the door, Neriena gently sliding it shut. "Can't believe we're really doing this," Rebecca whispered, "sneaking into a Jiralhanae base this fortified."

"I know," Liara replied. "Believe me when I say I had no idea what what I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I went on board the _Normandy_."

"Tell me about it, this, not to mention Haven happened right before this and then there was what happened on Feros with the-" Rebecca's voice died, her face paling behind her helmet.

"Oh Goddess I'm sorry," Liara said, her head snapping in the Russian's direction.

"No it's ok," Rebecca muttered. "Things are getting better, I'm off my meds now and things have been easier for me. I'm not quite there yet though, every once in awhile I still clench up and start-" she shook her head, "never mind, it's not that big of a deal."

"Don't just brush it off like that," Liara said, not content for the conversation to end like that. "I care about you so don't just say that you still having episodes from what happened on Feros isn't that big of a deal." Unbeknownst to both women, Neriena's head had tiled to look at both of them, an interested look on her face.

"Look I don't want to be a bother all right?"

"How is you opening up to me a bother? I held you in my arms after that thing violated you. Rebecca let me tell you something, I have been to the edge of the Terminus Systems and back for archeological digs, I have seen things that most people wouldn't even think doable by mortal beings, but I have never seen someone as broken and shattered as you were on that day." As she spoke, she took one hand off of her pistol and put it on Rebecca's shoulder. "The amount of pain that you were in...it scared me. Please don't try to tough this out, if ever need someone to talk to, I'm always here."

"Liara...thanks," Rebecca said weakly. Liara nodded. It was odd, Liara had never really noticed it before, but Rebecca was a few good inches taller than her. It was odd to think that someone so tall would need comfort, but Liara knew that pain and suffering wasn't limited to things like gender or appearance. Neriena smiled as she watched.

There were footsteps from outside the doorway and everyone immediately raised their weapons, aiming it at the door. "Rason wants us to grab some file he left in here," an exasperated voice said from the other side. "I cannot believe this, we are researchers not lapdogs."

"Quick, get to cover!" Jacob hissed, but before even he cold follow his orders the door had slid open, revealing two Jiralhanae in thick leather clothing on the other side. As soon as they spotted the infiltration team they froze, standing stock still as a pistol, a shotgun and an assault rifle were all pointed at them.

For a solid minute no one said anything. Then one of the Jiralhanae spoke. "Now do not be hasty," he said nervously. "We are unarmed, we are scientists not warriors."

"How did you get here?" he other one demanded. "Dozens of ships are guarding this moon alone."

"Keep your voice down," Jacob hissed. "Let me tell you what's going to happen, you two are going to stand there and stay quiet until we're finished here. Afterwards we're going to lock you in here while we walk out, just stay calm and no one has to get hurt."

"That is it?" the second Jiralhanae demanded, "we are just supposed to stand here while you steal classified information?"

"You have another idea?" As if to answer Jacob's question, one of the Jiralhanae leaned to the side and slammed his fist down on the door's control panel, forcing the door to shut. Rebecca and Neriena made to open the door but no sooner had they started another slam was heard through the door and an alarm started blaring through the base.

"Son of a bitch," Jacob swore as he typed on his omni-tool furiously before it faded away. "I got what I could but we need to get out of here. Follow me and don't stop to fight, just shoot as you run." Jacob unholstered his battle rifle as he spoke. "Let's get moving."

XXXXX

"A century and a half ago," Marton said, "we received word of some sort of experimental technology behind built on the northern ice cap. Since the others and I had been successful with the destruction of the warhead they sent us to steal it."

"What was the technology?" Elizabeth asked, looking at Marton with wide eyes.

"Rockets, the tribe was on the brink of rediscovering early space travel. After we reached it we found a massive instillation with a over a hundred guards. We were detected halfway through our infiltration and a firefight broke out. A stray bullet hit one of the fuel tanks and it started to leak. I realized that we were hopelessly outnumbered, so I thought that I would take them with us, so I took a torch from one of fires they had set to keep themselves swarm and set it alight."

"We attempted to get as far away as we can before it exploded, but as far as away as we got we were still knocked on our backs by the blast. It tore through the ice cap and caused to start collapsing, the base, it's guards and all of us were pulled down into the rift. An icy flood crushed down on us and for a second I believed that we would all drown. But then several silvery objects approached us, and we all felt claws closed around us."

"We were pulled through the icy water to a massive submerged base...a Forerunner base."

"There was a Forerunner base on Dosiac?"

"Yes, a rather large one. We and several dozen of the enemy warriors were pulled into airlocks, the other warriors in different ones from us. The A.I. that monitored the base greeted us and introduced itself as 98 Alternate Tangent. While he was explaining the purpose of the base, which I recall was studying primitive Jiralhanae, the other warriors rampaged throughout the base and breached one of the storage units. They released Flood that had been trapped in there."

"What was the Flood doing there?"

"I can think of two reasons, either the Flood attacked the Forerunner base there and they managed to seal them away in the depths of the base or they had dedicated every last research available to finding methods to fight the Flood. Anyway, Tangent enlisted in our help to deal with the infestation."

"You decided to help him even though you had no idea what was going on?"

"He did not give us much of a choice," Marton said grumpily. "It told us that there were escape pods that we could use to get back to the surface, but he would only unlock them after we dealt with the infestation. At least he had the decency to upgrade our weapons." Marton partially drew his machete, showing the bright golden metal. "It replaced the blades of our weapons with Forerunner alloy."

"What happened?"

"Tangent directed us towards the main control room that would cause the main reactor to overload. It could not do it itself due to security protocols. We managed to fight our way through the horde and make it to the control room but there...there was something there waiting for us."

"What?"

Marton shook his head. "You of all people should understand the terrors that are the Flood, I would rather not talk about it in great detail. All I will say is that there was a very powerful being there that took all of our talents combined and our new weapons to defeat. After we killed it we escaped the the base via an emergency shuttle that took us to the surface as it exploded beneath us. We were glad that we had defeated a great threat to Dosiac...little did we know that we had attracted another one."

"The Covenant?" Elizabeth asked.

Marton nodded. "They had a scouting group in the system that detected the explosion. Within a day a massive fleet hovering over Dosiac. We tried to fight them off, the following conflict was called the Fourteen Hour War. I think that you can imagine why."

Elizabeth nodded her head sadly. "We had been indoctrinated into the Covenant, billions of Jiralhanae had all been conquered within a day," Marton grumbled. "What made me furious is how happy so many people were about it. We were in a position to spread across the galaxy and rebuild, so many were overjoyed at that prospect that they forgot that we were now slaves. They did not even hesitate to throw away our own religion and adopt theirs. Still, even if I did not like it, the others and I had to adapt."

"My experience with working with tribal technology and the fact that I had been the one to overload the reactor allowed me to become a tech priest," Marton continued, pointing to the middle set of armor in his room. "That is the armor that I was given. The others rose to admiral positions, but as time went on the Great Schism began. Before we could even understand what was happening, the Sangheili had already defeated us, making us lose much ground."

"Afterwards the my people descended into civil war, everyone fighting for power just as they had done during the Tribal Wars. I thought that we had regressed back to the old ways, but Tritus proved me wrong. He gathered countless followers underneath him and made treaties with other factions He tore through Jiralhanae space with extreme precision, rival factions falling before his superior tactics and numbers. Within years, he had conquered the last Jiralhanae planet, the Empire was born."

"After he had united our people Tritus spent decades rebuilding the ruins that had been left by our history of wars, established new colonies and built the Imperial Palace, a sign of progress and power for all of our race." Marton sighed, "I thought the Jiralhanae had seen the end of war, I was wrong. Tritus was paranoid, we had maintained a policy of isolationism ever since the Civil War ended, not daring to leave lest we start a war."

"The UNSC didn't go anywhere near Jiralhanae space for the same reason."

"I can imagine," Marton replied. "Tritus was worried that it was only a matter of time before we were invaded from the outside and the only way that we would be able to live in peace is if we were the sole power in the galaxy."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "He declared war just like that? Without being provoked?"

"I suspect that he is still stuck in the mindset of the Tribal Wars," Marton said sadly. "Try to understand that for over a century we were all stuck in a world were peace was considered a fatal flaw. It is nothing short of a miracle that he does not want to wipe out all other species other than ours."

"You're not like him though!" Elizabeth pointed out, "You're fighting against him!"

"That is true, I disagree with Tritus' policies. Even if there is some logic to his words, our safety will be acquired by bathing in the blood of billions, both alien and Jiralhanae. I tried to talk him out of his plans of conquest, but after years of failure I left the Empire with Tesueg, Rutherforae and those who would follow use. We stole the _Eternal Salvation_ and since then have used it to produce warships, manufacture weapons and ammunition, and grow food as we wage our guerrilla war against the Empire."

"This...this doesn't make any sense," Elizabeth said, shaking her head. "How can you two be so different? You're brothers for christ's sake and you were raised in the exact same environment, what the Hell happened to make you so different?"

As the blonde spoke, Marton's face fell. "I suppose there is no other way to explain it," he said grimly, glancing at the doubled bladed staff again. "Before the Tribal Wars ended, something happened to my sister. Something awful."

As she saw the saddened look of Marton's face, Elizabeth wished that she had kept her mouth shut.

XXXXX

Rason's fingers furiously danced upon the keyboard lying in front of him in the lab he sat in on Galnu's moon. He had moved to this facility from the other one he had been working in due to it's equipment being better suited for analyzing Serum 16. "Perhaps it is prolonged exposer that causes...no no no that makes no sense, Xeron's symptoms starting appearing almost immediately after he received his augmentations. It could be...ugh that makes no sense either."

"Am I interrupting?" a stoic voice said as the door to the lab slid open.

"Yes you are," Rason snapped as he lifted his head up, "kindly leave before I take my spiker and-" Rason's words died in his throat as he saw Matriarch Benezia standing before him. "What are you doing here?" he questioned.

"Do I really need to explain myself to someone like you?" she asked.

"Considering that you are deep within Jiralhane territory in a facility filled with guards on a moon with no oxygen for you to breathe outsides of the confines of these walls, yes you do."

A small smile played around Benezia's lips. Rason blinked, wondering if it had been a trick of the light. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt, I was going to tell you anyway," she said. "Saren wants me to make sure he is aware of what is allies are up to."

"Make no mistake Benezia, you helped me a great deal on Noveria and I have quite a debt to repay to you, but what I am working on is classified Empire material. Ally or not Tritus would most likely kill Saren if he ever discovered a fraction of the data I have here, if I didn't do it first that is."

"Calm yourself, I am not here to steal the secrets to your biotic program, I doubt that there is anything worth stealing anyway."

"Really?" Rason asked, slumping into the chair he was sitting in and folding his arms. "Let me think this through, in mere decades I have created hundreds of biotics that are on par with Asari in terms of power, and created combat stims that can push them even father. Despite this, you think I have nothing worth stealing."

"I know where you got the basis for your data, you salvaged it from a Human base, incidentally the Human's have their own biotics that reach the level of my kind, even if their technology isn't perfect, but what you have done is the result of their work, not yours. Also your stims are rather flawed, causing your biotics to be filled with rage and cloud their judgement."

"You are not one to talk about reverse engineering technology, considering that every last invention created by your people in the last 3,000 years was done so by studying Prothean technology."

"At least we were able to reverse engineer it by ourselves. Your technology was practically given to you."

"Yes but since then we have used it as a springboard to develop new technologies, such as the spike rifle, gravity fists, scorcher's, wrist mounted grenade launchers and of course Divine Thunder. I do believe that you heard about that, so tell me, have you ever seen the RSN use a weapon of that magnitude?"

"No, but I also know that it took five years to construct that weapon, this war could very well be over by the time you finish making another one. What is more, according to the report I read on it, the cannon must take five hours to cool before it can be fired again, hardly useful."

"With Divine Thunder one shot is all we need, and hardly useful? Billions of lives were saved and an entire Alliance fleet was destroyed."

"It is just a pity you had to use the reactor for an entire city to bring it online, had you been able to install an internal power source you would have been able to respond to the attack much more quickly."

"I hate to break it to you Benezia, but a weapon of that caliber cannot be powered by small reactors, even with the city's power plant behind it it still barely had enough power. There is created revolutionary technology and then there is preforming miracles."

"I suppose you have a point," Benezia said, smiling slightly.

"Why are you always so-wait what?"

Benezia's smile widened. "You heard me."

"Oh...thank you." For a moment neither of them said anything. Then, without warning alarms began to blare all around them and a voice roared over the intercom.

"Attention all personal, there are intruders in the data storage room! The Alliance has infiltrated this base!"

"What?" Benezia shouted, staring at the intercom.

A scowl crossing his face, Rason reached for his belt and slid six fragmentation grenades into his launcher. "I am going to deal with them, care to join me?"

Benezia looked at Rason and a purple aura surrounded her. "Of course."

Author's Note: I just finished playing Human Revolution...shit. I can see why some people are calling it the game of the year...though to be fair we still have Space Marine, Modern Warfare, Halo Anniversary, Battlefield, Rage and Gears of War to be released this year, not to mention Uncharted and Resistance for PS3 gamers and I heard somewhere that Halo was being remade for the PS3...busy busy busy. I really liked the game, even if it could be frustrating when I died over and over and over and over and over again, but I always came back for more, mainly because I wanted to know what the Hell was going on in this story.

Speaking of Halo release on PS3 I have heard some people saying that this is a bad thing...why? Some people will probably say "It's hurting Microsoft" or "We were loyal fans to the xbox and now people who don't even own it can play our exclusives"...if that is the case all I have to say is go fuck yourselves you goddamn fanboys. Speaking as someone who has never bought a sony console why is there such fierce hatred between consoles and PC gamers, or between fandoms of Halo and COD and the like. Everywhere I go I see people saying things like "Cock of duty" and "Halo sucks" Hell this problem exists even within the confines of the Halo fandom with people saying that Reach has ruined Halo FOREVER...ugh.

While I admit I have defended Reach a couple of times on youtube, I would like to think that I have moved on from getting into arguments with people who say that it is shit compared to 3. Still it bugs the Hell of out me what these people say. Let me get this out of the way right now, Halo 3 is a very good game and I have had a lot of fun with it, I just like Reach better, considering that's what Bungie intended it's not surprising.

The thing about these people is that they're arguments are terrible and annoying, people hate Reach because of stupid things like "IT'S NOT COMPETITIVE" (Play Arena) and "IT'S BROKEN!" (Aside from the Scorpion and the Banshee the game is very balanced...and they only appear on two maps! Admittedly there are other balance issues like power weapons, but I don't count them because they were ALREADY THERE!) "ARMOR LOCK IS OP" (NO IT FUCKING ISN'T! WAIT FOR THEM TO GET OUT AND SHOOT THEM WHEN THEY DO! Hell I've even gotten to the point where I stick people that are about to run out of juice and walk away, easy kill. And if it's so good why don't you use it?) "ARMOR ABILITIES RUINED THE GAME!" (Actually they spiced up a sometimes rather dull game) "BLOOM SUCKS, IT'S BASED AROUND LUCK" (Pace. Your. Shots.) and the most famous and dumbest of them all, "THE DMR IS STUPID, I WANT THE BATTLE RIFLE!" (What is the difference between the two of them? One may be burst and the other single fire, but you can only fire the DMR three more times before reloading, the BR takes four shots to the head to kill and the DMR only takes one more shot and it really is sad that people say that a game sucks because of one gun being missing) "THEY CHANGED SOMETHING, THIS IS A BAD THING" (Statement made by someone to disprove that ungodly retarded remark with simple logic) This kind of stupidity really pisses me off, people hating Reach for stupid reason, people hating COD/Halo for no reason, and people hating the 360/PS3/PC because they don't use it, and as Yahtzee said "Maybe you're just doing this because you're not having as much fun as you think and a little feeling in the back of your mind that won't go away no matter how much you slap it down with a wet napkin of excuses."

Jesus, sorry about that, it's just sometimes this really gets to me. If you're going to take anything away from this make it this "Live and let live...and Human Revolution is awesome...but also hard." I just get upset when people shove their opinions down your throat and flame people for having different views, something I admit to have done in the past a little but have sworn off.


	62. Confrontation

Chapter 62

Confrontation

Author's Note: I'm glad to see that the reception for the little rant that I had last chapter was well received, sorry about that but I need to get the frustration that builds up in me over the months out every once in a while. Well I think it's time to get the plot rolling again.

"A crucial part of the Tribal Wars was the constant border patrols. Unless a tribe boarded an ocean or a mountain range they had enemies on every front, and thousands upon thousands of warriors were used to patrol them. The problem though is that we did not rediscover radio until the waning days of the war, so if we were lucky enough to discover an enemy invasion force, we would have to head back to the nearest village and warn them personally, and that's if we were fortunate enough to spot them."

"One day the others and I were assigned to border patrol, for six hours we scanned the southern boarder before returning to our village to refuel and resupply. When we returned there...oh Spirits," Marton buried his face in his hands. He remained like that for half a minute before resurfacing again. "While we were away the village had been attacked. We were told that the battle had lasted for hours, that the enemy had taken the eastern half almost instantly before a bloody stalemate began with both sides attempting to take full control of the village. After sustaining massive casualties and practically everything of use being destroyed we were finally able to repel them, but the village would take over a year before it had any strategic value again."

"But your sister...what happened to her?"

"Kalta," Marton muttered sadly. "When the village was attacked, she was unlucky enough to be caught on the eastern section of the village. Until it was retaken everyone that was trapped there was at the mercy of the enemy."

Marton stood up as he spoke, glancing out of a massive glass window that covered part of the wall. "When we found her body...I could barely recognize her. They did things to her, beat her, cut her violated her...things I either cannot remember or chose not to remember."

"Jesus," Elizabeth whispered.

"There was a funny thing about Kalta," Marton continued, "she never had the same mind set as everyone else. Man and woman alike eventually grew to accept the Tribal Wars for what they were around the time they reached adulthood, Kalta did not. Even though she helped Rason with the healing when he was not out fighting, she always dreamed of a world without war and always asked Tritus and I about it. We always said that she had to throw away those childish dreams. She never did, she held onto her beliefs until the very when she...when she...GAH!" Marton roared in fury, punching the wall next to the window with his cybernetic arm, denting the wall.

For a second he stood there, breathing in and out heavily before taking a deep breath and looking at Elizabeth. "That day was over a century ago, but I remember it as if it just happened...but what happened afterward haunts me just as much."

"What happened?"

"When I saw my sister's mutilated body I was furious. I took the truck that we had used for our patrol and headed in the direction that they enemy tribe had retreated towards. I drove for hours and then came upon a village where they where, tending to their wounded and admiring the spoils of war."

Marton shook his head before looking out the window again, sadness thick in his voice. "I smashed my truck through the front gate and into a shack near the entrance. I drew my blade and my pistol and...I slaughtered everything that moved. Warriors, civilians, men, women, children, sick, elderly I did not care, I was filled with so much anger. I had gotten angry in battle before, but never to this degree. I was ruthless and brutal to the point where I feel disgusted to even think about it."

"My memories of what happened at that village are fuzzy at some points, but I remember standing in the center of the square hours later, covered in blood and with corpses all around me. I had killed everyone in the village, even noncombatants. I remember smiling as I looked around, feeling that my sister had been avenged when I heard a gasp from the front gate. Without thinking I raised my pistol and fired it five times. A young woman from that village had gone out earlier to gather herbs for the returning warriors and had returned."

"Every shot that I fired hit her in the chest, I was not surprised that she collapsed to the ground from her wounds. I approached her, a smile nearly tearing my face in two as I aimed my pistol at her head, eager to finish her off...but I couldn't."

Elizabeth cocked her head in confusion. "Her eyes," Marton whispered, "They were the same shade of blue as Kalta's. I did not know what to do, I simply stared at her in shock. She looked at me in the eye and before she died she asked me one question before her wounds killed her... 'Why?'"

"In that moment, every last thing that I had ever done, every shot that I fired, every blade that I had thrust and the sheer impact of the massacre that I had just committed, it all hit me at once. I realized what I was, an instrument of war that had done nothing but farm sorrow on countless of people, weather they deserved it or not."

Elizabeth looked as Marton pressed his hands against the window, leaning on it with a tired look in his organic eye. "I never left that village that day," he muttered, "I stayed there for hours, bawling like an infant at what I had done. In time I left and headed back home...but two things had changed about me forever. I never looked at war the same way again, every time I was forced to fight after that my sister's words of a peaceful world kept reverberating inside my head."

"As for the second change, I do not know what demon possessed me that gave me the strength to slaughter an entire village, but it has never left me. Your doctors would call it berserker rage, but simply put if I ever loose my temper I am filled with an uncontrollable anger and the urge to destroy whatever is in my sight, friend or foe. It is sicking," he said, grimacing, "to think that I hold the potential to kill my own allies."

He looked at Elizabeth, "I did not talk to Tritus much about what I did that day, he did not quite understand what I had gone through. He was still a proud warrior and my older brother. I could talk to Adolas and Tesueg about it, I was a mentor to Tesueg and I practically raised Adolas...it was easier to speak to them. Rason and Tritus were older though, and while all five of us saw Kalta's words in a new light, Rason and Tritus still believed that the only way to peace was through force. I on the other hand, was and still am sick of fighting. I wish I could have conveyed what happened that day to Rason and Tritus the same way I did to Adolas and Tesueg, if I did this whole war might have been avoided."

"Aren't you being a little hard on yourself?" Elizabeth asked. "From what you told me killing everyone that wasn't part of your tribe for that reason alone was a commonly accepted fact. Isn't the fact that you and the others tried to strive for peace nothing short of a miracle regardless of the method they chose?"

"You are too generous to me," Marton said sourly. "You might look at me as someone noble for getting you off of that station, but my sins outweigh my deeds a hundredfold."

Elizabeth stared at Marton, truly at a loss for words. "Look," she said slowly, "Who you were in the past doesn't matter, what matters is who you are in the present. Not many people would feel as guilty as you do about what you've done, nor would they be trying to move away from it."

Marton gave a small smile as he looked at Elizabeth, "Do not take it for granted that my opinion has changed, but thank you. Incidentally you sound a little surprised at my confession."

"Well," Elizabeth said, rubbing the back of her neck, "I was under the impression that Jiralhanae were all...war happy savages."

"A good portion of us where a couple of centuries ago, but Tritus plans for this war to the be the last galatic scale Jiralhanae war. I have a feeling that one way or another it will be if it is not stopped soon. The war is already escalating to massive proportions, a little over half a year and several planets have already been bombarded, a few to the point of inhabibility. Entire fleets destroyed and millions of lives lost." Marton grimaced, "The Human-Covenant War had much smaller engagements between fleets, but the increase in populations and advancement of technology now allow for much larger fleets and faster travel. The Human-Covenant War lasted for twenty five years, we will be lucky if this one lasts three."

"Why's that?"

"Humanity could not hope to go on the offensive against the Covenant, so they pooled their resources into fortifying their worlds and hiding their locations. With the locations of planets commonly known, battles happen in much quicker succession and fleets are much larger as they are not being stretched out into scouting parties but attacking known locations. The death toll is already overwhelming and it keeps growing, if it keeps up than in a couple of years the war will end because of one side's inability to fight. Right know, I have no idea which side that is."

Elizabeth blinked slightly, looking a little overwhelmed. "I have enjoying speaking with you Elizabeth," Marton said, his face and tone growing warm, "you strike me as a rather open minded individual."

Elizabeth blushed a little as she nodded her head, "Thank you."

"Marton," Rutherforae's voice crackled over the Battle-Net, "our scanners picked up a Blood Pack transmission, there is a battle group refueling at an asteroid base not far from our position."

"Plot a course Adolas," Marton said, standing up and sliding his helmet on, "I am on my way to the bridge," he finished in his deep synthesized voice. "Care to join us?" he asked, glancing at Elizabeth. The blonde nodded.

XXXXX

"Son of a bitch!" Jacob swore as he rounded a corner the others right behind him. "Captain!" he shouted into his COM unit, "our cover got blown, the Brutes set off an alarm!"

"I noticed," Jane replied, a sound that was unmistakably gunfire in the background. "I'm ordering the Normandy to make an early pick up, it'll be at the LZ in fifteen minutes, you get that Ashley?"

"I heard you," the Major replied, "The Brutes haven't found us yet, we just need another minute to finish with the datastore that we're on and we'll be out of here. We'll make the rendezvous, count on it."

"I'll see you there, Ashley, same goes for you Jacob, we're not leaving unless it's with a full boat."

"Got it," Jacob replied as he and the others rounded a corner and found themselves facing two Jiralhanae Minors. The startled warriors raised their plasma repeaters but before they could fire more than a handful of shots their four opponents had raised their own weapons and gunned them down.

"Keep going!" Jacob shouted as they continued to run, but before they had taken more than a dozen steps, a massive purple blur flew overhead and landing in front of them, sending out a shockwave as it impacted into the ground, causing them to stumble back. As they regained their balance, they saw that an Asari in dark robes with a cleavage window stood before them, a purple aura hugging her dark blue skin.

"Mother?" Liara choked out in surprise.

"Mother?" said a voice behind them and both Jacob and Rebecca whirled around to see Rason standing behind them, aiming both his spiker and grenade launcher at them. "Benezia you never said that you had a daughter, especially one that was with the Alliance."

Benezia didn't answer Rason's replied as she looked at Liara with cold indifference. "I wouldn't have guessed that you would have joined the Alliance, I thought that you would be on some remote planet playing with the remains of dead civilizations."

"What was I supposed to do mother?" Liara questioned, her voiced strangled as a lump formed in her throat, "stand by and do nothing way you helped the Coalition commit genocide against countless species? Including our own? I had to do something!"

Benezia gave a cruel smirk, "It's painfully obvious that you are still just a Maiden. There are forces at work here greater than you could possibly imagine, and you stumble about looking for your mother like a lost child."

"I joined this crew because I needed to ask you just one questions, why? Why are you doing this mother? The Coalition has killed millions of innocent people, you've turned your back on the Republics, the Council and it's allies."

"The Republics have grown soft, as have the Council," Benezia snarled. "Our people have explored the stars for over three thousand years and know we are being pushed around by newcomers. Three fourths of the UNSC and RSN have only been space faring species for a fraction of the time that we have and now the Council is powerless to stop them from doing whatever they please. The Galaxy requires order, an order the Empire intends to impose."

"So that's it?" Liara said softly, "that's why you betrayed your entire species? You're a Matriarch, it's your duty to lead our people not destroy them!"

"You have no idea how amusing you say is," Benezia said cruelly. "You are doing nothing more than taking jabs in the dark at those that are legions beyond you."

Rason blinked behind his gas mask, he had known Benezia was extremely aloof and stuck up but he had never expected her to talk to her own family like this. Truth be told he found it quite unsettling, Tritus didn't even speak of Marton the way Benezia was scorning her daughter, it seemed unnatural. "Do you always talk like that to your own flesh and blood you cold hearted bitch?" Neriena swore glaring at Benezia.

The Matriarch's eyes came to rest on Neriena, narrowing as they did. "I take it by your stance and armor that you are an Asari Commando."

"Ex," Neriena hissed.

"I would not talk about what you do not know," she said coldly, "do you even know the first thing about being a mother?"

"Yeah she does!" Rebecca said angrily, looking over her shoulder, "I'm her daughter and I'm goddamn proud of it!"

"Adoption?" Benezia said before chuckling slightly, "why would you ever adopt a Human? It is like getting a pet instead of an actual child."

"You self righteous little-" Neriena began nut was quickly cut off.

"Unless..." Benezia continued. "Ah yes that would make sense. I must admit I didn't know they let your kind into the military." Neriena stiffed as her blood went cold. "You didn't tell your daughter did you?"

"Shut your mouth!" Neriena shouted.

"So it is true," Benezia said smugly. "I thought so."

"You say another word and-" Neriena was cut off as Jacob fired his rifle at Benezia, the bullets impacting on her barriers. Diving to the side, Jacob burst through a door into a wide open eating area, the others right behind him.

"Look Neriena I don't know what she was talking about but you can sort things out with Rebecca after we get off of this moon," Jacob said as Rebecca fired her shotgun out of the door twice before leaning back to avoid three of Rason's grenades. "Liara, help me overturn some of these tables, we need cover!"

XXXXX

Viluse let out a roar as he fired his needle rifle again, the shot piercing the head of a Jiralhanae Major. Ejecting the rifle's used casing, Viluse inserted a fresh one as he looked around. They had encountered a security team outside of engineering that had been guarding the entrance, but they clearly had not been prepared for the size of the RSN forces, either that or they had not had enough time to properly fortify, it was difficult to say.

"They did not pose much of a challenge," Viluse remarked looking at the shimmers in the air that were Iasa and her lance, "we did not even require your assistance."

"Keep your guard up," she warned as Viluse's lance advanced, Iasa not far behind them, "the interior is likely to be even more heavily guarded." Viluse said nothing as they stopped in front of the entrance to engineering, the door locked just as the door to the cargo bay had been.

Viluse nodded at two Minors to his left, prompting both of them to walk forward, drawing their energy swords as they did so. Both of them drove their swords into the entrance and began to slowly but surly cut their way through. "What is your strategy once we are inside?" Iasa asked.

"It is rather difficult to make a plan of action going into a scenario with have little knowledge about," Viluse remarked, "but simply put, we will identify the strength of the enemy force and eliminate them. Afterwards we will need to set the slipspace engines to overload and preferable block the entrance after we are done to make sure the process is not reversed. Unless you have a problem with that," he added scornfully.

"No," she hissed, "your plan is sound…for once." Viluse growled silently but turned away, facing the entrance as the Minors continued to cut through the door. They were almost done. "Be ready," he whispered as the Minor's finished cutting through and caused the door to fall back, landing on the ground with a loud clang.

No sooner had it hit the ground than a hailstorm of spike flew out of engineering killing both of the Minors. Viluse swore under his breath as he raised his needle rifle and returned fire, killing a Major. The rest of his lance slid into cover by the door and began trading fire with the warriors inside engineering.

"Move in," Viluse hissed. Iasa silently slipped into engineering the other Spec Ops operatives behind her. Splitting off into two separate groups and staying well out of the line of fire, the operatives flanked the makeshift barricade of crates that the Jiralhanae were using as cover.

"Now," Iasa whispered as she and the others approached the backs of the Jiralhanae, who were focused on firing at those holding the entrance. At the same time, Iasa's men activated their energy swords, thrusting them into the backs of Jiralhanae before drawing them out and swinging them at a new target. The surprise of the Jiralhanae and the lethalness of the energy swords caused the resulting battle to be completely one sided, with all Jiralhanae dead within twenty seconds.

"Well, handled," Viluse said grudgingly as he and the others moved into the room, "Where are the engineers?"

"Here," Iasa said, kicking one of the corpses, "Jiralhanae don't allow anyone without combat training to serve on their ships."

"An interesting concept," Viluse muttered, "but never mind that, we must overload the engines."

Iasa nodded as she holstered both of her energy swords and crossed the room towards the consoles that surrounded the slipspace drive. Stopping in front it she discovered that there weren't any security codes locking the console, but that didn't surprise her, after all how often did a small team like theirs make it into the depths of an assault carrier. Her four fingered hands danced across the screen as she punched in the commands to increase the energy output in the drive beyond the safety levels.

"Just a moment," she whispered, "very well, the drive is set to overload."

"How long do we have?" Viluse asked, looking at her.

"The longest that I could buy us was around ten minutes, maybe less," Iasa replied.

"Very well," Viluse said, "we need to return to the pods, this battle is far from over."

Iasa nodded as the infiltration team left engineering, heading back to the cargo bay. As she did, she adjusted her COM unit, listing into the RSN Battle-Net. "We are taking heavy fire! Five Batarian ships are approaching form the east return fi-GAH."

"Our western flank is taking heavy damage, we need reinforcements if we don't want the Coalition breaking through!"

"This is Grand Fleetmaster Rtas' Vadum, the Arbiter and I have spotted a pack of Geth and Empire ships about to break through a crack in our defenses, all ships and firing platforms in the area assist."

"My vessel is on the way Fleetmaster."

"As is mine."

Iasa grimaced as she let her hand fall, things did not look good. While they had insured the death of this assault carrier there was still countless other ships out there, and only one of them had to get past orbital defenses to kill hundreds of millions if not billions of Sangheili.

Author's Note: Marton's past comes out, Benezia and Rason are ready for a fight and Iasa and Viluse took out a heavy Empire vessel. I'd say this story is hovering around the 50% complete area, maybe 60% if I'm generous. I don't want to spoil much but let's just say that after this ark things are going to start rolling towards the end and while it might take awhile it'll be very straightforward.

Also has anyone here bought 40k Space Marine? If so I could use a recommendation, thumbs up or thumbs down. Also new Arby n the Chief, it's awesome check it out...that's all I got.


	63. Awful Truth

Chapter 63

Awful Truth

Author's Note: Someone pointed out in a review that we hadn't seen a lot of the Reapers or the Flood. Two words, be patient. I have a plan for everything, trust me. In other news, HOLY SHIT! This story pops up in google suggestions now, Jesus people, tell me what I'm doing to make you so happy. Yes a googled my own story, yes I can have a little bit of an ego from time to time.

Elizabeth leaned out from behind the crates that she was taking cover behind and fired a shot from her sniper rifle, piercing the skull of a Krogan before ducking behind the crate again. Fifteen minutes ago the Eternal Salvation and around forty Marauder ships had entered the system where an asteroid housing a Blood Pack refueling station was located. They had easily dispatched the dozen and a half ships that were guarding it before deploying Phantoms and OIPs at the various buildings that dotted the asteroid.

Currently she was helping Marton, Rutherforae, Tesueg, Jack, Wrex and Legion storm the main command station for the entire outpost. They had managed to make their way through the majority of the facility and were nearing the command room. That had not had much difficulty due to the lack of organization within the Blood Back and the measly squad outside of the control room was in the middle of being torn to shreds by them.

She watched as Rutherforae raised her railgun and fired it at one of the two remaining Krogan. Despite being fully shielded, the slug caused the Krogan's head to explode, along with half of his torso. Losing his nerve upon seeing his comrade killed, the remaining Krogan turned and ran towards the control room.

"Oh no you don't!" Jack screeched as she sent a Pull at the retreating Krogan, hitting him dead on and causing him to helplessly float in the air. Putting both of her hands together, the biotic then sent a heavy Warp at the helpless mercenary, causing his chest to cave in. Jack smirked in satisfaction as the effects of the Pull wore off and the Krogan crumbled into a heap on the ground.

"Move forward!" Marton shouted as he made to move forward. Before he could even take a step forward though, a milky white beam flew from the doorway that led to the control room and hid Marton head on. In under a second it had torn through Marton's shields, forcing the Jiralhanae back into cover. Five Krogan exited the control room, all of them wearing thick red armor while the one in the middle clutched a strange looking rifle that seemed to have white flesh clinging to it.

"Spread out!" the Krogan in the middle called to the other Krogan. They quickly obeyed, crouching behind crates in pillars while their leader fired his weapon again, forcing Tesueg to withdraw his head back into cover. "You've got a quad I'll give you that, striking against the Blood Pack on our own turf. You bit off more than you could chew though, you're not leaving this station alive. I'll let your allies now that Garm of the Krogan was the one that took your lives!" As he spoke he fired his weapon again, nearly taking Rutherforae's head off.

"The Hell is he using?" Elizabeth shouted over the Marauder Battle-Net.

"I do not know," Marton whispered. "But whatever it is it poses a major threat. Everyone, listen to me closely." Elizabeth ducked her head as the beam of light flew overhead, only missing her narrowly as she listened to Marton's instructions. "Understand?" Marton asked. "You have your orders."

Elizabeth gave a word of reply before leaning out of cover and firing a shot at one of the Krogan in cover, taking out his shields. Firing another shot, Elizabeth pierced the skull of the Krogan, causing him to slump over the create he had been taking cover behind. Spotting her out of the corner of his eye, Garm brought his weapon to bear and fired it at Elizabeth as she ducked down into cover, shredding her shields.

While the Krogan's attention was drawn, Marton unholstered his plasma cannon and fired it at Garm. The Krogan spotted the bolt of green energy and threw himself to the side in an attempt to avoid it. He was partially successful, and while he avoided being hit head on, the blast hit where he was standing seconds earlier, causing him to slam into a wall with his shields severely weakened. Undaunted and in no pain thanks to his Krogan biology, Garm merely let out a roar as he fired his weapon at Marton, who had already ducked into cover.

Tesueg heaved his machine onto the table that he was standing behind and jammed down on the trigger. A hailstorm of .60 caliber bullets flew from the nozzle and tore apart the shields and bodies of two of the Krogan on the other side of the room. Garm let out a roar and turned to fire at Tesueg, but before he could even line up a shot the Jiralhanae had already retreated into the safety of cover.

At the same time, both Jack and Wrex creeped around the edges of the boxes that they were standing behind and sent a pair of Warps at Garm. Both attacks hit the Battlemaster head on, causing his shields to fully drop. Now absolutely furious, Garm fired his weapon at Wrex, who was not fast enough as he whipped back into cover. The beam make quick work of Wrex's shields and ate through his armor and blowing off a chunk of his shoulder.

While Garm was preoccupied, Legion aimed it's anti-material rifle as the last remaining Krogan besides Garm and fired, blowing his chest open. As Garm turned to fire his weapon again, Elizabeth raised her sniper rifle again and fired three shots into Garm's chest. Krogan were built to withstand punishment, but even they could only take so much, and even they couldn't take three sniper rounds to the gut. Garm dropped his weapon as he staggered backwards before falling to the ground, blood poring from the holes in his chest.

"Well done," Marton said as he and the others exited cover, heading towards the control room again. "Adolas take Legion and check the control room for any useful data, we shall remain in case any more mercenaries attempt to retake this position." Rutherforae nodded as she and Legion entered the control room.

Walking forward, Elizabeth holstered her rifle and picked up the weapon that Garm has dropped, examining it. It looking nothing like any weapon that she had ever seen before, whatever it was made out of felt wet and squishy, yet oddly strong. "That is Collector technology," Marton remarked, approaching Elizabeth. "That would explain why it made such quick works of our shields, the Collectors have incredibly advanced technology. I would assume that it is some sort of particle accelerator."

Pointing the accelerator at the wall, Elizabeth pulled the trigger and braced herself. Nothing happened. The blonde blinked in confusion and was about to ask Marton why it wasn't working when a small circular power cell fell from the top of the accelerator. "Apparently the cell was drained," Marton remarked, picking up the object and examining it. "Hold on to that Elizabeth, we may be able to reconfigure some of our own cells to power it." The sniper nodded as she slid the accelerator over her back, crossing it with her rifle.

Wrex walked towards where Garm lay on the ground, shotgun in hand. "You thought that allying yourself with the Empire would get you revenge," he remarked as he pointed his shotgun at Garm's head, "look where that got you."

As Wrex spoke, Garm let out a hacking laugh. "You think we joined up with the monkeys because it would be fun?" he asked, looking at Wrex with disbelief, "don't you know?"

"Know what?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Garm growled in disgust, "and you have the quad to call yourself a Krogan." Snarling he continued, "We're scratching the Empire's back because they scratched out back. They cured Genophage you fucking idiot, it's gone, the Krogan are once again one of the mightiest species in the galaxy. Except for you of course, if you didn't know than the disease probably still flows in your blood. Sad really, you think yourself wise, when in reality you are part of a dying breed. Within a generation the Genophage will be completely gone, and-" Garm was cut off as there was a loud bang as his head exploded, blood, gray matter and skull fragments sent flying in multiple directions.

Wrex turned to look at Marton, his eyes shaking and his eyes steady with fury. "I have a couple of questions," he hissed, venom thick in his voice.

XXXXX

"How much longer?" Ashley hissed as she looked at Tali and Sarah were both still typing furiously at their omni-tools.

"Just a minute," Tali muttered, "and...done," she said, deactivating her omni-tool, Sarah doing the same.

"Took you long enough," Taylor said in a slightly playful voice as both he and Ashley peeked out of the door, DMR and SMG at the ready.

"Shut it," Sarah replied as she drew her assault rifle and Tali her shotgun.

"Keep your voices down!" Ashley scornfully whispered. "The Brutes might know that there are intruders but they don't know that we're in this specific base. I don't see any reason why we need to clue them in." They stared for the door but Ashley held her hand up and the four of them slid against the wall. There was a massive trampling of feet and a dozen Jiralhanae in bright blue armor ran by, each of them carrying what looked like a needle rifle in their hands, but with solid metal spikes sticking out of the holes instead of needles.

"I've heard about these guys," Ashley whispered, "Jiralhanae shock troops, they're basically Jiralhanae ODSTs. I doubt just four of us will last long against them. Whatever you three do, keep it quiet."

As the shock troops tramped by, the three of them crept out of the lab and slowly began to creep towards the exit. "Take it slow," Ashley whispered, "don't rush it." One of the rather odd things about life is that the second you try and be quiet everything seems ten times louder, as the four of them realized as they took cautionary step after step. Even their own breath seemed thunderous.

Slowly they rounded a corner and began to creep towards the exit, their hearts beating furiously. It was then that the reached the end of the hallway, some of them actually letting out sighs of relief as Tali activated her omni-tool to open the door. However, she had only pressed the third key when five spikes buried themselves into the back of their shields. All of them dove for cover as several more spikes hit the door, nearly completely burying themselves.

Glancing around the corner that she was taking cover behind with Taylor while Tali and Sarah crouched behind the one on the other side of the door and saw three Jiralhanae shock troops slowly advancing down the hallway, their rifles raised. 'More will be on the way,' Ashley thought, 'we'll be overwhelmed if we don't get out of here damned quick.

"Listen closely," she whispered into the COM lines, "I'm going to throw a sticky at them, you three open fire when they try to jump out of the way." Tali, Sarah and Taylor nodded as Ashley pulled a plasma grenade from her belt. Pressing the button on the side, Ashley threw the glowing blue sphere down the hallway.

As the grenade landed in the middle of the shock troops, all three of them dove out of the way of the grenade as it detonated, two of them heading back down the hallway, while the other flew the towards the UNSC personal. As the forward most Jiralhanae landed on the ground, Taylor, Sarah and Tali all opened fire on him. Before the Jiralhanae could recover his balance his shields had dropped and several shots had pierced his gut. As the other shock troops recovered and returned fire, forcing the UNSC personal back into cover, the wounded Jiralhanae bled on the floor, death no more than thirty seconds away.

Taylor took one hand off of his DMR and sent a Warp down the hallway, impacting on on the chest of one of the shock troops, severely weakening his shields. Before he could dive for cover, three shots from Taylor's DMR had finished off his shields and a burst of bullets from Ashley's SMG had finished him off. Grimacing, the last shock troop grabbed a small canister from his thigh and threw it down the hallway.

As it clanged across the floor, thick white smoke began to leak out of the canister, hissing silently as it did. Within seconds it had filled the hallway. completely blocking the shock troop from sight. The infiltration team raised their weapons and pointed them at the smoke, half expecting the shock troop to emerge from it, firing his rifle. For thirty seconds they held that position until the smoke began to thin and then completely dissipate. To the great surprise of all four of them, the shock troop was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd he go?" Taylor asked.

"He legged it," Ashley replied, "can't say I blame him, he was outnumbered four to one. He probably went to get help though and I don't want to be around when he gets back here." She turned to face Sarah and Tali, "I need you two to get that door open as fast as possible, this position is going to get pretty damn hot in a minute or two and we had best get out of here before that happens."

XXXXX

Thel 'Vadam felt a bead of sweat trickle down his brow as he sat on the bridge of his new super-carrier, the _Might of Sanghelios_. The ship had been partially named after the CCS-battlecruiser the _Pride of Sanghelios_ that had been shot down during the battle of Crassus, one of the last battles of the Human-Covenant War, and debatably the most legendary one. "Fire!" Thel roared as the _Might of Sanghelios_ fired a barrage of plasma torpedos at a closing Empire super-carrier.

They impacted on the carrier's shields, weakening them as the Empire ship returned fire with it's own barrage of torpedos. Thel gripped the armrests of his gravity chair as the ship shook violently. "Shields holding at 62%" A Sangheili Helmsmen reported, "The Empire ship is holding at 21%" The vessel that they were currently squaring off against had had it's shields weakened when it had broken through a line of RSN warships, destroying over a dozen of them. Fortunately the _Might of Sanghelios_ was able to intercept the Jiralhanae ship before it was able to enter Sanghelios' atmosphere and it shields had been weakened when it had engaged the other RSN ships, giving the _Might of Sanghelios_ a massive advantage.

"Recharge weapons and fire again, I want that vessel destroyed!" Thel roared.

"Understood," one of the Helmsmen said. "Wait a moment," he continued as his COM unit began to beep. Putting his hand to it his ears perked as he heard the voice on the other end.

"This Spec Ops officer Iasa 'Cirate, my team and I have successfully destroyed an Empire assault carrier, but our boarding pods are low on power, we must land!"

"Arbiter," the Helmsman said, "A group of RSN boarding pods are approaching us, they are requesting permission to dock."

"Tell them to head for the rear cargo bay," Thel said, "I don't want to drop our forward shields."

"Roger," the Helmsman said as he relayed the orders through the Battle-Net.

"Sir, weapons are fully charged!" another technician shouted. Before Thel could give the order to fire, the Might of Sanghelios shook again as another barrage of plasma torpedos and pulse lasers hit it. "Shields at 34%, in some sections they have dropped completely!"

"FIRE!" Thel roared. The RSN super carrier unleashed it's entire arsenal of weapons, a storm of plasma torpedos and pulse lasers bore down on the Empire ship, crashing viciously against it's shields. Not even half of the projectiles had it before the shields had collapsed, leaving the rest of the ship defenseless. Thel watched with a faint sense of satisfaction as the remaining torpedos and lasers hit the Empire ship, melting it's armor away until the ship was engulfed in purple fire.

"Good," Thel, "scan the surrounding area, search for any Empire ships or faults in our lines then respond to those-"

"Arbiter!" the Helmsman cried, "I am reading dozens of Empire boarding pods heading in our direction! The super carrier must have launched them before it was destroyed.

"Target them! Don't let them board us!"

"I cannot! Our pulse lasers have yet to recharge!" The Helmsmen watched helplessly as the boarding pods closed on the _Might of Sanghelios_ before impacting on one of the non-shielded areas.

"How many hostiles are there and where have they boarded?" Thel demanded.

"I estimate hundreds of Jiralhanae warriors, perhaps a thousand. They...oh Staliu, they have not landed far away from us, I estimate that they are no more than minutes away from the bridge."

Thel was silent for a moment as he stared at the viewscreen. Then he stood up. "Seal off the section that the Jiralhanae are in," he said as he reached underneath his gravity chair and grabbed an oxygen mask, sliding it over his face as he spoke. "Decompress those areas as well. Order all available warriors to move to the bridge, it must be secured." As Thel spoke, he drew a plasma rifle with one hand and activated his energy sword with the other and began to head for the door.

"Arbiter, what are you doing?" the Helmsman asked.

"You said yourself that the Jiralhanae are mere minutes away, reinforcements will take some time to arrive." He glanced over his head as he stood at the exit to the bridge. "Seal the door behind me," he said as he walked through. As he stepped onto the other side, the door slid shut behind him and clicked shut, followed by a hissing noise as the room was decompressed. Tightening his grip on his weapons Thel stood firmly in front of the door as he heard footsteps in the distance.

Five Jiralhanae emerged from the dark hallway whose end he stood at, four of them shock troops while the fifth carried a rifle with two prongs at the end. The Jiralhanae came to a halt, staring at Thel, who stared back. Then the one with the pronged rifle spoke. "Your fleet is doing an admirable job of holding us off," said Ultimas, holding his lighting rifle sternly, "but it is crumbling under our sheer numbers. You cannot hope to hold out forever. This ship is also doomed, hundreds of my warriors will soon reinforce us and this vessel will be turned against you. Surrender to the Empire and your homeworld and your species will be spared.

Thel said nothing as he stared at Ultimas. Then, without warning he let out a roar as he charged forward, his fingers jamming down on the plasma rifle's trigger as he swung his sword.

Author's Note: Yes I read the Enemy of my Enemy, yes it kicks major ass, the heros hijack a freaking Scarab, one with THREE HEADS! My little way of saying thank you to that author, if you haven't read Enemy of my Enemy, it's a Halo fic that involves Sangheili forces crash landing on a remote UNSC dessert planet and being forced to work with the USNC to fight off Jiralhanae forces that vastly outnumber them. It's an ingenious work with a cast as large as mine and with even more awesome moments and spectacular battles, check it out.

I hope you don't mind if I don't get around to writing for another couple of days, Gears of War 3 comes out on Tuesday and I have a lot of Locust to slaughter. BTW I forget what do you get for pre-ordering that game?


	64. Through the Wall of Decption

Chapter 64

Through the Wall of Deception

Author's Note: A couple of people said that the last chapter wasn't that great, well to put it bluntly it WAS just bridging, the chapter that connects one important event to another, I can't put you on the edge of your seat every chapter you know. Well let's get cracking.

"Did you know?" Marton blinked as Wrex glared at him, his hands curling into fists. "Did you know?" he repeated, "did you know that the Empire cured my people?"

"No," Marton replied honestly.

"Well, that's one good thing you've got going for you, too bad I'm not seeing much else," Wrex growled. Elizabeth bit her lip in worry as she looked at the two of them, worried that Wrex's anger would get the better of him. Tesueg seemed to be thinking something similar, and while everyone else watched silently, he raised his machine gun slightly, his finger tensing on the trigger.

"I think the next question is rather obvious," Wrex continued, "why should I keep fighting for you?"

"What?" Marton said rather flatly.

"You struck me as intelligent Marton," Wrex scorned, "Why should I keep fighting for you and the rest of the Marauders? Why shouldn't I fight for the Empire and your brother."

"You cannot be serious, you are honestly considering joining Tritus? I thought that the very reason that you followed me all this time is because you thought that the rest of the Krogan were suicidal for waging war against the Alliance."

"That was when I thought that the Genophage still plagued them, that we would be depopulated within months. But if the Genophage is gone, if the Krogan birth rate is at the height that it was once at, then things are different. We have a chance do become great once again?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"The Coalition's position looks much stronger from this angle, with the might of

the Empire and the sheer numbers that the Krogan will now produce they stand a good chance of defeating the Alliance."

"So is that it?" Marton asked angrily, "You want to drop everything and join my brother?"

"What would you expect me to do? My species has been given a chance to thrive again and fighting for the Alliance will destroy that chance, no doubt they will utilize another form of the Genophage to reduce us to second class citizens again."

"And you really think that you will be any better under Tritus' hand?"

"We would be better off than if you overthrow him," Wrex growled, "Tell me something Marton, what were you planning for the fate of the Krogan people once who had taken control of the Empire, were you planning on handing us over to the Alliance, content for us to slowly die out?"

"If you believe that your race will thrive under Empire rule than you are deluding yourself."

"I don't think that I am," Wrex retorted, grabbing his shot from his back and pointing it at Marton. Marton in turn drew both of his pistols and pointed them at Wrex, Elizabeth, Legion, Tesueg and Jack all pointing their weapons at the Krogan.

"You do not know my brother the way I do," Marton growled. "He does not long for a galaxy where all races are equal, he longs for a galaxy under Jiralhanae rule and solely Jiralhane rule. The Kig-Yar and Yamne'e are little more than imperial colonies, they are not allowed to expand without permission or form their own militaries at all. Tritus needs the help of the Krogan now, but the second that you have fulfilled the purpose that he needs them for, he will turn on you, just as he will turn on the rest of the Coalition."

"A life under martial law is preferable if it means that my species will survive another generation, the Genophage was killing us Marton, even if there were no major wars for an eon, the Krogan would still die out. We may lose some freedoms, but then again we never had that many to begin with."

"You think that it that simple?" Marton snarled, "Your people have a breeding rate that puts the Unggoy to shame. You will reproduce at such an overwhelming rate that there is little doubt that the handful of planets that Tritus that will give you will fail to support all of you within a decade. After that one of two things will happen, either you will go down the same route as the Drell, warring among yourselves for the most basic of resources, or you will expand outward for more space. Tritus knows that if you expand at the rate you normally do, you will threaten to overrun Jiralhanae planets. Your people have not changed, you will fight for more territory and it will be the Krogan Rebellions all over again, with one key difference. Tritus will not release the Genophage on you, he will glass planet after planet until not a single Krogan is left. He will wipe all of you out."

Wrex blinked as he looked at Marton, but held his ground. "You may have a point, but that doesn't change that if the Alliance defeats the Coalition they'll infect us with a new version of the Genophage. Either we side with the Coalition and live to be wiped out by Jiralhanae we get to drag the Turains down with us."

"Wrex," Marton said, trying toe reason with the Krogan, "If we succeed in overthrowing the Empire, I will do everything in my power to ensure the future of the Krogan. I may have to pass breeding laws and draw boundaries for where they can settle, but I will give you more than enough territory to prosper. But I cannot do this by myself, if I am to do this I will need someone to act as a leader for the Krogan, someone to keep them in order and stop them from expanding without limit. If you stand by me and prove yourself as a worth leader, I will make sure that it is you who received that position, for if I am to do this I need someone that I can rely upon."

Wrex was silent as he looked at Marton, "Very well," he said, holstering his shotgun. "But Marton, don't keep your word and I will make you regret it." Marton nodded as he holstered his pistols and everyone else lowered their weapons. "If you need me I'll be on the Salvation," Wrex said as he turned and left the room.

Marton let out a sigh as soon as he was out of earshot. "I am too old for this," he muttered.

"Marton," Rutherforae's voice crackled over the Battle-Net, "I heard shouting from in here, is everything alright?"

"Yes Adolas, tempers briefly flared but nothing more happened. Have you found anything?"

"Yes, it appears that this base also saw much trade with the Batarians and the Empire, but what is more it also saw trade with the Collectors."

"The Collectors?"

"Yes, apparently they gave the Blood Pack several crates of weaponry, ranging from light pistols to anti-tank weapons. Odd, I do not see any indication that they were compensated in any way."

"A donation?"

"Possible, but why would the Collectors do that?"

"To support the Coalition?"

"What might work, but if that was their intention why have our spies in the Empire not reported any incidents of Collector weapons there?"

"Which means that the Collectors intentionally supplied the Blood Pack, but not the Empire, a faction that would not only put them to better use, but would be better able to compensate them. I do not like this Adolas, there is more going on here that we know about. The Collectors have taken no part in this war, why would they chose now of all times to sell to one of the factions, and debatably the weakest one in both the Alliance and the Coalition?"

"I am sure there is a reason, though I have no idea what it is," Rutherforae remarked. "Legion and I are downloading the rest of the data, we should be done shortly. There appear to be starcharts marking the location of other Blood Pack positions there."

"Do that, I want to get off of this station in ten minutes before we torch and burn."

"Understood," Rutherforae said as Marton lowered his hand.

Elizabeth sighed as she leaned against a wall, holstering her sniper rifle. "Are you well?" Tesueg asked, removing his helmet and smiling warmly at her.

"I'm fine," Elizabeth replied, "just a little tired." Marton let out a tired sigh as he looked up at the ceiling. A tankard of ale sounded good right about now.

XXXXX

Iasa felt the pod jolt as it landed in the hanger of the Might of Sangheilios. She and the other Sangheili gripped the safety bars as the pod skidded across the floor of the ship before coming to a halt. "Is everyone alright?" she asked, staring around the pod. The Spec Ops warriors nodded as the door slid open and they exited the pod.

"All available warriors!" a vice thundered over the super carrier's intercom, "Coalition forces have boarded the ship, assist the Arbiter in holding in the bridge. I repeat, the ship had been boarded and Coalition forces are attempting to take the bridge, all available warriors-"

Iasa felt her stomach dropped as these words reverted inside her mind. "You heard! Get moving!" she shouted as the other Sangheili climbed out of the boarding pods that had landed behind them. Iasa and the rest of the Sangheili that had boarded the Empire ship dashed towards the exit of the hanger. For three minutes they ran through the corridors of the ship until they came to a blast door with a combat engineer standing in front of it.

"Are you one of the security teams?" he asked as they approached.

"What do you think?" Viluse hissed cruelly, "We are not taking a tour of the ship."

"Yes, yes," the engineer said dismissively, "Beyond door is the section that the Coalition have boarded, you will have to fight your way through a few decks to get to the bridge. I would come with you but I have orders to remain here to ensure the Jiralhanae do not get past this door. Hold on."

The Engineer approached a console attached to the wall and put on an oxygen mask before beginning to type into the console. The blast door behind Iasa and the others slammed shut and there was a hissing noise as the air was sucked out of the pocket between the two doors.

"Protocol you see," the engineer said as the decompression process continued. "I can't afford to decompress part of the ship. I am sorry but it will take a little."

"That doesn't matter," Iasa said, "Do you know the status of the rest of the battle?"

"At the moment the defensive fleet has been successful in keeping the Coalition from entered Sangheilios' atmosphere. With a combination of firepower from our heavy warships and defensive gun platforms, we've been able to inflict heavy damage onto the heavy fleet, I had heard that 400 of their ships had been destroyed. But that was because we had the defensive advantage, and advantage that will not have for much longer if the battle does not take a sudden turn for the better."

"We have lost 200 of our own ships and many of the gun platforms and holes are starting to appear in our lines. The ships that was still have are jumping back and forth from one end of the battle to the other, doing everything that they can they can to stop the Coalition slipping through."

"Do…do you think that Sangheilios can be saved?" Iasa asked uncertainly. All of the Sangheili in the room looked at the engineer with looks of concern and worry hidden by their helmets. Even Viluse's face softened as he looked at the engineer.

"I…I do not know," he said honestly. "The odds look bad, but 40% of the Coalition fleet has been destroyed, also the super carriers of Rtas 'Vadum and Isonia 'Cirate are still holding and unleashing their wraith on the Coalition. They have not gotten through our lines yet, and until they have done so they have not won. You must make sure that this ship stays under RSN control, if they take the bridge we will be dead in the water."

"We will handle it," Iasa said with determination, Viluse nodding as she did.

"I am glad to hear it," the engineer said as the decompression sequence finished and the far door opened. The Sangheili minus the engineer all walked through it. "I have to seal the door again, lest the Jiralhanae brake though," the engineer explained as he reached for the control panel again. "May Staliu guide you," he said as he pressed a button and the blast door slammed down again.

Iasa, Viluse and the others stared down the corridor that they were standing in, dust particles floating idly in front of them. "We will still have much ground to cover," Viluse remarked, "Our path will no doubt be infested with enemies."

"We must work with absolute unity if we every hope to reach the bridge," Iasa remarked, looking at him. "Can you put your hatred of me behind yourself for the sake of our homeworld? Just for this mission?"

Viluse paused before turning away from Iasa and saying, "For this mission and this mission only." Iasa gave a small smile and was about to speak when she heard heavy footfalls in the distance. "The time for battle is at hand," Viluse growled as they all readied their weapons.

XXXXX

Rebecca's hands tightened around the grenade launcher in her hands as she stuck it around the data stack that she was taking cover behind and pulled the trigger. The weapon sent a grenade flying through the stacks and hit Benezia from where she stood in the door frame, impacting on her biotic barriers. Stumbling back the Matriarch sent a heavy Warp at the Russian who barely ducked back into cover as the Warp speed past her, destroying a chunk of the stack.

"Shit," Rebecca swore as she pumped her grenade launcher. She. Jacob, Neriena and Liara were all taking cover among the data stacks while Rason and Benezia remained at the front of the room, attempting to flush them out. "How the Hell are we supposed to get out of this mess?" she hissed into the COM lines.

"I'm thinking!" Jacob snapped as he blind fired three bursts from his battle rifle only to duck down as three of Rason's grenades detonated a little too close to his head for comfort.

"Think faster!" Neriena snapped as she sent her own Warp at Rason, who rolled to the side as it approached, easily avoiding.

"Alright!" Jacob retorted, "Liara and Neriena," he continued, now whispering into the COM lines. "Stay where you are and keep taking pot shots at the two of them. Rebecca, you've got the heaviest weapon out of all of us, sneak through the data stacks to the left and try and take them out with your grenade launcher while we keep them busy. Think you can do that?"

Rebecca nodded as she grabbed three grenades from her belt and loaded them into her weapon. "I'm on it," she whispered.

"Good," Jacob said as he fired three bursts at Benezia, the bullets impacting harmlessly on her barriers. "Neriena, Liara, I would appreciate a light show."

"You would wouldn't you," Neriena said, throwing a Singularity in Rason's direction, it landing several feet in front of him. He instinctively raised his arms as objects began to circle around it, a metal canister slamming into the back of his head as he did, a concussion only prevented by his shields. Liara in turn threw her own Singularity that landed not that far from Neriena's, doubling the force of the vortex.

Rason ducked his head as a chair flew overhead and smashed itself against the wall behind him. The vortex continued to pick up more objects lying around the storage room until a data stack was ripped up from the floor and pulled into the vortex. Rason let out a grunt as it hit him dead in the chest and sent him flying out of the room, where he hit and slid across the floor. He slowly got to his feet, loading grenades into his wrist mounted launcher and growling.

Rebecca dove from one data stack to one that was both to her left and closer to the front of the room. "Hit her with everything you've got," Jacob whispered into the COM lines, "Liara, Neriena, once Rebecca knocks her off her balance I want you to hit her with everything you've got." Neriena nodded as she sent a Warp at Benezia, who easily avoided it. Liara, on the other hand, didn't answer. "Dr. T'soni, you ok?"

"Yes...I'll be fine," Liara whispered weakly. Rebecca looked worryingly at Liara before raising her grenade launcher and aiming it at Benezia. Lining up the sights with the Matriarch, Rebecca grit her teeth and pulled the trigger. The grenade shot out of the end of the launcher and impacted directly on Benezia's barrier's forcing her back several steps. Before the Matriarch could react, Rebecca had pumped another grenade into the firing chamber and pulled the trigger again. As the second grenade impacted on Benezia, the Asari snarled in rage and extended both of her hands, sending a Warp at Rebecca. The ODST made to return to cover but before she could the attack hit her head on, draining her shields and blowing her into a wall, her shoulder burning in agony.

"YOU BITCH!" Neriena roared in fury as she sent her own Warp at the older alien, weakening her barriers even further. Turning on her heel with a grace that reflected hundreds of years of experience, Benezia sent a Warp at Neriena, who met a similar fate to her daughter and was slammed into the wall with her shields down. Jacob and Liara both raised their weapons and fired multiple shots, which proved to be fatal to Benezia's barriers.

Positively scathing, Benezia sent a Pull at Liara, hitting her dead on and causing her to float helplessly in the air. She pulled her hand back to send a Warp when a massive pain tore through her. Jacob had fired another burst from his rifle and had hit her directly in the stomach, but while the wound was painful, no major organs had been hit. Even as light blue blood trickled down the Matriarch's robes, she let out a grunt as she redirected her Warp at Jacob instead, causing him to suffer the same fate as Rebecca and Neriena.

Before Benezia could began another attack, she heard a pumping noise coming from her side. Turning to face the noise, she saw Rebecca raising her grenade launcher again. Desperately, the Asari went a Warp as Rebecca, blasting the weapon out of her hand. Not wanting to risk the slightly longer time it would take to draw her shotgun and take aim, Rebecca drew her knife as she charged at Benezia. Closing the distance in between them in a matter of seconds, Rebecca swung at her, cutting her upper chest deeply. Rebecca was about to swing again when the Matriarch's fist slammed into her stomach, charged with biotic energy.

The next thing Rebecca knew she was on her back again, her knife having flown out of her hands. Blinking stars out of her eyes, she saw Benezia bearing down on her, one of her hands clutching her bleeding stomach. "This has gone on long enough," she snarled, "Your efforts to stop Saren and the rest of the Coalition are pitiful, everything you do is…is…is…" Benzia came to an abrupt halt, staring off into space with a vacant expression.

Without warning she turned to look at Rebecca again, her cold expression replaced by one of panic and…fear? "You must listen to me, I don't have much time." Rebecca blinked as she slowly got to her feet. Benezia's words were jumbled and frightened, as if she was afraid that she didn't have much time to speak. "I was able to take control through the pain, but soon Sovereign's will seize power again."

"What?" Jacob said, looking confused as he, Liara and Neriena all regained their balance and looked at Benezia with caution. "The Hell are you talking about?"

"Sovereign is controlling you?" Neriena asked, looking confused.

"Yes, Sovereign is Saren's flagship, you may have seen it, it is a massive dreadnaught of unnatural power. Whatever it is, the Geth did not design it, Sovereign's technology is far beyond anything they are capable of. It's workings are subtle, you feel small urges at first but they are easy to deny, then you find yourself compromising with Saren, and not long after that you do whatever you say without question." Benezia clutched her head, "To watch your own hands commit horrible atrocities and to be powerless to stop, it is a fate I would wish on no one."

"But that isn't important," she said, turning to face Jacob, her words coming out even faster, to the point where they were barely comprehensible. "Saren had me search for very valuable information, the coordinates of the Mu relay." As she spoke, Benezia reached into her robes and drew out a data chip before throwing it at Jacob, who caught it."

"What are we supposed to do with this?" he asked, looking confused.

"I do not know what Saren wanted with the location of the relay, only that it has something to do with the vision he received from the Prothean beacon."

"The same one that Jane has?"

"Yes," Benezia said quickly, "Saren is obsessed with the vision, first he went to Eden Prime to obtain it, to Feros to obtain the Cipher and then he had me hunt down the coordinates of the Mu relay. But the vision is fractured, Saren needs it complete in order to obtain what he is hunting?"

"But what is he hunting?" Rebecca asked.

"I…I don't know," Benezia admitted, "That part of my mind is still controlled by Sovereign, but whatever Saren is trying to accomplish he views the Coalition as nothing more than tools, he plans to discard them once he has achieved his goals." Benezia clutched her head, her face contorting as if she was in pain. "I hear it's words screeching at my ears, please you must stop me."

"Mother, please!" Liara begged, "don't!"

"I am sorry Liara," Benezia said sadly, "you have always made me proud." She turned her head to look at Neriena, "please take care of my daughter, you are clearly a very capable mother," she said, glancing at Rebecca.

"Mother please don't do this!" Liara pleaded as she approached her mother. "I know you, you have a will that puts other Matriarchs to shame! Please don't leave me!"

"Liara get away!" Benezia shouted as she clutched her head again, "I can't hold off…DIE!" she shrieked, punching Liara squarely across the face. The Maiden was caught off guard and spun as she fell and landed face down on the ground. Something hard and wet pressed against her face, Rebecca's knife.

"Get up!" Rebecca shouted as she ran towards the Asari and grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to pull her to her feet. No sooner has she started than a Warp had hit her in the chest and blown her onto her back. She started to get back up

"Rebecca!" Neriena shouted as Benezia charged at the silver haired woman, with the intention to finish her off, a purple aura surrounding her as she did. Liara had just enough time to get to her knees to realize that she was exactly in between Rebecca and Benezia. Liara realized that that at the moment she was the only thing standing between Rebecca and death. A feeling that was the bastard child of fear and anger took hold of her as her mother closed the distance in between them at a freighting pace.

Before she could even register what she was doing, Liara had grabbed Rebecca's knife and held it in front of her as Benezia closed. Liara blinked as a Warp narrowly grazed her shoulder and stabbed forward clumsily. Liara felt a jolt as a the knife hit something. Liara blinked as she realized exactly what had happened. She was holding the knife in her hands which was buried in her mother's chest, right in her heard.

Benezia came to a complete halt as blood trickled down her chest. Slowly she lifted her hand and gently stroked Liara's cheek. "I'm sorry that it came to this Liara," she said gently, "please Little Wing, live your life to the fullest." Benezia gave a weak smile as she began to lean to the side. Gravity took it's hold on her and she fell to the ground, blood pouring from her wounds and pooling on the floor.

Liara sank to her knees, shaking violently as she dropped the knife. She looked at the palms of her hands, which were covered with trickles of her mother's blood. "Liara," Rebecca said putting her hands on the Asari's shoulder, "Liara…Liara! Liara we need to go!"

"She's right," Jacob said hastily as he and Neriena exited cover, "We still need to get to the LZ."

"Wait," Neriena said, looking around, "Where did Rason go?"

"Forget him," Jacob said, "Liara, can you stand?" Liara nodded numbly as she got to her feet, Rebecca grabbing her knife and grenade launcher as well. The four of them ran out of the room, heading for the exit again.

As they ran, Rason stepped out of a room on the other side of the hall, a look of shock and disgust on his face. "Benezia…controlled?" he muttered. Ever since Benezia had begun to talk to her daughter and the others, he had ducked into cover and listened quietly, his curiosity getting the better of him. Looking up her saw the UNSC personal retreating.

He slowly raised his spiker and lined up a shot with Liara's back. His teeth gritted and his finger tightened around the trigger. 'They invaded Jiralhanae territory, stole vital information and killed a major Coalition benefactor!' the logical part of his mind said 'Kill them!' Rason bit his lip as they neared the corner. 'I need to,' he thought 'I am a Supreme Commander of the Jiralhanae Empire it is my duty.'

These words sounded hollow though and as the infiltration team neared the corner, Rason realized something. He couldn't pull the trigger. He wasn't sure why, maybe it was the shock of Benezia's death, or maybe it was the stunning realization that the Matriarch had been forced to do things against her will, or maybe it was because the Asari's daughter was his target. Rason sighed as he lowered his spiker and the infiltration team rounded the corner.

'I can never take back what I did today,' Rason thought as he entered the data storage room, approaching Benezia's body. As he stared at her body, he felt anger bubble through his stomach. He recalled how desperate she had sounded while talking to her daughter, how she had begged Liara to stop her, how she had said that she was sorry for all of this.

The logical part of Rason's mind reminded him that as he was fighting for a faction that considered glassing planets a first option during battle he couldn't claim the moral high ground, but his rage at Benezia's injustice burned non the less. "Saren," he whispered, "How could that Fakon descend to such a low, forcing someone to fight against their will, to make them completely aware of their actions, how could Tritus ally with such a person?" Rason shook his head, he would have to talk to Tritus about this later, but he had things to attend to. Her remains deserved to be disposed of properly.

XXXXX

Author's Note: I think someone complained last chapter about it being a tad short. I do hope that this makes up for that. Marton's arc is pretty much over, the Galnu arc it reaching it's end and the battle of Sangheilios is heading towards it's climax, I hope that you enjoy it.

Also I finished Gears of War 3 in one sitting, went to bed at 1:30 in the morning on a school night, but JESUS it was worth it. In typical Gears fashion, I felt like a badass thought the whole game...except when the game punched me in the stomach that is. As someone who only played Gears 2 and not to give any spoilers away, the boss battle here felt much more like a boss than Skorge.

Well that's all I got, I hope that you enjoyed it and gears 3 ROCKS!


	65. Act of Power

Chapter 65

Act of Power

Author's Note: I really do think it's time to start tying things up, this arc will be over in a couple of chapters, time for things to come to a conclusion. Don't worry I won't torture you this chapter...as much.

Thel felt a spike narrowly miss his face as he thrust his energy sword forward, burying it in the gut of the shock troop in front of him. Not satisfied with a simple stab wound, Thel pressed his plasma rifle against the Jiralhanae at point blank range and fired, the plasma tear away at the Jiralhanae's flesh. Pulling his sword out with ease, Thel dove forward into a roll, landing neatly on his feet in front of another shock troop. As the Jiralhanae attempted to aim his rifle, Thel drove his sword into his opponent lifting his leg and kick him in the neck as he did. The wet snap of a neck breaking as the primate's head jerked back was unmistakable.

Thel spun on his feet to face his opponents again, and saw with a sinking feeling that another dozen shock troops were emerging from the corridor in front of him as Ultimas aiming his shocker. Thel dove and rolled to the side again as a bolt of electricity leapt from the prongs, narrowly avoiding it as it broke against the blast door behind him. Raising his plasma rifle Thel fired at Ultimas but just as the Supreme Commander's shields were starting to weaken he had fired his shocker again.

Thel dove to the side again, swinging his energy sword as he did and ripping open the side of a shock troop that he passed as he did. Landing, Thel fired his plasma rifle as another Jiralhanae, tearing through his shields and causing him to fall to the ground. Seeing a flash of lighting out of the corner of his eye, Thel rolled out of the way yet again, this time rounding a corner and pressing his back against the wall as his plasma rifle cooled.

"How much longer do you believe that you can hold out Arbiter?" Ultimas shouted, shooting a bolt of lightning around the corner, causing Thel to instinctively wince. "Even if you defeat us here it makes no difference. Your fleet is crumbling, holes are appearing in your lines, it is only a matter of time before we break through and reduce your homeworld to a barren rock covered with molten lava. You have the power to save it though," he continued, firing another bolt of lightning, "Give the order to your ships and your warriors to stand down and surrender the planet. You will not be harmed," nor will your people."

Before Thel could respond, a shower of purple spikes flew past him and buried themselves in one of Ultimas' men, killing him. Glancing at the origin of the shots, he saw a dozen Sangheili approaching him, weapons in hand, Iasa and Viluse at the front. "Your timing could not be better," he said as they stopped in front of him."

"Special Operations Officer Iasa 'Cirate. How can we be of assistance?" Iasa asked, looking at Thel, ready to take orders. Thel was about to respond when another bolt of lightning cracked across the corner, narrowly avoiding them again.

"The hallway is to narrow for long ranged weapons, and with no cover if they get stuck in a fight they'll have nowhere to go. I suggest a pincer attack, have your Spec Ops warriors hit him from behind while we concentrate on them from the front, that might be able to throw them into-"

"Incoming plasma torpedos!" a voice shouted over the Battle-Net, "They're targeting the unshielded areas!" Before Thel could speak any more, a massive heat wave rolled over them and a massive explosion rocked the ship. Without warning the hull that formed the ceiling above them tore away, decompressing the area inside.

Thel felt himself being sucked out by the vacuum of space as the Sangheili and Jiralhanae bellow desperately clinging to whatever was fixed down. "Activate your magnetic boots!" Thel shouted as he looked up to see the hole that had been torn in the Might of Sanghelios several decks above him and approaching at an uncomfortable rate. With reflexed honed by over a century of military experience, Thel dropped his plasma rifle, reached out and grabbed the side of the hole, the vacuum so violent he thought that his hand would be ripped off.

Wincing in pain, he extended the hand that still held his energy sword and pressed a button on his rest, adjusting his feet so that they hovered over the stable hull next to the breach as he did.

The feeling of his boots magnetically attaching themselves to the metal of the starship was the most comforting feeling that he had felt in a long time. Thel sighed in relief as he released his grip on the hull before raising his hand to his COM unit. " 'Cirate are you and your men well?" he asked as an emergency force field activated around the breach, compressing the ship.

"Two of them were spaced, the rest are fine," Iasa reported.

"We will send rescue Phantoms to look for them the very second we have a chance," Thel reassured her, "hold the bridge in my place, do not let these savages anywhere near it. Is it still stabilized?"

"Yes Arbiter," one of the technicians said as he joined the Battle-Net line. "By some miracle the bridge remained undamaged by the bombardment. We are now targeting the assault carrier that did so." There was a blinding flash of blue out of the corner of Thel's eye and he turned to see a swarm of plasma torpedos closing on an Empire assault carrier before impacting on it, producing a massive explosion, eerily silent in the emptiness of space, despite the massive shockwave it gave off.

"Good, keep scanning the area for any more Coalition ships. We have managed to hold out for this long, I will be damned if I let Sanghelios fall under my protection."

"Understood," the technician reported as he disconnected himself from the Battle-Net.

Thel began to walk towards the breach in the hull, planning to slip into the uppermost deck and work his way back down to the bridge when he saw movement not far away from it. Instinctively, Thel dove forward, sliding on the ground as a tongue of lighting flew over his head.

"I admire your determination," Ultimas said as he aimed his shocker again, Thel getting to his feet as he did, "but this ends now."

"Yes. It does," Thel said, holding his sword in front of him as he took a plasma grenade from his side. "One way or another."

XXXXX

"Well this could have gone a whole lot better," Garrus muttered as he aimed down the scope of his sniper rifle and pulled the trigger, taking the head off of a Jiralhanae Minor, "that's nine for me."

"That's ten for me," Jun said said as he fired his own rifle, hitting a Jiralhanae in the chest and taking his shields down before finishing him off with another. "I gotta say Vakarian, we're neck and neck here. It's not often I meet a sniper this good."

"You two can play your games later!" Jane shouted as they jumped through the doorway to the facility that they were in, the barren landscape of the moon stretching out in front of them. As they landed on the ground, Jane unholstered the Cain from her back as aimed it at the door as the charging process began. A lance of Jiralhanae rounded the corner just in time to see Jane fire the Cain before a slug impacted on the ground in between them at 5 kilometers per second. The explosion that resulted from it was so strong that all five of them were blown to pieces as a mushroom cloud sprouted from the point of impact. "By the way, that's twenty for me," she said, sounding slightly smug.

"Yeah well, Vakarian and I don't exactly have heavy weapons now do we?" Jun asked dryly as the three of the began to sprint across the moon, heading for the LZ.

"Cry all you want about it Jun," Jane said playfully as she reached for her COM unit. "Joker what's your status?"

"I left the monkeys their present where they're bound to find it," Joker replied, "don't worry, our escape will be covered."

"What's the ETA on the Normandy arriving at the landing zone?"

"I'd say about four minutes. You better make sure everyone's there Shepard, I won't be able to hold that position long before the Normandy starts getting the crap pounded out of her."

"Poetic," Jane replied, "Jacob, Ashley you hear that? Tell me that you're on your way."

"Jacob here, we ran into some heavy resistance along the way. We encountered Rason but he managed to get away alive. Dr. T'Soni's pretty badly shaken up after, well long story short we're going to have a lot to discuss when we get back on the ship. We didn't get that much info though."

"That doesn't matter," Jane said, just get everyone back here alive."

"Ashley here," the Major chimed over the COM lines, "everyone's unharmed and we've got a small treasure trove of medical notes here. We've got a shitload of shock troops on our tails, but we're not that far from the LZ."

"Just get here," Jane said as she ejected the used Cain power cell before loading a new one, "we'll take care of the shock troops."

"Copy that," Ashley said as she disconnected from the COM lines.

"We're coming up on the LZ," Jane muttered, "you two, keep a look out. Snipe anyone that comes too close to be friendly." They continued to run for another thirty seconds before Jane held her hand up and all three of them came to a sudden and abrupt halt, dropping to their knees as they did. "You see them?" she asked the two snipers as they raised their rifles and stared down the scopes.

"I got nothing on Jacob," Garrus said, staring at one of the two facilities in the distance. "Wait, cancel that, they're coming out the front now. I can't see any hostiles following them."

"The others aren't so lucky," Jun said as he scanned the other facility. "It looks like a dozen shock troops have got them pinned down behind some rocks." As he spoke, he lined up a shot and opened fire. The bullet pierced the skull of one of the shock troops, causing him to crumple into a heap on the ground. "Could use a little help here Vakarian," he said as he fired another shot, killing causing a shock troop to meet the same fate as his comrade.

"Try to keep up," Garrus said as he fired his own rifle and a third Jiralhanae fell to the ground.

"Two minutes Captain," Joker said into the COM lines.

"EVERYONE RUN!" Jane shrieked into her COM unit as she exchanged the Cain for her battle rifle. "We have two and a half minutes at the very most! Ashley, tell your men to ignore the Jiralhanae behind you, we'll make sure they'll keep their heads down." Jane raised her battle rifle to eye level and began to open fire, Garrus and Jun doing the same with their sniper rifles.

Ashley made a signal to her squad and they broke into a flat out run as two more of the Jiralhanae pinning them down were killed. Their feet thudded across the ground as they headed towards Jane's position, their speed enhanced by a combination of the moon's low gravity, the Victory class combat armor, and the adrenaline pumping through their systems. After whole minute of running with super heated spikes impacting on the back of their shields and actually wearing Sarah's down completely, they reached their position.

"Not my idea of a morning jog," Ashley muttered as she and Tali slipped into cover behind a pair of rocks.

"What were you expecting Major? A run around the corner and an iced coffee?" Taylor asked as he and his sister joined them behind cover.

"Oh, very funny Winters."

"That's my brother," Sarah said as the four of them raised their weapons over the rocks and began to return fire at the shock troops. "He always knows just how to be a pain in the a-" Sarah's sentence died abruptly in her as she let out a shallow gasp. Her assault rifle slowly fell from her hands and landed with a clatter as she looked down at her chest. A thick, glowing metal spike was sticking out of it, bright crimson blood leaking through the cracks in her armor. Before she could react, the shock troop that had shot her fired his spike rifle three more times, all of the spikes hitting Sarah in the chest, penetrating her armor and burying themselves in her flesh. As blood erupted from her wounds, she slowly sank to the ground, her breath coming in short strained gasps.

"Sarah!" Taylor shouted as he raised his rifle and put a bullet through the eyes of the shock troop that had just wounded his sister. After seeing the Jiralhanae fall to the ground, Taylor absent mindedly dropped his DMR and dove to where his sister lay bleeding on the ground.

"It's...it's not as bad as it looks," she whispered, clutching at one of the upper spikes, "it doesn't even hurt that much," she continued as gripped one of the spikes, intending to pull it out.

"Don't!" Taylor shouted as he grabbed Sarah's wrist and pulled the hand away, his voice slightly higher than usual. "You'll just make the bleeding worse." He craned his head to look at the others. "I need some biofoam!"

Even as he spoke, Ashley had produced a canister of the coagulant and had tossed it at Taylor shouting, "that's all we have!" as she did.

"It'll do!" Taylor said as he caught the canister. Holding the canister in one hand, Taylor yanked one of the spikes out of Sarah, causing her to screech in agony as Taylor inserted the nozzle of the canister into the wound and plugged it up with biofoam. "I'm sorry Sarah," Taylor whispered, feeling a pang of guilt as he pulled the second spike out, earning another roar of pain from Sarah, "I need to plug up these wounds." Taylor inserted the nozzle into the second wound and pulled the trigger again, pumping biofoam into the injury.

"You're doing great Sarah," he whispered, his voice still unnaturally high, "just two more and-" Taylor stopped speaking as he heard metal hitting metal and felt his arm jerk backwards. Taylor glanced at the canister and felt the bottom of his stomach disappear. A spike was sticking out of it, the last of the of biofoam leaking out of the cracks that now coated it. "No," Taylor whispered, inserting the nozzle into one of Sarah's still bleeding wounds and pulling the trigger, only to receive an empty click in response.

"No, no, no, no," Taylor whispered desperately, pulling the trigger multiple times, but failing to produce any biofoam each time.

"Oh god no, please god don't," Taylor whispered as he threw the canister to the side and began to press down on Sarah wounds in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. As he attempted to do so, it soon became obvious to Taylor that it was impossible for him to put pressure of Sarah's skin when she was wearing her thick Victory class armor, but he couldn't take it off in the oxygen free atmosphere of the moon.

Taylor looked at Sarah's visor, desperately looking for directions on how to help her. He caught a glimpse of her eyes which were sparkling brightly, whether this was because she was crying or not Taylor couldn't tell. "I'm going to be ok Taylor," she said in a shaky, uncertain voice, "I'm...I'm going to be...to be..." Sarah's voice trailed off as her head slumped to the side, her eyes closed.

Taylor felt a spike of fear in his stomach as he watched. The inner workings of his mind ground furiously and for a second he thought that she had died when a three fingered hand reached out in front of him and gently pressed down on Sarah's neck. Looking to the side, he saw Tali crouching beside him, her shotgun holstered and his DMR in her hands. "She's still alive," the Quarian said, looking at Taylor, "but she won't last much longer like this, we need to get her to Chakwas."

As she spoke, Jacob vaulted over a nearby rock edge, his squad right behind him. "Sorry for the delay, we got tied up with- what the Hell happened?" he asked looking at Sarah. Before anyone could answer, a massive heat wave swept over all of them. Glancing upward, they saw the _Normandy_ descending towards them, it's cargo bay sliding open.

"Everyone on NOW!" Jane shouted, firing her battle rifle at the handful of remaining shock troops. Everyone jumped upward, Sarah carried by both Taylor and Tali, and landed within the cargo bay as the doors began to slide shut. "Joker, get us the fuck out of here!" Jane shouted into her COM line. "Chakwas I need you to be ready for us, we've got wounded. As Jane spoke, Taylor and Tali made their way towards the exit, Sarah supported in between them. Taylor's face was ghostly white as the exited the cargo bay, heading as fast as they could to the infirmary.

XXXXX

Thel dashed forward, energy sword in hand and plasma grenade in the other. Ultimas brought his shocker to bear and opened fire. Thel ducked to the side again, but this time the bolt of lighting scrapping his shoulder, completely collapsing his shields and causing a pain to tear tough his left shoulder. As a smell uncomfortably close to that of burning flesh filling his oxygen mask, Thel pressed the button on the side of his grenade and threw it at the ground near the Jiralhanae's feet.

Seeing the glowing sphere, Ultimas jumped backwards, avoiding the majority of the blast and only suffering the damage of the edges, weakening his shields slightly. As he landed his raised his shocker, pointing it at where Thel had been when he had thrown the grenade. The Sangheili was nowhere to be seen. Ultimas' hands tensed on his weapon as he slowly turned, both of his hearts beating furiously as he looked for Thel. He had turned 90 degrees when he saw something uncomfortable close to him. A faint shimmer.

Realizing that he was too close to use his shocker without suffering from splash damage, Ultimas took one hand off of his shocker and drew a spiker with it, firing at the cloaked Sangheili. Thel ducked under the line of fire and continued the charge at the Jiralhanae, prompting him to swing his shocker like a club at the Arbiter. Side stepping the strike, Thel activated the thin energy blade on his left wrist and swung it at his opponent's hand, the one holding the shocker.

Had they been inside, Thel would have heard the blade slicing through two of the Jiralhanae's fingers, the primate roaring as the stubs floated away along with his shocker. Desperately, he aimed his spiker and fired another burst, missing Thel by a long shot. Seeing that his aiming skills were compromised, Ultimas stabbed forward, hoping to pierce Thel with the bayonet of his weapon.

In response, Thel's right arm hit the bottom of Ultimas' arm, causing his hand to jerk upward. His left hand then flew forward, the energy blade burying itself in the stomach of the Supreme Commander. Roaring in agony, the Jiralhanae swung his spiker wildly, striking Thel on the side of the head. A sharp pain filled the Sangheili as a loud cracking noise was swallowed up by the void of space.

Fighting through the pain, Thel saw the spiker being drawn back for another blown. As the weapon was swung, Thel dropped to all fours, the Jiralhanae's arm passing well over his head. As he lay on the hull of the ship, Thel let out a roar as he swung his energy sword at the Jiralhanae's thick muscular legs. He did not avoid it.

A ear splitting roar escaped Ultimas' mouth as his ankles were separated from his feet, blood spewing out of the stumps of his legs as he began to float away, his magnetic boots no longer holding him down in the zero gravity environment. He violently thrashed around, attempting to grab onto something solid or propel himself back towards the Might of Sanghelios, but all his efforts produced no results. Thel watched him silently, deactivating his energy sword and blade. It was then that Ultimas' shocker floated in front of Thel's face, causing him to look at it with interest.

"You think that you have won?" Ultimas hissed, his voice crackling over the Battle-Net as Thel gently grabbed the shocker. "You believe that your planet is safe? You had the chance to save billions of lives Arbiter and you threw it away. Centuries from now regardless of who wins this war, your kind will look back upon this day, and say that it was the incompetence of Thel 'Vadam, that doomed-" Thel silently aimed the shocker and Ultimas, pulling the trigger.

The Supreme Commander barely had time to scream as the bolt of lightning hit him. His mind had just enough time to resister the lighting tearing through his body, causing his blood vessels to pop and burst out of his body before it became too much for his body to handle. Thel lowered the shocker and stared at what was left of Ultimas. A massive charred hole had been torn in the center of his body and blood was still pouring out of his wounds as his lifeless body floating outwards. Most likely he would be caught in the gravitational pull of Sanghelios and would orbit the planet for countless years, his body preserved by the vacuum of space.

As Thel watched the body, he became very aware exactly how much both his shoulder and head hurt. "Arbiter! What is your status?" Iasa shouted over the Battle-Net. You have not been responding to hails."

"I am well, the Supreme Commander is dead, hopefully his lose will be a great blow to the morale of the Empire. What is your status?"

Back within the bowls of the _Might of Sanghelios_, Iasa aimed her plasma rifles and fired, killing a shock troop as she, Viluse and the others stood in front of the door to the bridge. "We are holding, the enemy forces and weakening and soon they will retreat."

"That is good to hear," Thel said, staggering towards the breach in the hull. "Continue to hold that position, I will return to the bridge."

Thel was about to jump through the hole when he heard a voice that he recognized as Rtas' roar over the Battle-Net. "They Coalition has broken through our left flank! Are there any ships within range to intercept? Answer at once, we don't have much time!"

Thel felt a horrible sense of dread creep up his spine as he came to an abrupt halt and looked behind him. A thin line of RSN ships lay wrecked in the distance, so far away that he could barely make them out. Coalition ships, around a hundred of them, were pushing through the RSN lines towards Sanghelios, and no ships were close enough to intercept. "Is there anyone within range?" Rtas repeated, sounding slightly desperate.

Thel felt dread overwhelm him as he slowly sat down on the hull. "Is this really the end of Sanghelios?" he wondered. Feeling numb, Thel watched as the ships moved forward, the flames that came with reentry starting to appear long their fronts. He estimated that it would take them around five mintutes to get into position, at which point they would begin to glass the surface, then move on to the next section. By then the RSN might be able to reach them and repel them before they devastated another part of the planet, but not without leaving another hole in their lines to allow easy access to the rest of the planet to the other Coalition ships.

Thel considered turning away, not wanting to see the destruction of the world that he called home, when a single ship appear above the Coalition splinter fleet. He raised an eyebrow. As the ship had simply appeared and not exited a slipspace rupture it had to be using Mass Effect technology, but why would the Batarians or the Geth send a single ship to a battle that was nearing it's end.

It was then that he, and everyone on every ship orbiting Sanghelios, heard a voice, not in his ear, but in his mind. "_People of the Sangheili race and of the Republic of Sovereign Nations_," a strange voice said, it's voice rather crystal like. "_The Rachni owe debt to you that we can never fully repay, but we made a promise to come to your aid in your darkest hour. We fulfill this promise today_," and with that, hundreds of ships similar to the one that had mysteriously appear entered the system.

Thel felt his jaw drop in surprise. The Rachni ships were divided into dozens of packs that completely surrounded the Coalition splinter fleet on every side, left, right, below, above, front, back, every angle was covered. Simultaneously, the Rachni ships opened fire, propelling hundreds of high velocity slugs at the Coalition fleet. While these slugs did not pack the same force as UNSC MAC rounds and where even slightly weaker than modern Council railguns, what they lacked in quality they made up for in sheer quantity. Shot after shot rained down onto individual Coalition ships until their shields could take the strain no more and their hull was torn to shreds.

When the volley ended, only half of the splinter fleet was still intact, and even then most of the ships had badly weakened shields. Desperately, they returned fire at two of the packs, their weapons downing dozens of Rachni ships before they could recharge their weapons. But casualties for the Rachni had never carried the same weight that they did for other races, and their ships maintained their positions as they fired their weapons again. This time, the splinter fleet was completely wiped out.

As the last ship exploded the Rachni ships scattered, heading in a seemingly random pattern towards the rest of the Coalition fleet, whose numbers had been reduces from a thousand to somewhere around 400, while the RSN still had 250 ships and many of it's defense platforms. Still reeling from the shock that the Rachni had arrived in the middle of the battle and that they were actually helping them, a single thought broke through the fog of confusion that clouded his mind. "WE CAN WIN THIS BATTLE!"

"All ships!" he cried into the Battle-Net, "the tide of the battle has turned! Staliu has smiled on us! Rally behind our allies and drive the Coalition out of our territory! MAKE THEM REGRET THE DAY THEY CHOSE TO THREATEN THE REPUBLIC OF SOVEREIGN NATIONS!" A massive roared of approval thundered across the Battle-Net as Thel jumped through the force field that compressed the ship.

Author's Note: I have had a couple of people complaining that the Coalition seemed to be dominating the war, well there you go, two major Coalition leaders dead, a huge store of Coalition data stolen and a massive Coalition fleet getting the crap pounded out of it after a major mission it was supposed to do was botched, are you happy now?

As I said before I wasn't going to torture you as much and I do believe that I kept that promise, I gave you some closure to the battle of Sanghelios, but this doesn't mean I've gone soft on you, I still had that seen with Sarah. Well that's all I really have for this chapter, please tell me what you think.


	66. Moment of Weakness

Chapter 66

Moment of Weakness

Author's Note: The last chapter was rather well received and I'm glad that it was, now I think that it's time for a sad chapter. A lot of people have been wounded by this chapter, time to see exactly who and how.

XXXXX

Joker felt his bones rattle as the Normandy shook violently. "Ah crap," he swore, glancing at the radar. Eleven Empire ships had spotted them and where in hot pursuit. His fingers were dancing across the controls as the Normandy rocketed away from Galnu.

"Joker!" the pilot turned around to see Jane climbing into the cockpit, still in full armor. "Give me a sit rep."

"We've got an Empire battle group on our ass!" Joker shouted as the Normandy rocked violently, plasma torpedos impacting on the rear shields. "Shields at 72%."

"What about the HORNETs?" Jane asked as Joker furiously typed in commands into the controls in front of them.

"I lay out a net of them just like you told me to," Joker replied, maneuvering the Normandy out of the way of another dozen plasma torpedos. "I just need to lure the apes into position," he continued, the ship rattling as a series of pulse lasers hit it. "Almost there...almost there...got it!" Joker let out a cry of triumph as he reached forward and pressed one of the many buttons that lay in front of him.

The Empire battle group was several dozen miles behind the Normandy, still perusing the frigate. What they did not know though is that they had entered the middle of a nuclear minefield that Joker had laid while the infiltration team was on the moon. The black spheres detonated all around the Empire ships, the explosions ripping through the shields and burning the hull like butter. The cores of several of the ships were overloaded by the nuclear explosions, causing them to go critical and take the rest of the ship with them.

"Oh Hell yeah!" Joker shouted, punching his fist in the air, "That's how you do it UNSC style!"

"What's the status of the enemy ships?" Jane asked.

Joker glanced at the radar. "Seven of them are completely toast, I'd say all hands lost. Two of them looks like they took too much damage to bother repairing, they'll probably tear them apart for scrap. The other two look like they'll be back in action after a couple of weeks in dry dock." He turned to look at Jane, "If you want to I could turn around and blow them-"

"No," Jane interjected, "get us the Hell out of here."

"If you say so." Joker's hands danced across the controls and a portal opened in front of the Normandy. The ship disappeared into the rift and it closed behind them, letting off a pulse as it did. "I'd get comfy if I were you Captain. We're really far behind enemy lines, it'll take us two days to get back to friendly territory."

"I know that," Jane said, "keep us on course," she said as she began to walk out of the cockpit. "Oh by the way Joker," Jane said causing the pilot to look over his chair, "nice job," she said, smiling grimly. Joker nodded as he turned back to the control panel.

As Jane walked, she saw Kelly standing not that far away her in crew uniform. "You wanted to see me Jane?" she asked, looking at the Captain and handing her one of the two cups of coffee that she was holding.

"Yes, I did," Jane remarked as she took the coffee and sipped it lightly. "Thank you, now I trust that you are still having sessions with Rebecca?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure if they will be necessary for much longer. Why?"

Jane gave a tired sigh, "Come up to my quarters," she said, heading towards the elevator. "There are a couple of things I want you to talk about, and they're rather private." Kelly gave a confused blink before following Jane.

XXXXX

Rebecca blinked as she watched Liara walk down the hallway, her face oddly blank. She had been quiet ever since they had arrived back on the Normandy and had been eerily distant. The Russian wasn't quite sure what to do, should she go after Liara and try and comfort her or give her some space to think things out.

"Rebecca?" The ODST turned to see Neriena standing behind her, looking worried and a little saddened. "Are you ok?"

"Me? Yeah I'm fine," Rebecca said. "Just...just a little worried about Liara."

"I can understand that," the Asari remarked, "We Asari believe that when someone dies they haven't truly left us and that we can live with their memories." She shook her head, "but sometimes those words can be so hollow and meaningless, especially when the blood is on your hands. I can only imagine what that poor girl is going through."

"I think I should go talk to her." Neriena smiled slightly at her adopted daughter's comment, watching as she turned and began to walk down the hallway. "Wait," she said, stopping at looking at her mother. "Back on the moon, Benezia was talking to you about something...what was it?"

Neriena felt her blood go cold and for a few seconds she didn't say anything. After a moment, she found her tongue again. "I guess it's true what they say, Matriarchs can see right through you," she muttered. "It's a very personal secret, and I always asked myself when I was going to tell you it. I'll make you a deal, after you talk to Liara, the two of us will sit down and I'll answer any questions that you have."

"Deal," Rebecca said brightly as she turned and began to walk down the corridor again.

"And by the way," Neriena added, earning her a look from Rebecca. "Be honest with Liara, I've seen the way that you two look at each other."

"W-what?" Rebecca asked, her face turning crimson. Neriena merely smiled. Still blushing, Rebecca turned and began to walk down the hallway. She couldn't help but admit that ever since the events on Galnu's moon she had been thinking about the Asari with a great deal of worry. It was just then that Rebecca realized that the way she and Liara act been spending their time together was exactly the same way that she had spent her time with a certain blonde, both of them nervously dotting other each other whenever the other was hurt. She couldn't help but think of how the Asari had caught her when she had fallen on Feros and how supportive she had been about her incident with the Acolyte. "Oh, God," she whispered as she walked down the hallway.

Now alone, Neriena silently reflected on the secret she would soon have to share. "I just hope that you can look at me without being afraid once you know," Neriena whispered to herself.

Rebecca continued down the hallway until she stopped outside of Liara's room. "Liara?" she said, gently knocking on the door, "Can I come in?" There was a brief pause during which nothing happened. Afterwards Rebecca heard shuffling from behind the door and the lock clicked open. The door slid open revealing Liara, who was still wearing her armor.

"Oh, Rebecca," she said in a surprised voice. "Um, how can I help you?"

"I just wanted to check up on you," Rebecca said, walking into the room, "I thought that you could use some company after...you know."

"I appreciate your concern," Liara said, closing the door, "But I'm fine."

"Liara, take from someone who's been through Hell and back that there's no way you could've gone through what you went through and walk out of it unscathed."

"Rebecca," Liara said weakly, pressing one of her hands against her forehead, "Please I don't want to be a bother."

Rebecca walked towards Liara, stopping directly in front of her. "Do you remember what you said to me on Galnu's moon? How I could always open up to you if I needed to? The same applies to you too. If there's something you need to get off of your chest, I'm right here."

Liara looked honestly touched as her eyes began to sparkle. "I don't know...I don't know what to say. Everything happened so fast. One moment we were fighting, then my mother was giving me a warning, then she tried to kill you and...I just acted, I didn't think about it."

As she spoke, the Human remembered exactly how Benezia had been killed. Liara had stabbed her while she was attempting to kill the Russian. "I'm sorry," Rebecca said sincerely, "you stopped her from trying to get to me," she hung her head, "You're probably pretty angry with me."

"What?" Liara shouted, looking stunned. "No, never, how could I be angry with you?"

"But, if I didn't-"

"If you hadn't been in that position, she would have gotten the upper hand anyway, don't blame yourself." Liara's eyes continued to sparkle, "I should have realized that there was something wrong sooner. Allying with the Coalition, allying with Saren, my mother would have never done something like that of her own free will. I should have seen this...I was a fool."

"Hey," Rebecca said kindly, putting a hand on Liara's shoulder, "Don't say stuff like that about yourself. There was no way that you could have known that Saren's starship was capable of brainwashing people."

"True," Liara admitted, "but...I just feel like I was helpless to do anything."

"Sometimes there are things that we can't control, sometimes something happens in our lives that we have no power over."

"I am beginning to think that having an Asari for a mother is causing some wisdom to rub off on you," Liara said jokingly.

Rebecca chuckled. "I'm glad to hear you making jokes," she said, gently stroking Liara's cheek.

"I suppose that it isn't a bad sign," Liara remarked, "but still," she continued sadly, looking at the palms of her hands. Her mother's dried blood still covered them. "I can't believe that she's gone," she croaked, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"Oh no," Rebecca said, gently rubbing Liara's tears away, "please don't, please don't cry."

"I'm sorry," Liara said, attempting to stem to flow of her tears, but to no avail. "It's just...I realized that I'll never see her again. We didn't have be best relationship but she was my mother for Goddess' sake!"

"I know," Rebecca said pulling Liara into a hug, "I doubt anyone could truly love you the she did. But..."

"But what?" Liara asked, blinking tears out of her eyes as she looked at Rebecca.

Rebecca felt like there was a golf ball in her throat. Why the Hell was this so damn hard? "No one could ever love you like her," Rebecca forced out, feeling a rather uncomfortable urge to run out of the room as fast as she could, "but...I could try."

"W-what do you mean?"

"Liara, you're kind, you're sweet, and you're caring. After what the Acolyte did to me, you were never far, always helping me through it when half of the people on this ship aren't even allowed to know. You gave me support when I needed it the most and I...I love you Liara," Rebecca said, and before her nerves abandoned her, she leaned forward and planted a kiss on Liara's forehead. Liara turned such a furious shade of blue that Rebecca was surprised that she didn't fade into the wall.

"Oh...dear...god," Rebecca said, realizing exactly what she had just said. "I am so sorry, I had no idea what I was thinking, you're mourning your mother and I had to-" she was silenced as two bright blue fingers were pressed over her lips.

Liara stared directly into her eyes, and while tears were still streaming down her face, a smile spread across her face. "Thank you," she said, wrapping her arms around Rebecca as she continued to cry. Cautiously, Rebecca wrapped her own arms around the Asari. She wanted to ask where they stood, but she was afraid of killing the moment. While she knew that Liara hadn't accepted or rejected her feelings, she couldn't help but feel a warm bubbly feeling in the depths of her stomach.

XXXXX

Within the infirmary of the Normandy, Sarah Winters lay on a bed, pieces of her armor lay discarded across the room as various wires and tubes snaked their way into her chest and a rebreather rested on her face. Taylor and Tali both stood next to her bed, their helmets removed and Tali's hood was pulled back as they watched with worry. They had arrived her five minutes ago and since then Sarah had been hooked up to life support and Chakwas had run a medical scan that was in the process of developing. She had not given them any word yet as the scan was not had complete.

Taylor felt his stomach lurch as the green scanner bar scrolled back and forth over Sarah before moving back to the side and folding against the table. Both of them turned to look at Chakwas, who was sitting in front of a computer next to Sarah's bed. "She's suffered massive internal injuries," she said, skimming the report before looking at the two that stood before her. "Several of her organs have ruptured, including her pancreas, her liver and her heart."

Taylor's heart jumped into his throat as he croaked, "Her heart? But wouldn't the blood loss-"

"Don't worry," she said, holding up a reassuring hand, "the wound to her heart was one of the two you managed to patch with biofoam. The other wounds I was able to stabilize."

"But doctor," Tali interjected, "is she…is she going to be alright?"

"Well," Chakwas said, looking at the wounded Marine, "I'm going to have to flash clone her three new organs, give her a blood transfusion and possibly more, but yes, her life is in no danger."

"Oh thank Keelah," Tali said, worry disappearing from her face to be replaced by relief.

"It was a close cut though, if you had got her here so much as half a minute later should could have very easily."

Taylor turned an unhealthy shade of white as he asked, "But...she's going to make a full recovery right?"

The doctor nodded. "She's going to be in here for awhile though," Chakwas remarked, looking at Sarah, "A month at the very least. I'm going to have to keep her hooked up to life support all that time. Not to mention I have to remove her damaged organs." Chakwas sighed as she got to her feet, reaching for a surgical mask and sliding it over her face. "I hate to ask you to leave but I need to start the operation as soon as possible."

"No problem," Tali said, sounding much more cheerful, "we don't want to get in your-" she trailed off as Sarah slowly began to stir, her eyes fluttering open.

"Oh, what happened?" she asked weakly, slowly looking around at the three that surrounded her.

"You were wounded on the moon," Chakwas explained softly, "several shots hit you in the chest, I'm going to have to operate soon."

"Am I-"

"Don't worry dear you're going to be fine. You'll have to spend a lot of time in here but you'll be back on the battlefield eventually."

Sarah managed to form a smile as she glanced at her older brother. "Hear that Taylor? Don't hog all the kills." Taylor nodded numbly and Tali couldn't help but notice that his face was still unhealthily pale.

"All right," Chakwas said as she reached for a pump attached to a tank and slid it into Sarah's rebreather, "Sarah I need you to count backwards from ten."

Taylor and Tali slowly began to walk out of the infirmary as Sarah began to count, her eyelids growing heavy as she did until she slipped into unconsciousness again. The door slid shut behind them and a bright red light above it lit up, indicating that a surgery was in process. "Well...that's good news," Tali said, looking at Taylor, "she's going to be ok."

Taylor didn't respond as he stared at nothing in particular, his eyes looking rather blank. "Taylor?" Tali said softly, gently tapping him on the shoulder.

"What?" he asked, looking at Tali as if he had forgotten that she was there.

"Um are you feeling alright? You seem a little out of it."

"What? Oh I'm fine," Taylor said, speaking a little too quickly and turning away from Tali, breaking eye contact. "I just um, I just...just a little tired."

Tali was starting to feel worried now. Something was wrong was Taylor, he wasn't acting like himself. "Is something bothering you?"

"No, nothing at all," Taylor said, his voice rather high, "Why would there be, we didn't lose anyone down there, why would I be upset?"

'Why isn't he talking to me?' Tali wondered, remembering how they had comforted each other after the Battle of Haven, 'why is this so different?' Reasoning that a direct approach was getting her nowhere, she gently put a hand on Taylor's shoulder. "Taylor, I can tell that something's bothering you, please don't lie to me. I'm not sure what it is but I want you to know that you always have me to talk to. If you ever need someone to talk to, you've got me."

Tali paused, waiting for Taylor to respond or at the very least look at her. A whole minute passed and he didn't say a word. 'So much for that,' Tali thought bitterly, 'But then again maybe he be more open after some sleep.'

She was about to withdraw her hand when Taylor spoke. "When is it going to end?"

Tali felt rather surprised. "When is what going to end?"

"Everything," Taylor said. "The attacks, the raids, the killing, seeing the people you care about most being gunned down before your eyes," he said, speaking unnaturally fast. "How much longer is this war going to last? How many planets are going to be destroyed before that happens?"

Tali found herself slowly walking around Taylor so that she could see his face. To her great shock, she saw that his eyes where shimmering and a couple of tear streaks were spread across his cheek. He was crying. "Taylor," Tali said, completely thrown off guard, "why are you...where did this come from?"

"You heard her Tali," Taylor said, his voice thick. "Half a minute, if we had been thirty seconds late, I would be writing a letter to my parents explaining why they would never see their daughter again."

"But she's fine, you heard Chakwas, in a month it'll be like it never happened. Both of us were wounded two and now we're fine."

"How do we know that it'll be like that next time though?" Taylor asked, "how do we know that the next time we're in a battle a Jackal won't take her head off with a single shot, or get pounded to a pulp by a Brute Commander, or Hell get gang raped by a bunch of Batarians!" he shouted, throwing his arms in the air. Tali felt stunned, Taylor's composure had completely vanished as he continued to rant hysterically, tears still streaming down his face.

"For all we know, every last person on this ship is going to die in the next 24 hours, maybe a Coalition fleet will find us and blow us up, or while we're taking a rest on a nice uncharted planet they decide that it would look better if every last living thing on it was dead!" he screeched, his voice cracking. "It's only been six months since this war started and already there's over a billion dead and the end's nowhere in sight, what's stopping us from being next in a long list of people who died horrible deaths that served no purpose other than jacking up the causality rate a few more-" as he spoke, both of Tali's hands grabbed one of his shoulders. Before he could say another word, the Quarian pulled him forward, her arms circling around his back as she hugged him.

Taylor's voice died as he searched for the appropriate words to say. Before he could though, Tali gently whispered in his ear, "It's ok." That was all it took to push Taylor over the edge. He wrapped his arms around his fiance, holding her tightly as he buried his face in her shoulder and began to sob uncontrollably. Tali couldn't believe what was happening. She didn't consider herself to be dependent on Taylor and she knew that he had moments when he needed to be comforted but he had always seemed to be the one that gave her a shoulder to cry on and now here he was, crying his eyes out in her arms harder than she ever remembered him doing before. Completely broken.

"It's ok," she whispered, still holding the ODST, "it's ok."

"It's just- I thought- I though- I thought that we were going to lose her. She was losing so much blood and I couldn't- not after Mack," Taylor stuttered. "I-I-I was so scared Tali, sh-sh-she was lying r-r-r-right in front of me, and I...I couldn't do anything to help her," he managed to get out before he began to sob again.

"You did everything that you could," Tali whispered gently, "Don't you remember what Chakwas said? You plugged the wound to her heart, if you hadn't done that she wouldn't have made it. Your sister is still alive because of what you did."

"That doesn't change anything!" Taylor shouted hysterically. "It was too close...too close." Tali lost track of how long they stood there, holding each other as Taylor's cries slowly subsided. "I...I need to write a message to my parents," he said, sniffing as he release his grip around Tali. "Tell them what happened."

"Would you like me to help you with it?" Tali asked cautiously.

"I would appreciate that," he said weakly.

Tali smiled as she gently kissed Taylor on the check. "Anytime." The began to walk away from the infirmary. "Do you feel alright?" Tali asked.

"I have no idea," Taylor said weakly, "I saw Sarah like that and...I don't know what happened. I didn't cry that hard when Mack died, why would I after Sarah-" Taylor shook his head, his eyes starting to water again, "I'd rather not talk about it just now. It's...painful."

"I understand," the Quarian said, her hand gently grabbing his.

"Thank you, just...thank you for being there," he said softly. Tali smiled.

XXXXX

"So what did you want to talk to be about?" Kelly asked as both she and Jane sat in the Captain's quarters, sipping their coffee.

"I think I'm going to need you to set up appointments with a couple more crew members," Jane remarked. "Jacob told me something rather disturbing on my way to the bridge. Apparently Liara was forced to kill her own mother. Saren was controlling her mind."

"Oh dear God," Kelly said, he hand flying to her mouth. "That's horrible, I'll see her first thing in the morning. I didn't know that the Coalition were capable of things like that."

"That makes two of us," Jane growled, her hands tightening into fists. 'Relax,' she scolded herself, 'you have orders to give.' Shaking her head she continued, "Dr. T'Soni has been spending a lot of time with Rebecca Frost, I suggest that you allow her to sit in on your sessions with her, it will no doubt help her greatly."

"Of course Captain, thank you for telling me about this. Is there anything else."

"Yes, I also want you to set up appointments for Taylor Winters. His sister was wounded during combat, he's pretty shaken up by it."

"Are you certain? If he is suffering from PTSD it sometimes takes time to show."

"I don't know about PTSD, but I caught a glimpse of his face while he was heading to the medical bay. I've been in the military a long time Kelly, he had the same face that men get when they're about to break." She looked down sadly, "it's a face I've seen too much."

"I'll make sure to see both of them, I'll check in on Sarah as well, the near death experience that she suffered may be extremely traumatic."

"Good call," Jane said, draining the last dregs of her coffee, "that's all I really have for you, thanks for the coffee."

"Just one more thing Captain, what about you?"

Jane felt her spine stiffen. "What about me?"

"You have been in multiple combat engagements since the beginning of this war, some of which were very violent. You seem to be rather worried about your crew and the way that you are acting of the trauma of some of them implying that you might be suffering from survivor's guilt which can be-"

"Kelly," Jane interrupted, "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I assure you that I have been around the battlefield long enough to recognize shell shock when I see it and I can assure that I am not suffering from it."

Kelly eyed Jane as if she wasn't convinced, but her words did not reflect that. "If you insist Captain," she said, getting to her feet. "May I ask, why you are so concerned with informing me directly about Winters and Dr. T'Soni so soon after our last engagement? Normally a Yeoman is supposed to inform the Captain about trauma, not the other way around."

"Simple, I've been around long enough to recognize it and when I see it I let you know so that you can treat it faster." She glanced at the other redhead, "I've got a policy on this ship Kelly, I'm the first one off and the last one back on."

The Yeoman smiled, "I can appreciate that Captain," she said as she took Jane's mug and began heading for the elevator. "I'll make sure that they get proper treatment," she said as the elevator doors closed around her.

Jane sighed as she slumped into her chair. Reaching around her neck, she grabbed the second set of dog tags that she had and lifted them up to eye level. **Jorge-052**. "It's just like back then," she muttered, "good men getting gunned down left and right."

Author's Note: Something you might have noticed here is that I'm kind of making the Normandy crew like the crew in ME2, in other words an emotional basketcase. I'm a little concerned about how people are going to take the birth of the Liara/Rebecca romance, but I've read that scene over three times now and I can't think of any more ways for them to improve it.

Well, that's all I got. I can see one maybe two chapters before the next timeskip, please tell me what you think.


	67. Turning Point

Chapter 67

Turning Point

Author's Note: Some people might (and already have) complain that the Liara/Rebecca pairing kind of came out of nowhere. I would like to think that I foreshadowed this decently, dropping hints here and there with Liara checking up on Rebecca a lot when she was having her episodes. While I find it to be believable, I imagine some won't and for that I apologize. Well, let's get going.

Rebecca blinked. Her memories of the last few hours were a blur. She recalled going to Liara's room, hugging the Asari, and after that everything was a blur. She was currently lying on the Liara's bed with the archeologist in her arms, both of them still clad from neck to toe in armor.

"You ok?" she whispered quietly, looking at the alien. The past few hours had mainly consisted of gentle, chaste kissing, when Liara wasn't crying her eyes out that is.

"I think so," she replied softly, rubbing lingering tears out of her eyes. "How long?"

"I'm not sure," Rebecca said honestly, "I've felt comfortable around you for a long time, ever since you started checking up on me, making sure that I was coping with what happened. I guess it just happened gradually and crescendoed today. After what happened down there...I just wanted to hold you and...it clicked. What about you?"

"Something similar, after that abomination violated you I just always wanted to be two steps behind you. I saw how much pain that you were in and I couldn't stand it, I wanted to do everything I could to ease it for you. Things simply blossomed from there."

"I can appreciate that," Rebecca said, gently kissing Liara's forehead.

"And I simply love your hair," she said, gently running her fingers through the silver locks. "'I know I shouldn't considering how you got it like this but it just makes you look so beautiful."

"Can you hear me complaining?" They both chuckled softly. There was a gentle rapping on the door and both women turned to look at it. "I'll get it," Rebecca said, climbing out of the bed and crossing the room. Opening the door, she saw Neriena standing on the other side. Upon spotting Liara still lying in the bed, she smirked widely.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"Not really," she said as both of them walked back into the room, Liara swinging her legs over the side of the bed as she did.

Neriena spoke again, her voice growing grim as Rebecca sat down next to Liara. "Rebecca, I told you that I would tell you about what Benezia was talking about and I meant it. Would you prefer that Liara heard it too?"

Rebecca glanced at the Asari sitting next to her before turning back to face her mother. "If it doesn't make you uncomfortable," Liara said.

Neriena nodded as she slumped into a chair at the far side of the room. For a moment she said nothing, looking as if she was not sure how to word what she was going to say. "Remember when I said that my father was a Turian and how I was always crap at dating?" she asked both of the women in front of them. They nodded. "I...lied," she said bluntly, "about both things. First of all both of my parents were Asari."

"So you're embarrassed because you didn't have an alien father?" Rebecca asked, familiar with the disgust some Asari related with Purebloods. "What's the big deal? I don't have a problem with that, Hell Liara is just like you."

"It's more than that Rebecca."

Liara's eyes widened. "Neriena are you a...a..."

The ex-commando nodded. "Yes, I'm an Ardat-Yakshi."

Both Rebecca and Liara tensed. From what they had been told about Ardat-Yakshi they had believed that they were all psychopathic serial killers. Seeing the looks on their faces, Neriena continued. "That the Asari is Hell bent on not telling the rest of the galaxy is exactly how many Ardat-Yakshi there actually are, about 1 in 100. Hell not even all Asari know. The Republics do whatever they can to make sure that to keep us quite, usually by sticking us in massive work programs, monasteries, and if we don't comply they just shoot us. I was luckier than most, I managed to enlist in Asari commando training and the government left me alone. They probably thought the training would kill me, only around half of the trainees usually make it through." She grinned weakly, "I guess that they were wrong."

"How...how did you find out?" Rebecca asked.

"I used to have a boyfriend, Turian, around Liara's age. We were both young and overexcited and even though we had only known each other for a year we wanted to do the meld. I started it and at first I thought things where going fine, but then I felt something flowing through me, the most wonderful feeling that I had ever felt." A glimmer of lust passed through Neriena's eyes before she shook her head. "The next thing I knew he wasn't moving, even though he had a look of pure ecstasy on his face." She shook her head again, "I...I rather not talk about that anymore."

"Government agents came to my house the next day, and before I could even register what was going on I was being told how to clean an assault rifle. That's why I never date, for something with my condition, melding is very addictive. I can still do it safely on the level that exchanges memories and other thought, but when I go deeper I lose control. You do it once and you want to do it more and more until it consumes you. I only ever did it once centuries ago but I dare not even think about it. One or more incidents like that and I wouldn't look out of place on Omega. I was able to control myself but...I was lonely."

"That's why you adopted me," Rebecca muttered, "you needed someone to care for."

Neriena nodded. "My parents disowned me after they found out who I really was, I don't even know if they're still alive. And when I found you in that orphanage, and the way you looked at me...I'm sorry if this is too much for you to handle. I understand if-"

"Mom, stop," Rebecca said, standing up. "I don't care what you did the past, what matters is the here and now. Here's what I know about you, you are a kind and loving mother who always had my back no matter what, I know that you would never purposely hurt someone who didn't deserve it. So what if you have a genetic disorder that makes life difficult, you're still my mom."

Neriena stared at Rebecca for a few seconds before standing up and walking forward, stopping in front of Rebecca. "Give your foolish mother a hug," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around the silver haired Human, her eyes sparkling. Smiling Rebecca returned the hug, Liara watching with a small smile on her face.

XXXXX

Thel felt an overwhelming sense of pride as he stood on the bridge of the Might of Sanghelios, staring at the viewscreen in front of him. The wreckage of the Coalition fleet lay in front of him, the battle having ended five hours ago. The Rachni had charged at the Coalition fleet, bombarding it from multiple directions while the RSN hit it from the front. They had been completely caught off guard and within minutes the fleet had been reduced to a mere 50 ships before retreating, while the RSN still had 250 of theirs. 'The homeworld is untouched, and while we may have lost half of our fleet, they have lost 95% of theirs,' Thel thought. 'That is more,' he continued, his eyes focusing on the Rachni ships that had folded into a formation not that far away from the RSN fleet, 'we may have a new ally.'

"Open up a channel to the Rachni ships," he said to one of the navigators.

The navigator nodded and moved to carry out Thel's command, but before he could, every last person heard a voice whispering within the depths of your mind. "Warriors of the Republic of Sovereign Nations," it said in a calm soothing voice, "we are proud to have fought along side you, but now we must depart."

"Wait a moment!" Thel shouted, "You're leaving?"

"We must," the voice replied, "our kind has yet to fully recover, the ships that you see now contain half of the Rachni race and all of our warrior caste. We must return to our new home and continue to watch over the growing children. What is more your ally the Council still fears us and longs for our demise. We have no desire to fight them, no will we likely survive a massive armed conflict at our current state. We acted today because to the great debt that we owe you, but now we must retreat. Sleep well warrior, for one day we shall return to pay our debt in full."

"Allow me to say my peace," Thel said, "you owe us no debt, whatever debt that you once had has already been paid twice over, we are the ones who should be thanking you. Because of what you've done, the homeworld of the Sangheili escaped the destruction, despite being attacked by one of the largest fleets ever formed. If you do chose to assist us in the future, do so not because you were compelled to, but because you chose to of your own free will."

"Arbiter, I am picking up a series of slipspace ruptures and RSN IFF indicators," one of the technicians reported, "it's the RSN council's fleet from Domus."

"We must go," the Rachni Queen whispered as her fleet activated their FTL drives and left the system.

"Arbiter," a voice of a Sangheili councilor said over the Battle-Net, "I received word of an attack on Sanghelios. What happened? What was that fleet that just left the system?"

Thel said nothing as he looked at the viewscreen and the approaching fleet of 150. Domus was a planet that had been terraformed by the RSN at the end of the Great Schism and was it's capital. As a rather new planet, it's population was rather high at a billion and more and more citizens continued to settle on the planet. The RSN predicted that within a decade or two it would have a population and economy to match Sanghelios, Balaho and Te.

The RSN in reality was divided into three separate territories that worked very closely together with a shared military and government, Sangheili, Mgalekgolo, and Unggoy. Each territory had its own fleets, and while it was common for a warrior to serve on a ship outside of his territory, ships and fleets in Unggoy space were commanded by Unggoy, just as fleets in a territory were commanded by the native inhabitants of that territory. Domus was different though.

Despite the three RSN homeworlds having lager populations than it, Domus had three fleets protecting it, one belonging to each species. The planet's population mirrored those who protected it, in that it was a joint colony between each of the three species, the only one that currently existed. Some RSN planets did have small pockets of non-native aliens living on it, but Domus was the only one where each population was comparable to each other.

The reason Domus was growing so rapidly was because it was the home of the RSN council, a board of five representatives from each RSN race that was elected to lead it, each Mgalekgolo pair counting as a single councilor. These fifteen individuals were easily the most powerful people in the RSN, and while there existed methods for them to be impeached, no RSN councilor had ever suffered such a fate. They ruled via majority vote on many things, passing of new laws, approving of treaties with other powers and judging criminals whose crimes affected the entire Republic. They had come to Sanghelios do the 3rd.

Thel had honestly forgotten that Iasa 'Cirate was scheduled to be judged today. Everything had been flipped upside down when the Coalition had attacked. Iasa's case had also changed dramatically, before she had had a rather flimsy defense based on promises and speculation against overwhelming evidence and the death penalty had seemed likely. But now the Rachni had saved the Sangheili homeworld, and Iasa's defense that they had not acted on their own will during the Rachni War and would not start another seemed much stronger than it did before.

"Councilor, I promise that I will answer all of your questions in due time. In the meantime I must make the request that the RSN Council come aboard the Might of Sanghelios."

"For what reason?"

"The Special Operations Officer Iasa Cirate is on board. The situation regarding her has changed radically."

"Very well Arbiter, we will board within five minutes."

Thel nodded as he lowered his hands. "Assume control, there are matters that I must deal with," he said as he walked towards the door, hearing words of confirmation as he walked through. Iasa and Viluse's lances were standing outside, guarding the bridge.

"'Cirate, come with me. Bring your friend along as well," he said. Iasa looked slightly startled but obeyed and followed, Viluse right behind her. "I must admit everything that has happened today has shaken me as much as when the Great Schism began. Things I took as facts have been shattered like glass."

"Arbiter, I am not certain what you mean," Iasa replied as the three of them entered an elevator

"Hours ago it was widely believed that you were guilty of several war crimes, now that does not seem to be the case. Still it is not appropriate to simply forget that this incident ever happened, actions must be taken to respond to your actions."

"I understand," Iasa said grimly, looking forward. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Viluse staring at Thel for a few seconds before looking away. There was a loud clang as the lift slid into position and the door slid open. Thel walked out of the lift, Iasa and Viluse following him. They walked a short distance before turning into the hanger.

Several bright purple Phantoms were landing in there, their doors sliding open as their passengers disembarked. Sixty passengers exited, fifteen Sangheili, fifteen Unggoy and thirty Mgalekgolo, the fifteen Councilors with two Honor Guards for each of them. The Councilors wore bright silver robes and armor, while their honor guards wore bright gold armor streaked with red, heavy weapons clutched in their hands.

"Arbiter," one of the Sangheili Councilors said, standing tall and proud, two honor guards with power staffs on each side of him, "why have you summoned us here?"

"You were all due to preside over Iasa 'Cirate's trial in a few days, I suggest that you do not do that. I do believe that we have all the evidence that we need to decide her fate at this very moment."

"Arbiter, with all due respect this is most outrageous!" The eyes of the Councilor's darted to Iasa, only to realize that she was not the one that had spoken. Iasa's eyes were transfixed unbelievingly on Viluse, who had taken a step forward. "A citizen of the RSN, no matter the crime, has the right to a trial, if this key portion of the legal system is overlooked, the end result could very be a horrendous abuse of justice."

Iasa blinked and vaguely wondered if she had hit her head during the battle and was suffering from some sort of hallucination. Was Viluse…defending her?

"While you do make a good point, the Council has the right to act as both judge an jury in a swift meeting unless a majority of RSN governors overturn their decision," Thel explained. "Also I was under the impression that you were strongly pushing for 'Cirate to be convicted. You made your views on the matter rather public and well heard."

Viluse's mandibles clenched tightly, to the point where it appeared that they would snap. Slowly he turned to face Iasa, who was looking at him with uncertainty. "I am not certain if the Arbiter has yet informed you Councilors, but in the earlier battle we were on the brink of defeat. The Coalition had forced it's way through our lines and was minutes away from the slaughter of millions."

"Then how is Sanghelios still standing?" an Unggoy Councilor asked, looking confused.

"The Rachni intervened," Viluse said. "Hundreds of ships emerged, bombarding the Coalition from all sides, destroying hundreds of their ships. They were forced to retreat with a mere fraction of their fleet left intact." Without any warning, Viluse dropped to all fours and planed his head to the floor. "Had it not been for your actions our kind would now be without a home. My behavior over the past few months has been inexcusable and I beg your forgiveness."

Iasa's mandibles hung loosely, she was now convinced that she had banged her head. Begging for forgiveness? She realized that Viluse had put himself in a precarious situation and it would be up to her to resolve it. He believed that his honor had been stained, if she chose to forgave him, that stain would be washed away. If she rebutted his forgiveness though, his dishonor would be redoubled. The choice was easy.

Stepping forward Iasa grabbed Viluse by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet. One sentence escaped her mouth, "On your feet Viluse 'Moramee." The two Sangheili stared at each other, saying nothing. There was no need to.

"Now that you are aware of what transpired today, I suggest that you pass your judgement."

"'Cirate has been accused of insubordination, releasing a deadly creature and potentially jeopardizing inter-species relationships," one of the Mgalekgolo said in a deep synthetic voice. "We simply cannot simply ignore these charges."

"I suggest that you wave the death penalty as clearly the Rachni pose no threat to us, not to mention protecting the homeworld is a fair compromise for rocky relations with the Council, they were never exactly stable to begin with."

"Your points are fair," the Sangheili Councilor Insubordination on the other hand can not be ignored, while 'Cirate going outside the chain of command may have served us well this time, but next time we may not be so lucky. I suggest that she be dismissed from Spec Ops."

"Councilor, I implore that you reconsider," Thel said, "billions of-"

"We are well aware of the circumstances of the battle, but that changes little-" The Mgalekgolo Councilor said, cutting him off. "All those for 'Cirate being dismissed from RSN Special Operations." Ten of the Councilors raised their hands, including the Sangheili and Mgalekgolo Councilor's that had spoken. The Unggoy Councilor kept his hand down.

"Very well, it is official, as of this day, 'Cirate will be dismissed from Spec Ops. From this day forth she will serve as a Minor in the Republic's military."

Iasa hung her head in defeat, for a moment her hopes that she would walk away had risen but they had been dashed at the demotion. It had taken her years to rise to the position of Spec Ops Officer, years that had just been thrown away. Thel glared at the Council, frustration heavy in his eyes. Everything that had happened and 'Cirate was still being punished and there was nothing he could do about it...or was there. An idea struck him and a grin spread across his face. The Council would not like this.

"As Commander in Chief of the RSN armed forces, I am issuing a promotion," he said.

"What?" the Sangheili Councilor said, looking at Thel with cold eyes.

"From this day forth, Minor Iasa 'Cirate will be known as Shipmistress Iasa 'Cirate."

"WHAT?" Iasa shrieked, completely taken off guard. She was not the only one, all of the Councilors were staring at Thel and Viluse looked overcome with shock.

"Arbiter, this is outrageous," the Sangheili Councilor growled, "you dare undermine our authority?"

"How have I done that? Your verdict was that 'Cirate be dismissed from Special Operations, which she is still no longer a part of. My position as Arbiter gives me full command over all RSN armed forces in the time of war, Iasa has had years of combat experience and a well renowned Fleetmistress for a mother, she is more than qualifies for this rank. You have already convicted and punished 'Cirate, you cannot convict her twice for the same crime." The Councilors that had voted to convict Iasa fumed as they glared at Thel. As much as they hated to admit it he was right, they could not touch Iasa...for now.

The Unggoy Councilor chuckled, "Well played," he whispered.

"We shall not forget this day Arbiter," the Sangheili Councilor growled as he and the others turned and headed back to their Phantoms.

"That was a risky move," Viluse pointed out, "you have angered many Councilors and they will watch your every move, waiting for the slightest excuse to punish both you and Iasa."

"I have had deadlier foes," Thel said.

"Arbiter...I am not sure how to thank you-" Iasa began.

"You cannot, because this is how I am thanking you."

"I appreciate that Arbiter but Shipmistress? I am not certain that I am ready for such a position."

"Then I am certain that you are," Thel said, "those who doubt themselves go the extra length to ensure the safety of their men, those who are arrogant slaughter their own crews for victory and glory."

"Even then this method is moth unorthodox, normally I would have to go through a long and complicated process involving been compared to other candidates."

"If it comforts you I am only doing this partially because of what you have done, at the moment we need all the Shipmasters that we can muster. We lost many today, but the Coalition will be devastated at the lost of such a large fleet. I do believe that it is time to strike at their very heart, and to do so I need as many ships as possible. Next week, you will take command of a freshly constructed CCS-battlecruiser and 'Moramee will be joining you as your first officer, that is final."

"Understood," Iasa said as Thel nodded and began to walk away. "I will arrange for a dropship to bring you back to the Righteous Justice." Iasa looked at Viluse, both of them nodding their heads and smiling slightly. Suddenly a thought struck Iasa and a look of horror crossed her face. She would have to tell her mother about this. Oh she would never hear the end of it. Viluse seemed to realize the same thing, as a sly smile played around his lips. Iasa didn't care, she was just glad to have her friend back.

XXXXX

Rason sighed sadly as he laid the body of the Asari Matriarch in front of him, her eyes closed and her hands clasped together. He was standing in the middle of a scorched acre of land on the edge of one of Galnu's cities. An alien would have said that this land had been firebombed, but in reality it was Jiralhanae holy ground, to be precise a burial ground.

Jiralhanae believed that the universe was governed by several dozen spirits that passively regulated every day events. When people died, Jiralhanae believed that their souls became one with the Spirits, unless they rejected them, in which case one's soul would wither and die without the nourishing presence of the Spirits, a fate worse than death. However, Jiralhanae also believed that a soul did not leave the body upon death, but instead remained in the body until it decayed or was otherwise destroyed. Because of this, Jiralhanae did not bury their dead, they burned them, or to be specific they held funeral pyres.

Rason picked up the jug that was sitting next to his feet, the liquid inside slushing as he did. It was sacred oil that he had acquired from a local temple, the monks there commonly disrupting it for whoever had to burn a friend or a comrade. Tipping the jug, the clear liquid poured out and splashed on the Asari's body. Rason waved the jug back and forth and coated Benezia's entire body with the oil.

Gently, he set the jug down before grabbing a torch from a plinth in the middle of the acre. "May you leave your physical form behind," he whispered, approaching Benezia with the torch. "May all of the pains that you have known be washed away, may you depart this world and leave your desires behind, but most importantly may you find peace as your soul joins with the Spirits."

Slowly, he lowered the torch and the fire licked the Matriarch's robes. Instantly the oil ignited and the fire quickly spread across the black robes, which quickly began to shrivel as they burned. Within a minute the entire body was ablaze, blue skin slowly turning a charred black.

Returning the torch to it's plinth, he returned to Benezia's body and slowly fell to his knees. Reaching upward, he undid the clasps that held his gas mask in place and removed it, placing it on the ground in front of him. As Rason's bare face stared unblinkingly at the fire before him, it became apparent just how old he was. His face was completely covered in wrinkles, something that even Tritus with his two and a half centuries of life lacked.

He wasn't quite sure what to think as he looked at the burning body in front of him. Everything just seemed to be so overwhelming. Had she really been controlled by Saren? Did that technology even exist? 'To control one's mind...and make them watch what they do..." Rason thought before shaking his head. 'You are not one to judge about moral atrocities,' he thought, thinking about how the Empire had declared war. When the war had begun everything was so clear, they had an objective and while they had to preform many moral questionable deeds, the end would justify the means. Now those words did not hold the same meaning as they once did.

"I cannot help but wonder," he whispered, speaking to no one in particular, "what did you truly think of me? Did you consider me a comrade after the fighting we endured, or did you hate me for supporting your captor?...I suppose that I will never know."

Rason had lost track of long long he had stayed there, staring at the body burning before him when he stood up. Tritus had some questions to answer.

Author's Note: I think that you may find Viluse's last name to be a little interesting. About the Ardat-Yakshi ratio, I swear to God that I read that somewhere on the Mass Wiki, I can't find it but I know that I saw it somewhere. Besides even if I was wrong is it really that bad of a mistake to make? It's a rather interesting idea.

Also I know that some of these sections were short, well you can only drag out someone having a quiet vigil for so long, and frankly, a short one works better. Also the RSN scene really dragged out and I see no reason to bloat this chapter further. Tell me what you think.


	68. Scheming in the Dark

Chapter 68

Scheming in the Dark

Author's Note: I recall one person mentioning that Viluse's reaction to Iasa indirectly saving the homeworld was a tad quick and frankly I disagree on that. While admittedly had things been quiet he probably would've taken some time to apologize, the arrival of the RSN Council kind of put him on the spot and everything came spilling out. Also another thing, this one much more minor, someone pointed out that he shouldn't have the ee suffix. I did that for two reasons, one because without the ee it's a little too close to Demas' and Ramos' last name, and two if I took it off I think some people might have been confused about who he was related to. I'm only putting this here because they were both anon reviews and this is the only way I can respond to them. And before you ask, no that was not a last minute addition, did you notice how I never mentioned Viluse's last name before? Well, let's keep going, last chapter before the last

time skip (not counting a possible epilogue)

Miranda tightened her arms around her legs as she curled up into a ball. 'Was it really worth it?' she wondered, 'It's never worked before, why the hell would it now?' She was lying naked in a small bed in a rather dirty apartment, clothes lay scattered around the room, only some of them recently shed, there was a heavy smell of alcohol and cigarettes in the air, and the shades were drawn shut, hiding that half of the windows were cracked.

The man lying next to her grunted in his sleep and rolled over, facing away from her. He was another Cerberus operative, an assassin called Kai Leng. He was native to Earth with heavy Chinese traits coating his face. The Illusive Man had integrated him into Cerberus a decade ago after he managed to kill a Krogan with nothing but a knife in a bar fight, breaking him out of prison to do so.

Miranda wasn't quite sure why she had done it, she had thought that a drug that she had taken might have made conception possible, but there was a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that this would be as successful as all the other attempts, that is a complete failure. 'Why am I doing this?' she wondered, 'I've tried dozens if not hundreds of times, doing it different ways every single time and not once has it worked. Why am I even bothering? Do I truly want a child to call my own or am I doing this just to spite my father?'

Miranda jolted as a ringing tone reverberated throughout the apartment. Leng grunted as the ringing awoke him, sitting up and stretching his arms. "Oh boy, the boss wants us," he said in an uninterested voice. "I take it we don't have time for another go?" he asked, smirking as he looked at Miranda.

"Shut it," she muttered, clambering out of the bed and grabbing a handful of her clothes, slowly sliding them back on.

"Oh come on, don't talk like that," he said, grinning as he slid his pants on, "was it really that bad? You seemed to enjoy it at the time."

"I'd like to keep things professional between us," Miranda lied as she pulled her jumpsuit on around her, "that's all."

"Ah, friends with benefits, gotcha," he said, reaching out and smacking her rear. Miranda felt a spike of anger, but to her great surprise it was a minor spike and instead felt like minor annoyance.

'Have I been doing this so long that I'm not even bothered by things like this anymore?' she off handily wondered as she pulled up her zipper. "Come on, the Illusive Man wants to see us."

"No problem, just make sure that we'll be able to do this again sometime, I haven't had a fuck that good in a long time."

Miranda paused for a second, thinking. 'Fucking...I guess there is no other word for what we did. Not exactly having sex and it certainly wasn't making love.' Saying nothing, she walked across the room and opened the door there. Both of them entered a pitch black room with a circular platform in the middle. As the walked into it, an orange ring rose around them and a holographic image of the Illusive Man appearing in front of them.

"I hope that I'm not interrupting anything," he said raising a cigarette to his mouth and taking a puff.

"Nothing important sir," Leng said, "what do you need?"

"I trust both of you are familiar with Elizabeth Conner and the relationship she has with our top priority project?"

"Yes sir," Miranda said.

"We've put years of research into the organism known as the Flood, countless controlled experiments on uninhabitable planets. We've managed to control them in large numbers using a signal that perfectly replicates that of a Gravemind, order them in perfect unison, and we've even created a signal that can kill all Flood under our control. Should we ever need to, we can merely drop a single Flood on a planet, order it to destroy the target of our choice, and then wipe them all out. It's perfect weapon, but I am not comfortable in using it until we have a failsafe, and to do that we need Conner."

"But she was on the station that was destroyed by the Empire," Miranda said, "everything on that station was lost, her included."

"Somehow I don't think so," Illusive Man said. "The Jiralhanae that attacked our station used different tactics from the Empire. The Empire would have simply destroyed the station from a distance, the ones we faced boarded us, not to mention they used completely different armor from the regular Empire military. I suspect that ship was crewed by Empire renegades, most likely their numbers do not extend beyond that ship. Considering the length that they went to board that station, I suspect that Conner may have joined them."

"So what do you suggest?"

"A single ship of Jiralhanae renegades will do little to help us, especially one that has apparently declared themselves our enemy. The problem is that we have no idea where it could be, it could be deep within Jiralhanae territory know for all we know. I suggest that use blackmail then."

"With all due respect sir, how do you suggest that we blackmail Jiralhanae?"

"We don't blackmail the Jiralhanae, we blackmail Conner. Back before her supposed death, she was in a rather close relationship with another woman, a one Rebecca Frost. I have been doing a fair bit of research, Frost is currently serving on the UNSC vessel _Normandy_, the prototype stealth frigate we have been hearing so much about. If we were to take Frost hostage and make her status well known, Conner will come to us."

"Interesting idea," Leng said, "our contacts in the media should be able to make a big fuss about it if we take her. If the Brutes are paying even the slightest attention to Human media they'll see it."

"If my calculations are correct, Conner will be more than willing to trade herself for Frost."

XXXXX

Sukron's cybernetic hand reached forward and twisted a dial on the donut shaped table in the circular black room that he stood in. As he did, dozens of holograms appeared around around the table, all of them Jiralhanae wearing different uniforms, some elegant robes, some pristine coats, others crude armor, with the exception of one. The heavily scarred Turian that stood at the far end of the table.

"Friends," he whispered, placing the palms of both of his hands on the table, "our time is coming. We are so very close to our objective, so many of the pieces are in place."

"Would you care to go into more detail?" one of the armored Jiralhanae growled. Sukron's eyes shifted to look at him. He was one of the few that were viewed by Jiralhanae conscripts as a leader, he had a unqiue form of charisma about him that had gained him the trust of the convicts. He had also gotten Sukron's attention. "I have been stabbed in the back more than once in my life, I would prefer it if you were a little more open with us Sukron."

"But of course," Sukron said, flashing a savage smile at the conscript that caused him to recoil. "As you know, I have had the good fortune of convincing all five of the Ministers of Dosiac to join our ranks." He pointed with his artificial hand at five robed Jiralhanae at the far side of the table, next to the Turian.

They were the board of Ministers for Dosiac. Every Jiralhanae planet had it's board of ministers, each one with his or her own role. The Minister of Strength had command of the planet's military, the Minister of Wealth monitored it's economy, the Minister of Knowledge managed the media and other forms of communication and took charge when necessary, the Minister of Infrastructure monitored industry and agriculture and usually worked closely with the Minister of Wealth, and the Minister of the Unknown, who dealt in black ops and other matters that were kept a secret from the public.

"The main problem with our goal was not that it was impossible to accomplish, the problem was that once we completed it we would not last long enough to enjoy the fruits of our labors. The Ministers loyal to me have been working for years to install failsafes, but now that the Ministers of Dosiac are on our side, our progress has greatly increased." Sukron paused, giving the Ministers a chance to speak.

"We have spent the last few months making sure that everything goes according to plan," one of the Ministers said. "When the time comes the military forces of Dosiac and countless other worlds will obey your forces, whether they agree with the plans you have for the Empire or not. What is more we have the media on practically all planets on standby, ready to tell the public whatever you want them to."

"There is still the matter of the shock troops, the Chemical Corps, the Blood Brothers, and the Imperial Guard, I highly doubt that they will be willing to side with us," the conscript said.

"The shock troops may be swayed to our cause, they are loyal to the Empire. The Chemical Corps are also a possibility, but I am less confident about them. The Blood Brothers and the Imperial Guard on the other hand will have to go, they are too small to be treated in the same way that a much larger unit would. They all know each and the commander that leads them. They will no doubt know what will happen when we strike and act against us."

He was about to continue speaking when his COM unit beeped. "What did I tell you?" he shouted angrily into his ear piece. "Never contact me in a meeting unless it is for something impor...what? Say that again." As Sukron listened, an ugly smile crossed his face. "Very good," he said, lowering his hand. "Friends, our job has gotten much easier. I have just received word that the Supreme Commander Ultimas was killed in the attack on Sangheilios and 95% of his fleet was wiped out. So, we now only have three targets to deal with."

"And how do you plan to execute this plan? Killing them is still easier said than done."

"I have a plan, one that our friend here has had a great part in planning. Would you care to share?" Saren nodded as he began to speak.

XXXXX

"You wanted to see us?" Tritus nodded as Xeron and Zalton entered the control room, located within the upper sections of the Imperial palace, Zalton wearing his new Imperial Guard armor, his ravager plasma rifle holstered over his back. "What has happened?"

Tritus sighed as he pressed his palm to his face. "I just received a report from Ultimas' fleet...the attack on Sanghelios was an abysmal failure, only fifty of the ships managed to survive and Ultimas was killed during the battle."

Xeron and Zalton both looked at Tritus with looks of shock on their faces. "But...how much damage was dealt to the RSN?"

"Moderate," the Emperor said grimly, "Two hundred of their ships were destroyed during the battle, along with many of their defense platforms, but the surface of the planet was left completely untouched, the mission was a complete failure." He sighed again as he rubbed his eyes gently.

"Is there anything else?" Zalton asked.

"A rather minor note, especially considering the disaster that we just suffered. Xeron, do you remember Lotan?"

"The engineer that we met on Altena? The one that helped activate _Divine Thunder_?

Tritus nodded. "I trust that you recall how he said that he was considering enlisting, well he has. He has proven to be very useful, he is a fresh recruit that I know personally and can trust. I have inserted him into Metal Fist, he has orders to blend into their ranks."

"You still do not trust Sukron do you?" Xeron asked.

"I never did, nor did he ever give me a reason to. I want the both of you to know this so if he should ever contact you with vital news, you know that he can be trusted."

"Understood," both of the biotics said.

"Very good, that is all that I have to-"

"TRITUS!" All three Jiralhanae jumped and turned to see a hologram of Rason materialize in the middle of them.

"Rason what is it?" Tritus asked, looking at Rason.

A look of pure rage coated the face of the leader of the Chemical Corps. "That dreadnaught, they one that Saren uses, how much did he tell you about it?"

"Rason what is the meaning of-"

"HOW MUCH?" the Supreme Commander bellowed, "ANWSER ME!"

"Do not speak to me like that!" Tritus roared. "Remember your place Rason, you are a Supreme Commander and I am the Emperor. You have sixty seconds to explain yourself before I-"

"Matriarch Benezia is dead!" Rason shouted. "A UNSC ship slipped past our defenses at Galnu, infiltrated our facilities and stole countless amount of data. The Matriarch was wounded and then killed during the attack, but before she died something very peculiar happened. Her attitude completely reversed, she pleaded with our opponents to kill her, saying that Saren's ship was controlling her, forcing her to kill while she watched helplessly. Would you care to explain that?"

"I-what?" Tritus stammered, looking taken aback.

"I am very interested to know, where that Turian acquired that kind of technology, and why you were so eager to ally with him!"

"Rason be reasonable," Tritus said, "You said that the Matriarch was badly wounded before her death? When warriors are on the brink of death they panic, the justifications that they had for frighting slip away and all of their regrets that bloomed during combat crash down on them at once."

"When you were born I had already seen a century of combat Tritus, I know when someone is babbling nonsense and I know when they are speaking their darkest secrets, and when Benezia spoke it was most certainly not the former. I served with the Matriarch on several occasions and I would like to know why she was being forced to fight against her will."

"Rason, I hope that you can understand that I find this a little hard to believe, you may be a close friend of mine but I require a little more than your word when it comes to matters this serious. Your word and the word of a dead Asari are insubstantial, I will need more in depth data than that before I can take any action."

"Are you listening to yourself? Are you justifying what atrocity that I have-"

"That is enough," Tritus growled. Rason glared at Tritus as the Emperor continued to speak, "when I gave you the position of Supreme Commander I did it because I thought that you would have the ability to make difficult decisions. Our first priority in this war is ensuring the survival of the Jiralhanae race, everything else is a secondary matter. Ever since the beginning of this war we have done everything in our power to devastate our enemy glassing entire planets and slaughtering millions, and now you have suspicion that one person _might_ have been controlled and you are coming to me to complain about it? Even if you were telling the truth what you would have me do, break off all contacts with Saren? In case you have forgotten he holds the loyalty of the Geth, if we shun or kill him the Geth will ignore us, attack us or join with the Alliance, and after the disaster at Sanghelios we cannot afford to reduce our already limited allies. I thought that you were wiser than this."

Rason's hands tightened into fists as he continued to glare at Tritus. "The UNSC forces stole a copy of my personal, I expect that within a month or two they will produce implants that will put their biotics on par with Asari Matrons, they may be even to replicate Serum 43...is this all you have to say on the subject?"

"Yes," Tritus said coldly.

"Then goodbye Emperor, a battle-group was destroyed by a nuclear device, I must do damage control," Rason snarled as his hologram dissipated. Tritus continued to glare at where Rason used to be while Xeron and Zalton stared at Tritus, looks of discomfort on their faces.

XXXXX

The Acolyte stood in front of want of a glass in the outer edges of the station Omega. In the months that the had occupied the station, the Flood had reproduced at an alarming rate. Millions of them scuttled about not just the station, but the nearby planet of Bindur as well. In the time that they had been there, they had done more than just increase their numbers, they had armed themselves as well.

A massive creature five kilometers long and vaguely resembling a manta ray passed the glass on the other side, silently gliding through the void of space. The Acolyte watched the Destroyer Ship Form pass with little interest. One thing that the Alliance and the Coalition did not know was that when left unhindered and with a massive amount of breeding grounds, the Flood evolved into more than various types of infantry.

They developed massive creatures that served as starships and were what some would refer to as organic technology, as they posses the ability to propel themselves through space at high speeds and enter slipspace. These creatures were the result of hundreds of years of experimentation during the Forerunner-Flood War, the Flood constantly attempting to form organic ships that could match up against Forerunner starships. Sadly they always fell incredibly short against the technology of the powerful aliens, forcing the Flood to capture shipyards and factories to acquire ships. Still, they were useful for transport and they would no doubt prove affective against the less advanced ships of both the Coalition and the Alliance.

"Not that we would know," it said grudgingly.

"Something bothers you Acolyte?" The Acolyte did not turn as the Gravemind approaching it from behind. The Gravemind's size had tripled since it had taken Omega, it's dozens of tentacles as thick as cars pulling it across the room, doubling over in order to keep it's head from scrapping against the ceiling.

"No master," the Acolyte said, continuing to stare out into space. "I merely wonder how long we will delay our return. It is frustrating to merely observe the castes growing and evolving."

"Do not be impatient," the Gravemind scolded, coming to a rest and towering over the Acolyte. "Our last incursion ended miserably, the very weapons that were the bane of our existence a hundred thousand years ago were used on us again, forcing us to revert to the most primitive of forms. Your escape and repopulation of our kind was a priceless treasure lost in the depths of a bottomless ocean, I am not keen to throw it away. The Gravemind paused, gazing out at the countless Ship Forms patrolling Omega. There were currently around a hundred, ranging from Frigates to Destroyers to Cruisers, the numbers of them being restricted by the limited resources in the system.

"How much longer must we wait? The Reapers will not remain inactive forever, neither can we."

"I am not a fool, and neither are you. A hunter must keep his bow taught as his prey approaches, fire too soon and he will miss, fire too late and his prey will have already escaped. It is too soon to loose the arrow."

"And what would that moment be?"

"We will know it when we see it. Until then-" the Gravemind suddenly stopped. The Acolyte felt it too, a signal from another Flood, deep within the base. It was relaying a radio transmission.

"Aria, my patience is up!" shouted an angry voice, "Your shipment to me is three months late now, you've ignored my hails countless times, and the ships I've sent to collect haven't returned! I don't care if you're the queen of Omega, either you pay what you owe me, or I take it!"

The Acolyte shook its head, this was the 17th time that this had happened. Countless times since the occupation had Omega had begun, the station had been besieged by slavers, mercenaries and bounty hunters all looking to either trade with the station or demand some form of payment owed to them, angry because of the lack of communication. Traffic to the station had been dramatically decreased ever since the war had begun, with the Blood Pack too occupied supporting the Coalition to spare ships to the station, while the Blue Suns and Eclipse had sent a handful of ships, but given up after they failed to return, assuming that the Blood Pack had taken the station, and civilians retreating to core worlds in the home territory, looking for safety. Still, the Flood had to deal with battle groups of private contractors entering the system, as was happening now.

"There are five," the Acolyte said, seeing what was happening through the eyes of the Ship Forms, "Batarian design."

"Destroy them," the Gravemind ordered, "If they escape this station will be our tomb. Do not bother to board their ships." As the words of the hive mind reverberated, the Ship Forms altered their course, heading for the Batarian starships that were now approaching the station.

"What the Hell are those things!" the voice shouted over the radio. "What are you playing at Aria! Are you trying to kill me? Just try it, see where it gets-GAHHHHHH" A Destroyer Ship Form had fired a massive volley of high velocity acid spikes from it's wings, the projectiles numbering in the tens of thousands. The shields of the Batarian ship withered under the bombardment and hundreds of the spikes breach the hull. While individually the spikes did very little damage, the sheer number of them made them deadly. As the first starship exploded, the Destroyer turned to face another ship and opened its mouth. A massive glob of acid shout out, propelled at the same speed as a MAC gun with a core made out of high density metals that the Destroyer had consumed earlier. The projectile tore through the surplus ship with ease, a ball of fire consuming it as it left.

The Acolyte watched with satisfaction, it was refreshing to effortlessly crush an opponent, it reminding it of the Flood's superiority. "After they have been defeated, retrieve any bodies," the Gravemind ordered. "I see no reason why we should not ad a few more Combat Forms to our ranks, another drop in the bucket does have an effect, no matter how little."

Author's Note: Yeah it's a bit short but then again it's just setting things up really. Friction among the Empire leaders, Cerberus is hatching plans, Sukron is scheming with Saren and the Flood are amassing their forces. The next chapter will start with a time skip and the battle recap for the last two battles and after that there will be no more and everything will snowball as we head towards the end of this tale


	69. Moment of Peace

Chapter 69

Moment of Peace

Author's Note: As I said before, there will be no more time skips from this point on, we are going to be heading down a steady path towards the end, but before the actions picks up again, I'm going to do what I did in FfaP and have two or three cool down chapters, give the characters some R&R and a chance to pull themselves together before the shit hits the fan. Well, here we go.

January 10, 2635: Infiltration at Galnu

The UNSC stealth frigate Normandy ran a deep space espionage mission into Jiralhanae space. Three teams were inserted onto one of the planet's moons and managed to gain a great deal of data before being discovered. In the firefights that followed, several Jiralhanae were killed, as was Coaltion leader Matriarch Benezia before the UNSC forces escaped. As the ship fled, several Jiralhanae ships were destroyed by HORNET mines and several others damaged.

Causality Report:

Jiralhanae: 88,000

Asari: 1

The Battle of Sangheilios:

A massive Coalition fleet the likes of which has never been seen before launched an all out assault on the Sangheili homeworld. Hours into the battle, the Coalition managed to push through a fracture in the RSN fleet, but before they could reach the surface, hundreds of Rachni ships came to the aid of the RSN. Together, the RSN and the Rachni destroyed 95% of the Coalition fleet before it retreated and the Rachni fleet disappeared.

Causality Report:

Sangheili: 11.7 million

Unggoy: 15.9 million

Mgalekgolo 4.7 million (Lekgolo 68.4 million)

Jiralhanae: 58 million

Kig-Yar: 87 million

Yamne'e: 72 million

Batarian: 29 million

Krogan: 16 million

Geth platforms: 64 million

Geth programs: 0

February 5, 2635: Bombing of the Kig-Yar asteroid field.

Council forces launched an assault on asteroids that had been hollowed out and colonized by the Kig-Yar. The Empire had a defensive fleet in the area, but at a pitiful fifteen ships, the fifty Council ships destroyed them with little effort. The Council ships then turned their weapons on the asteroids, destroying them and any ships attempting to escape. The Kig-Yar fatality rate was at 99.874%

Causality Rate:

Asari: 5,417

Salarian: 7,584

Turian: 8,647

Jiralhanae: 74,000

Kig-Yar: 9.47 million

Yamne'e: 124,000

February 22, 2635: The creation of the L4 implant.

Using data taken from Galnu, the UNSC develops the L4 biotic implant. Every last one of these implants causes biotics to spike even higher than that of the most successful L2s and to actually the, but without any of the health issues. The UNSC distributed the implant to all UNSC and Alliance biotics, greatly increasing the output of all of them.

Requested extract: L4 implants have been issued to

Taylor Winters

Jacob Taylor

Viluse 'Mortamee

March, 9 2635: The capture of Khar'shan.

An Alliance fleet of 300 ships launched an assault on Khar'shan, the Batarian homeworld. After smashing through through the Batarian defenses, the Alliance positioned themselves to nuke the surface when orbital scans discovered something unexpected. In nearly every major Batarian city on the surface, massive riots had broken out with mobs of civilians attacking military outposts with rage, demanding that the Hegemony withdraw from the war at once. Seeing this, the Alliance instead launched a major ground assault, with the intention to take the planet. The resulting battle lasted a month with the Alliance bombarding whatever Hegemony outpost that they could from orbit while the Alliance took city after city with the aid of Batarian rebels. At the end of the month, all Hegemony forces had either been killed, captured, surrendered, gone into hiding or retreated. While Batarian forces would continue to aid the Coalition in the future, the

official

Batarian government has been taken by the insurgents and the Hegemony has withdrawn itself from the war.

Causality rate:

Human: 547,594

Quarian: 14,659

Sangheili: 479,017

Unggoy: 794,694

Mgalekgolo: 87,294 (Lekgolo 847,694

Asari: 347,594

Salarian: 467,954

Turian: 594,551

Batarian (Rebel): 247,000

Batarian (Hegemony) 541 million

March 19, 2635: Destruction of the supply convoy.

A UNSC supply convoy was delivering a fresh supply of rations to a front line colony when it and it's 10 guard ships were attacked by an Empire strike force of 30 ships. Vastly outnumbered, the guard ships desperately held off the Coalition ships and bought just enough time for the convoy to escape with no losses, but the escort ships suffered complete annihilation.

Causality Rate:

Human: 97,584

Quarian: 3,657

Jiralhanae: 6,000

Kig-Yar: 8,000

Yamne'e 10,000

April, 20, 2635: UNSC nuclear strike against the Geth.

The Normandy ran a deep space recon mission on the former Quarian colony Halestrom, scanning the area, and dropping soldiers onto the planet. An unexpected burst of radiation from the system's star caused the stealth systems to malfunction. After being spotted by the Geth in the system, Captain Jane Shepard gave the order to retreat but before the ship left the system a Shiva nuke was fired at one of the Geth orbital stations, destroying it and all platforms and programs onboard.

Causality Rate:

Geth Platforms: 1.5 million

Geth Programs: 5.3 million

April, 28, 2635: Present day.

XXXXX

Taylor's breath came in raspy gasps as he ran down the dark narrow hallway that he was in, his Victory class armor clinging tightly to him as he held his DMR. He heard heavy footfalls thumping behind him, far too heavy to be Human.

"Taylor," a soft voice whispered, originating from apparently nowhere. Ignoring the voice Taylor slid to a halt and turned to face the footfalls, firing off a dozen shots from his rifle as he did. The bullets sped down the hallway before hitting the wall at the far end with a loud ping. Taylor tensed, whatever had been there was gone now, where had it gone?

"Taylor!" the voice said again, louder this time. He glanced upward at the black void that surrounded him, wondering where the voice was coming from. He barely had time to think about this when he heard the footfalls again, this time from behind him. He started to turn when a thick metal hand closed around his neck. Before he could react, he was picked off of his feet and slammed against the wall, his DMR flying out of his hands.

The ODST gasped for breath and grabbed the arm that held him, trying to pull it away. The Jiralhanae cackled softly as he leaned closer to Taylor, revealing his face. "Well, well, well," Sukron said softly, holding his scorcher up to Taylor's face. "I thought that I would never get the chance to do this. I suppose that late is better than never though," he said as he pressed the palm trigger, fire leaping forth from the flamethrower's nozzle

"TAYLOR!"

Taylor's eyes snapped open as he violently began to thrash around, a purple aura sparking around him. He felt two thin arms grip his soldiers and heard a feminine voice. "Easy, Taylor everything's ok, calm down!" As Taylor heard the voice several things became clear to him. First of all he was in a small room as apposed to a hallway, secondly he was lying on top of something very soft with blankets covering him, and there was something very warm right next to time.

Turning his head he saw Tali lying next to him, looking at him with a concerned look on her face. "Another dream?" she asked.

"Yeah," Taylor muttered, rubbing his eyes and resting his back against the wall as his biotic aura faded, "well Kelly did warn me that this kind of stuff would happen." In the six months he had been attending counciling sessions with the Normandy's Yeoman, and while he had made progress he wouldn't say that he was cured, even if he did feel normal during his daily schedule, he still had moments.

Kelly had suggesting several things to help him cope, and to say that these suggestions were completely the opposite of what Taylor expected would be an understatement. Tali had asked what she could do to help him recover and when she had happily replied that they should share a bed, they were taken aback, even if they had been a tad eager to do so. Kelly's reasoning for this was that the best way to treat PTSD was to cheer up the patient as best as you could to take his mind off of what was depressing him. Jane had been rather quick to approve of that little motion, both of them suspected that Kelly giving her daily reports on the mental condition of her crew, but then again that was probably for the best.

"You ok?" Tali asked, shifting slightly has she spoke and causing the blankets that covered her to slid down around her. Both she and Taylor had agreed that sleeping completely clothed was uncomfortable and stuffy and when they slept that both did so naked from the waist up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said half truthfully, "it's just...it's been a year and this war is still going on. But then again, the Alliance is winning major victories against the Coalition and the Hegemony is practically done, maybe in another couple of months this whole thing will be over."

Tali smiled as she gently rested her head on her husband to be's shoulder. She embarrassingly remembered from another session with Kelly where she had heavily encouraged that she hug and cuddle with Taylor regularly. She couldn't help but suspect a little that Kelly secretly enjoyed sights such as couples hugging, but it had helped so far. "That's what I like to hear," she said, gently nuzzling Taylor's neck, "everything's going to work out, until then we just need to stick this storm out. By the way, I heard the other day that in a month or two you might be considered being promoted to Captain, what do you think about that? You've got a year of active combat under your belt and that new L4 implant, what do you say?"

Taylor said nothing as he stared at the ceiling, words from years ago echoing in his head. The words of Mack Norman. "I'm a career soldier. In the military, you've got some people who serve for a limited amount of time, and then you've got the people you stay enlisted for the better part of their life. Pretty much anyone who ever got above the rank of Lieutenant was a career soldier, but there have been exceptions. I feel at home in the military, so I stayed on, your parents don't, so they retired. Though I suspect that you might have had something to do with that."

'What do I want?' Taylor wondered, 'do I want to stay in the military after this is over or do I want move on?'

"Taylor?" Tali said, looking at him, "are you there?"

"Huh? Oh sorry," he apologized, "I just...I've got a lot on my mind right now."

"I can understand that. So what do you think about possibly getting promoted?"

Taylor paused for a second, thinking his reply over before the spoke. "The idea doesn't exactly excite me. The higher up the chain of command I go the more and more people are going to be placed under my care. Things can get stressful enough commanding a single squad and trying to keep all the pieces of your body connected, why would I want to heap on more? For the most part no, in fact I'm thinking about retiring from the armed forces when I get the chance."

"You are," Tali said. It wasn't a question, it was more of a statement. She stared at him silently before asking, "What do you plan on doing after that?"

"Head back to Sanctuary I guess, find a job and try to build a life there...I was hoping that you would be there to help."

A gentle smile passed over the Quarian's face as she gently pressed her lips against Taylor's, her tongue darting into his mouth. "I'd be delighted," she whispered as she positioned her self in front of him as she leaned forward again, her bare bosom being pressed against Taylor's chest. They continued this for a few more minutes before breaking away.

"You know we still have one more day of leave left," Taylor remarked, "any idea on how you want to spend it?" After their latest mission, the Normandy had docked in a shipyard orbiting above Earth to resupply and the crew was given a weeks leave.

"Well, you mentioned that you were interesting in visiting the Museum of Humanity yesterday, and we've already checked that display on early 22nd century colonization that I wanted to go to so how about we check that out?"

"That'd be nice," Taylor said, smiling slightly.

"Or we can just stay here," Tali said, fluttering her eyes suggestively.

"You know, I could have sworn I was supposed to get married to a girl that got nervous when talking about sex, not a closet pervert." Taylor chuckled as he received a gentle punch to the arm.

"What is wrong with enjoying what we do?" she asked, grinning widely.

"Nothing, nothing at all."

XXXXX

"I still can't believe that you managed to pull this off," Elizabeth said, staring at the scene in front of her with a look of wonder on her face. She was standing in the middle of a bright green plain with massive thornbeasts grazing peacefully, a gentle breeze blowing through her hair. "This is all artificial? This is really just a part of the Eternal Salvation?"

"Amazing isn't it?" Tesueg asked, grinning as he stood next to her. We have dozens of fields like this in the Eternal Salvation. After all we do need to grow our food and raise livestock.

"Shit," Elizabeth whispered as she craned her neck upward. What appeared to be a bright white star shone dazzling in what appeared to be a bright blue sky. She had no idea how they had pulled that of, but she honestly thought that she was outside and not within the depths of an enormous starship.

"May I ask what is occupying your thoughts? Tesueg asked politely, "you seem distracted."

"It...it just feels like you guys have been pitching me one curveball after another. First of all there's an entire army of Jiralhanae that are actually trying to co-exist with the UNSC, I've learned the entire history of your kind and learned that you've gone from a war torn species to a galactic power within centuries, you've got a Krogan warlord, a Geth, and a psychopath on this ship, and now you;re topping it all off with this. It's so much to take in...though I do have to admit that this is nice." She slowly sat down and then proceeded to lie on the ground, the light of the fake sun making her short blonde hair shine like gold.

"It is relaxing is it not?" Tesueg asked as he sat down himself, setting his machine gun down next to him, "Commonly Marauders come here in an attempt to relax, after all if they did not they would go mad from being confined within a ship for so long. I cannot comprehend how the Quarians were able to last so long within their ships without the use of this kind of technology, adaptation I suppose."

"How else could they, after all-what are you doing?" Tesueg's face had perked up and his wide nostrils were sniffing intently.

"Do you smell that?" he asked taking another deep sniff.

Curiously, Elizabeth lifted her nose and took a whiff. The unmistakable sound of meat being cooked reached her nostrils and almost immediately her mouth began to water. "Is that...thornbeast?"

"It most certainly smells like it," Tesueg said, unbuckling the case of ammunition from his back and setting it down next to his machine gun, taking care to flip the safety on as he did. "We cannot have thornbeast every day, we have nowhere near enough to do so. So if someone gave the order for one to be prepared I could do with a leg."

Leaving his weapons where they lay, Tesueg began to head in the direction of the smell, Elizabeth right behind him. Within a few minutes they came to a massive thornbeast being turned over a heater, Marton and Rutherforae standing beside it. "Ah, I see that you two decided to join us," Marton said, spotting them. "I gave the order that all crewmen receive a ration of thornbeast meat, and I felt like eating mine where I can get some sunlight and Adolas decided to join me, but there is more than enough to go around, especially considering that Humans do not eat a third as much as Humans."

As he spoke, he lifted the thornbeast off of the metal spit and placed it down on a nearby table which had several tankards and a large metal barrel on it. "I do believe some ale would be appropriate," Marton said, picking up the barrel and pouring a dark brown liquid into three tankards. Elizabeth watched with caution, she had tried Jiralhanae ale once and had taken a sip. The next thing she remembered was lying in the room that she had been given four hours later with a massive headache. The ale was so strong that she was certain that Krogan and possibly Sangheili were the only other races that could drink more than a cup before becoming completely intoxicated, Jiralhanae on the other hand put it away like water.

All three of the Marauder leaders grasped their tankards and brought them to their lips, chugging them. After a few seconds, they lowered them, the tankards half empty. "Ah, that was enjoyable," Tesueg said.

"Of course it you would consider pumping alcohol into your system in mass quantities to be enjoyable," Rutherforae said snarkily.

"I cannot help but notice that you have drunken just as much as I have," he said, giving a friendly shrug.

"What is that supposed to mean!" she shouted.

"Nothing," Tesueg said, looking at Rutherforae, raising one of his eyebrows in a quizzical manner. As Rutherforae began to reply, Tesueg's hand darted toward's the thornbeast and grabbed a ball of muscle located under one of the thorns on it's back. Without Rutherforae noticing, he silently handed to to Elizabeth. She recognized this as something that she had eaten before, a particularly tasty part of the thornbeast that was commonly referred to as "An appetizer and a dessert."

Smiling slightly, she popped the ball into her mouth, savoring the thick rich flavor as she chewed. Swallowing it, she saw Rutherforae reach towards where the ball of muscle has been mere seconds ago, her fingers closing on thin air. She glared at Tesueg, accurately guessing at what had happened. Sensing the coming argument, a grin spread across Marton's face.

XXXXX

"When was the last time that you were here?" Jane asked, looking at Jun who was standing right next to her.

"Around eight years ago, you?"

"Ten," Jane replied, looking back at the monument that they were standing in front of, located in a grassy field not far from New Mombassa. The Monument to Nobel Team. Six ornate marble statues stood before them, a perfect replication of Noble Team, all six of them, Carter, Kat, Emile, Jorge, Jun and Jane.

"You know I had a lot of trouble making contact with you over the years, if I could have I would've done it earlier, but everything just go so chaotic." Jun looked at his fellow SPARTAN, "by the way I've been meaning to ask you something. I went with Halsley to CASTLE base, how did you get off of Reach? There's no way that you could've gotten a ride off after the _Pillar of Autumn_ took off."

Jane continued to look at the memorial before answering. "I went back to the caverns where Halsley's lab was, I hid out there for months, making hit and run attacks on the Covenant and patching up my wounds and grabbing weapons whenever I could. It wasn't until the war was over and UNSC ships arrived to re-terraform the planet until I got off."

"I see," Jun remarked, "that makes sense, the Covenant wouldn't dare glass that area for fear of damaging the Forerunner facility."

Jane nodded stiffly, still looking at the monument. "That's Emile's kukri isn't it?" she asked, glancing at the knife Jun had on his chest."

Jun nodded, "I found it and his body near the shipyard where you were last seen. All I found of you was your helmet, the one with a hole in the visor."

"I had to ditch it, damn thing was useless, the HUD was completely fried...what did you do with it?"

"Donated it to the Museum of Humanity, last I heard it was on display on the SPARTAN section. We could give it a quick check if you like, they've got things like what's left of Master Chief's Mark V armor. It's note that far away."

Jane chuckled, "I don't see why not."

"Um, excuse me," a slightly nervous voice said. Both SPARTANs turned to see a woman with jet black hair rubbing her arm nervously, a news drone floating by her head. "Um, I'm Emily Wong, I'm with New Mombassa News, but I guess that you could call it NMN if you wanted to. Uh, forgive me if I'm intruding, but you are Captain Jane Shepard of the _Normandy_ correct? The stealth frigate?"

"Yes," Jane said cautiously, "what about it?"

"I saw the interview that that bitch from Westerlund did with your Major, it was disgraceful," Emily said, a small spike of anger in her voice. "I...I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions, give my viewers a more honest report on you."

Jane hesistated before speaking. "Ok, but I remember that smear job that got pulled on Ashley at Haven. You try anything like that and I'm cutting this interview short."

"You won't regret this," Emily said eagerly, pressing a few buttons on the side of her drone, causing a flashlight under the scope to light up. As the light shone in her eyes, Jane had just enough time to realize that Jun had stepped out of view of the drone before Emily spoke. "This is Emily Wong coming live from outside the New Mombassa city limits with Captain Jane Shepard of the prototype stealth frigate the _Normandy_. Captain, there has been some controversy over your crew, which include an Asari archeologist, a former Asari-commando, a Quarian serving as Chief Engineer, one that is in a relationship with a Human no less, and a Turian Spectre. Many have criticized you for allowing non-Humans on such a valuable starship, but looking at your mission records, that is to say the ones that weren't classified by ONI, you and your crew seem to have a solid track record. How do you respond to these criticisms?"

A little surprised that Emily had worded the question that portrayed her in a positive light, Jane replied. "I've got a good crew, I don't care if their blood is red or purple, I all ask is that they do the job, do it right and watch each other's backs while they do it. If they do that, I've got no reason not to welcome them on my ship."

"Interesting," Emily said, looking intrigued, "next question. There have been a string of major Alliance victories in the past few months, and it seems that the tide has turned in our favor, your opinion?"

"I would like nothing more than to think that trust me but if there's one think I've learned from experience you can't let your guard down until a war is completely over. As Sun Tzu once said, you can win every battle but still lose the war. We may have the upper hand, but if we don't stay focused and keep the heat on the Coalition they'll counterattack and force us back on the defensive."

"Well worded. Captain, I have heard that you have overseen deep space operations into Coalition territory. How does it feel to be so far behind enemy lines?"

"It's tense," Jane said honestly, "The _Normandy_ may have stealth systems but they have their flaws. We have to be careful, because if we screw up there's probably a hostile fleet nearby and we're a day away from help at the very least. And don't get me started on ground insertions."

"I won't trouble you Captain, I'm running out of time anyway," Emily said. "One more thing Captain, rumors have been flying around that Taylor Winters and and Tali'Zorah are no longer the only couple on your starship. What do you suppose is causing so many of your crew to hook up and do you approve?"

"As for why, I can safely say that is most likely the impending threat that we may be attacked from any side by the Coalition. When faced with the imminent threat of death, people tend to go ahead with things that they would normally wait for or take things slowly. As for if I approve of them I am proud to say that they have been very professional about it, restrainning themselves while on active duty with only a handful of exceptions. Their performance has been what I have come to expect from them and I have no issues with what they are doing. As I matter of fact, two ODSTs are being folded into my crew today, and they happen to be married."

"Really?" Emily asked, looking intrigued. "Could you care to tell who they are or is it classified?"

"I wouldn't say it's classified, it's more of a surprise for one of my crew, so I hope that you don't mind if I want to keep it under my hat."

"Not at all," Emily said cheerfully, "well that's all the air time that I can spare, thank you for your time Captain."

"It's been a pleasure," Jane said warmly as the news drone's flashlight switched off.

"Well Captain, I have to say that I'm glad that I got the chance to meet you. Maybe I can get a second interview in once this war is over?"

"I'll think about it?"

"Great! I'd love to talk some more but I really need to run, see you later!" Emily said happily as she turned and began to head back to the city.

"Seems like a nice girl," Jun remarked, "tad bit overexcited though."

"Comparted to the reporters that go out of their way to dug up dirt on anyone that's known in more than one city," Jane remarked.

"True," Jun said, "by the way what was that about you getting two new crew members today."

"I pulled a couple of strings, I figured it would help morale," Jane said. She was about to continue when her COM unit beeped. "And that would been them now," she said, putting her fingers to her ear, "Shepard here."

"We just got off of the boat M'am," a masculine voice said over the COM lines, "Where do you want us?"

"I'll meet up with you two at the Museum of Humanity, you know where it is right?"

"Know where it is? We're already there. There was a very lovely section on the Interplanetary War that my wife found to be fascinating, but personally I preferred the World War 2 one."

"Well then I'll see you in half an hour, I'm looking forward to working with you Mr. Winters."

Damon chuckled, "Likewise M'am."

Author's Note: Like I said, no real suspense or drama in that chapter, unless you count Taylor's dream. Like I said I'm giving the characters, and the reader, some time to breathe, especially because there will be no more time skips and I am going to be hitting you with major plot points and twists with enough dakka to make a warboss blush. because of this I'm taking a couple of chapters to unwind otherwise it's going to be overwhelming. Well that's about it, Taylor's having some trouble but Tali's there for him, Elizabeth and the Marauders are having drinks and food, and Jane talks with Jun, has a nice interview with a decent reporter and plans to meet up with Taylor's parents. Also I have something planned for then next chapter, I don't want to give it away but...Ashley get's dog piled by her sisters. She has four right? Well, tell me what you think.


	70. Friendly Teasing

Chapter 70

Friendly Teasing

Author's Note: Still have another chapter after this for cooldown time, and Jesus Christ, 70 chapters? God damn this story is really stretching out huh? Well, this is the reason I'm not not having another time skip because If I was to print this thing out I could use it to hold a door open. That being said it's time to move on to something I've been looking forward to for some time, embarrassing relatives, and by that I mean...oh you'll see. Also, a fellow user named SLotH4 has been proofreading this story, currently he has done the first 20 chapters and even introduced some minor changes that I thought were so go that I used them. Give him praise for he is awesome.

"I've heard about this," Ashley said as she and Sarah stood next to each other, looking at a massive diorama of figurines that made up a massive battlefield within the Museum of Humanity. At the very middle of the battle with a Jiralhanae holding a SPARTAN II by the neck, roaring victoriously, oblivious to the plasma grenade that the SPARTAN was holding.

"You know, growing up in a family where your parents were in the military, you tend to hear a lot about Master Chief," Sarah remarked, looking at the armored figurine.

"Oh you don't need to tell me that," Ashley said, "You needed to flash fuse my dad's lips shut to get him to shut up about Chief. Every single time he was on leave and when he retired, he would just ramble on and on about how he was a symbol for what humanity could be and how ever single Marine, Army trooper, sailor, pilot and militia member should strive to be like him." She chuckled, "I think he took special pride that he was in the navy, just like the savior of humanity. Personally I preferred the Marines, the navy seemed like too much of a support role and if I was in the Army I would be stuck on one planet for half of my carer. He took it pretty well though, what about your parents? Didn't they serve under my granddad in the Second Contact War, wasn't your father Damon "Demon Slayer" Winters?"

"People actually called him that?" Sarah asked, looking surprised. "I thought that he was making it up, he really did kill a Spectre?"

"Shot him in the throat," Ashley said, grinning slightly. "Don't mention that I said that around Garrus ok?" Sarah laughed.

"What are you two doing here?" Both women turned around to see Taylor and Tali approaching them.

"Same thing that you were planning I imagine," Ashley replied, "Squeezing in a bit of sightseeing before we get shipped out again."

"Makes sense," Taylor asked, his eyes darting to his sister, "You ok?"

"I'm fine," she said, giving a weary smile, "you don't need to check up on me every few minutes. I know you mean well but aside from a couple of surgical scars nothing's changed about me."

Taylor nodded stiffly, "Just...just wanted to be sure."

Ashley was about to speak when a loud squeal reached her ears. "ASHEY!"

Her eyes widened and her face paled. "Oh Hell no," she whispered. She began to move but before she could so much as turn her head, three bodies had slammed into her, forcing her to the ground. She gave a grunt of pain as three people piled on top of her, arms wrapping around her and pinning her to the ground.

Taylor, Tali and Sarah all blinked as they watched the three women now on top of Ashley. "Um, friends of yours Major?" Taylor asked.

"Sisters," Ashley grunted, her voice slightly muffled, "Abby, Lynn, Sarah OFF!" she shouted.

"Come on girls," said a woman with graying brown hair said, approaching the mess of limbs on the ground. "Your big sister has been through a lot."

"Slowly and rather reluctantly, the three women removed themselves from Ashley.

"Thanks Mom," Ashley said, getting to her feet and brushing the dust off of her armor.

"No problem sweetie," the woman said, her eyes scanning Taylor, Tali and Sarah. "Are you friends of my daughter?"

All three of them nodded. "We serve on the same ship," Sarah said "we've been through a couple of hairy moments together."

"In that case, it's a pleasure to meet you," the woman said, smiling warmly, "Catherine Williams at your service."

"Hey I know you two," Sarah, a rather short girl with blonde hair said, pointing at Taylor and Tali. "Aren't you the two that got caught smooching on camera?"

"SARAH!" Ashley bellowed as the other two Williams sister's laughed and the faces of the couple darkened. "Sorry about that," she said apologetically, glancing at the two, "she always had a thing for gossip, though personally I always thought that the line between a gossip and a pervert was a thin one."

"Hey, I'm not the one who was trying to eat someone else's face in public," Sarah said, holding up her hands defensively, grinning widely as she did. "So, does the sound of these two making hot sweet love keep you up all night? Or did you banging on the wall's the first couple of times get them to keep it down."

"Oh Christ," Taylor muttered pressing one of his hands into his forehead as Tali quietly pulled her hood up, desperately attempting to hide her blushing face.

"Enough," Ashley growled, glaring at her younger sister. Sarah's mouth opened, but upon seeing the glare that Ashley was giving at her, slowly closed her mouth.

"So, what's it like serving on the Normandy?" Catherine said, speaking to her eldest daughter, "I heard that addition to the young lady here, you have three other aliens on board, two Asari and a Turian. In all my ears of listening to your father yammer on about the odd things he had seen hen ever told me anything like this."

"Yeah, the Normandy can be weird like that," Sarah Winters said, "I can't help but feel like Jane isn't that strict with us, now that you mention it she isn't exactly your average UNSC Captain."

"I know what you mean," Taylor said, lowering his hand as the color in his face slowly began to return to normal. "I don't recall any other Captain that goes along with his or her men into the thick of battle, especially in combat armor with heavy ordinance." He glanced at Tali, "Did they ever do stuff like that on the Migrant Fleet?"

"If they did they would have been court marshaled, demoted, and been assigned to airlock maintenance," Tali said. "Jane is defiantly odd...but I wouldn't have anyone else leading me into combat."

"I think we can all agree on that," Ashley said, smiling slightly.

"Hey, did you know that there's a section dedicated to the Second Contact War here?" Sarah Williams said, grabbing Ashley's arm as she starting to drag her away from the others, "They've got a biography of grandpa and everything."

"Now just hold on a goddamn minute!" Ashley said as Abby and Lynn also grabbed Ashley and pulled her away, heading towards a different section of the museum.

"Oh dear," Catherine said, chuckling slightly. "Please forgive my girls, they're so happy to see Ashley again that they're practically bouncing off of the walls. Please excuse me, I need to make sure that she doesn't rip them apart."

The three of them stared at Catherine as she walked away. "Well...Ashley certainly has an interesting family," Tali muttered.

"Why did the one who couldn't stop talking about you two sleeping together have to have the same name as mine?" Sarah muttered. "What was with that girl?"

"I don't know," Taylor admitted, "she didn't seem like she meant ill will though, she was just weird, or maybe she was just trying to get under Ashley's skin."

"I'm going with that explanation," Tali said, pulling her hood back and letting her purple hair flow freely again. "It makes me feel less like that she'll try to watch me undress."

"I seriously doubt that you'll have to worry about her doing that," Taylor said.

"You do have a point, I just have to worry about you doing it."

"Oh come on, how is that fair at-" Taylor began before his and Sarah's COM units beeping cut him off. "Yes?" he said, putting his fingers to his ear.

"Taylor. Sarah it's Jane, could I ask you where you two are?"

"We're at the Museum of Humanity, why?" Sarah asked.

"You are? Perfect, could I ask in what exhibit?"

"The diorama of models, the one about-" Taylor began.

"I know the one," Jane said, "I'm on my way now. I have a couple of people with me, people that I think will want to have a couple of words with you." There was an almost teasing tone to her voice as she disconnected from the COM lines.

"What was that all about?" Sarah asked.

Taylor shrugged. "No idea."

XXXXX

"This feels...unnatural," Iasa said as she held out her arms and looked at them. Instead of dark Spec Ops armor, the bright golden armor of a Shipmistress clung to her arms. Isonia chuckled from where she stood next to her, both of them standing within the depths of an RSN shipyard orbiting Sangheilios.

"I felt the same way when I was first promoted, no one ever gets promoted to a position of this height without feeling a little nervous, even the most confident of commanders."

Iasa looked out of a nearby window and saw a CCS-battlecruiser with thick metal clamps holding it in position. The _Steel__Resolve_, her ship. "Dp you have any idea what kind of missions I will be asked to carry out?"

"I would not worry if I were you," Isonia said comfortingly, "When a Shipmaster is on his first few missions, more often than not they will be boarder patrols around lightly populated areas or attacking poorly defended pirate bases. Odds are you''ll be assigned to defense or you'll be put in a battle group with orders to attack a Blood Pack outpost, anything else and I would say that they're pushing you too hard."

"How do you...make sure that your crew listens to you?" Iasa asked. "Word will leak out about what I have done, the RSN Council had been doing everything that they can to keep it quiet even since Noveria, but you can't hush up a massive fleet appearing out of nowhere and changing the tide of an entire war. From what I've heard the Citadel Council is already foaming at the mouth about this, they're furious about this whole debacle and I doubt that I would be welcome in their territory."

"The Council's opinion of you is the least of my concerns, as it should be for you as well," Isonia said, "I learned back during The Stab that most of them are incompetent cowards who refuse to deal with any situation, even if they're own citizens are being enslaved and slaughtered by the millions. They're opinion matters just as much as a random Vorcha's."

"As for getting your crew to obey you, it is usually easier than you might think. I imagine that it would be harder on say, a Human ship, but in the RSN, that armor that you wear demands respect and obedience. So long as your commands are reasonable, your commands will be carried out with haste. If I were you, I would be more concerned about other Shipmasters."

"What do you mean?"

"The rank of a Shipmaster is not easy to obtain, you must be highly skilled in both combat, and in judgement. You have proven yourself in combat by fighting at The Stab, on Noveria, and at Sanghelios, and proved your judgement when you released the Queen, but some of the other Shipmasters will disagree. They may believe that you do not deserve your new rank, and may openly challenge you over it. Should that happen, you must be careful, the actions that you take there could easily define your future career."

Iasa nodded nervously. "Everything has happened so fast," she whispered, rubbing her forehead.

"I know," Isonia said, putting a reassuring hand on her daughter's shoulder, "but I know that you can handle it. Your father would be proud."

Iasa grinned weakly as both of them heard footsteps approaching. Turning, they say Viluse approaching them, clad in bright silver armor. "Fleetmisteress," he said politely, bowing slightly to both of them "Shipmistress."

"Viluse please, enough all of these formalities," Iasa pleaded, "I am nervous enough as it is."

"My apologies, it is a habit that I am used to," Viluse said. "I am after all your second in command, it is only fitting that I acknowledge you as my superior."

"Oh Staliu," Iasa muttered, "as Humans would say, you have a stick up your ass Viluse."

"I have a what up my what?" he said, looking rather confused.

"Never mind," she said, shaking her head.

"Anyway, I have received word from the Arbiter about your first assignment."

"See, just like I told you Iasa, just raiding a pirate base," Isonia said comfortingly."

"Uh, not exactly," Viluse said, "this mission will be much more...tasking. Iasa will be joining up with a much larger fleet, as will you Isonia. I imagine that you wouldn't know this yet as the Arbiter has yet to give the order, I merely learned this while speaking with him."

"WHAT?" Iasa shouted, "what fleet? And for what purpose?"

"The fleet is a join UNSC/RSN fleet, and I have heard rumors that the Council may donate some of their ships to it. I do not know what it's purpose is, but I do know that it is to strike against a major Coalition point."

Iasa swallowed nervously. "Iasa, stay calm," Isonia said, "have you not been taking simulated tests ever since you were first promoted to Shipmistress? And have you not been doing decently in them ever since?"

"There is a difference mother," Iasa whispered.

"I know that there is, but you have the potential to be an excellent Shipmistress, I am not expecting you to single handily conquer entire worlds or wipe out entire fleets, but I know that you can do it, I would know, I raised you. I have been a Fleetmistress for years now, I have taught you every trick that I have ever known over these past few months."

Iasa inhaled deeply and then exhaled, "I am sorry mother, it is just that..."

"You don't need to say anything, I understand perfectly." She grinned slightly. "I know what helped calm me down when I was first promoted to command of a starship." Iasa and Viluse stared as Isonia. "Come along you two, we are going to take a little tour of the ship and meet your future crew."

XXXXX

Jane grinned slightly as she lowered her hand and looked at the two people across from her in front of the Museum of Humanity. Crystal and Damon Winters looked back at her, their green Marine armor gone, replaced by dark onyx ODST armor. "You didn't mention that you had become ODSTs," she said.

"We didn't get a chance to mention it," Crystal said, "your video transmissions were short and to the point."

"Sorry about that," Jane said, "this whole thing happened kind of fast, we were only in port for a week and there was no other time that I could request for specific personal to be transferred on board within a month or two, I've wanted to do this since Galnu but this was the first chance that I got. Thank you for being patient though, though I would imagine that you would be a tad bit reluctant to serve under me."

"Huh?" Damon said, looking rather confused, "how do you figure?"

"Both of your children and your future daughter in law have been under my command for the past year, and in that time I managed to put all of them in the emergency room. Severed fingers, third degree burns, bruised larynx, broken ribs, severed internal bleeding, punctured heart, forced self amputation," Jane said, her eyes conveying a saddened look. "Not to mention I gave the order to leave Feros without your son, it was only by a massive stroke of luck that we found him and Tali, if Major Williams hadn't run a last minute sweep, both of them would have been killed when the planet was glassed. You have a whole list of reasons to despise me, all of them valid."

Jun glanced worryingly at Jane as Crystal spoke. "But you've kept them alive," she said, a fiery looked etched in her face, "This war has claimed billions of lives and through all of that you've kept them in one piece. Countless times you've taken them so far behind enemy lines that it wouldn't be unexpected for none of you to come back, when all of you did, my kids included."

"Still," Jane muttered, "I can't help but feel like I should be doing my job better. They shouldn't have been in situations where they could have been wounded that badly. If I had just thought my strategies better..." Jane shook her head, "I suppose that you can't go through life asking yourself what could have been," she said, forcing herself to smile.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," Damon said, looking at Jane with curiosity. "Why have you been trying so hard to get us on your ship? I appreciate being closing to Taylor and Sarah through all of this but you can't deny it's not standard military practice."

"I trust that you read my message about Taylor's status?"

"Yeah," Damon said, a touch of sadness in his voice, "PTSD, something I always hoped that he would duck. You said that he was getting better though."

"He is, he's making massive strides, but the thing is healing from shell-shock is a long and complicated process, and you are never really cured, you just learn to cope with it. I've from experience that the best way to deal with trauma is to surround yourself with people that care about you, and there are few people that can show as much care as one's parents."

"Well, then we owe you nothing but thanks," Damon said warmly.

Still not completely convinced, Jane smiled and nodded her head. "Well, your children are waiting for us, I don't see any reason to keep them waiting," she said as she turned and began to walk down the hallway. Almost immediately she smashed into a woman with dark raven hair in a naval uniform.

"Oh dear God I'm so sorry," the woman sputtered out as both she and Jane stumbled backwards. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, I was just reading a message that I got and-" she looked at her hands and realized with a shock that they were empty. "Oh damn, I must have dropped it!" she half shouted, looking around wildly, her naval cap flying off as she did, "oh where is it, where is it?"

Jane spotted a datapad flying near her feet and bent down to pick it up, reading it as she did. The woman in the naval uniform spotted it and let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank God, I thought that I lost that, I was going to send a copy of it back to my folks."

"This is a transfer notice," Jane muttered before looking up, "you're getting transferred to the Archangel?"

"Yup!" the woman said eagerly, "I can't believe it myself, Ensign Oriana Wells is going to serve under Admiral Elizabeth Hall!"

"Hall?" Damon said, looking confused, "I thought that the Archangel was Fleet Admiral Anderson's Marathon-Class cruiser."

"It was," Jane said, "until recently that is. You know that experimental UNSC dreadnaught that got destroyed over Altena? The UNSC just finished construction on a new one and Anderson has taken command of it. Hall was given command of his old Marathon-Class cruiser. I think she deserves to have a ship with a history like that under her command."

"After that trick she pulled with the Shiva and the super-carrier?" Crystal said, "Damn straight."

"Oh god," Oriana said, pressing her hand over her heart, "I forgot about that, I'm going to have to keep up with the crew that helped her do that...oh God."

"Take it easy," Jane said, "have you had much experience?"

"Um...no," she admitted, wringing her hands nervously "I served on a destroyer during the battle of the Batarian homeworld, but the orbital battle was completely one sided, and after that everything was easy, we just kept bombarding the surface when we got the all clear. I think I got transferred just because I was at the top of my class at the academy, but that doesn't mean anything out here, test scores are worthless when an Empire assault carrier is bearing down on you!"

Jane looked closely at the woman. She looked, there was no other way to put it, perfect, too perfect to be natural. Her skin was flawless, her hair a smooth silky black, her teeth a shiny white, her legs long and flexible, even her bosom and her rear looked well developed. Her face reflected none of this though, conveying a mixture of fear and excitement. If she was aware of of her looks, Jane had the feeling that she wasn't one to brag about them. "Just to clarify, you're nervous about your new post right?" she asked.

Oriana blinked, "Well yes," she said, surprised that Jane had asked such an obvious question.

"Then you'll do fine." Oriana looked at Jane, feeling unbelievably confused. "When you're worried about something, you keep a level head while doing your job. You don't rush things, you double check whatever you've done, and you listen like a hawk when your given orders. If you were cocky and arrogant, then I would expect you to make mistakes, but I don't think you have anything to worry about." She stretched out her hand, presenting Oriana with the datapad. "Send it to your parents, I'm sure that they'll be very proud of you."

"Oh, thank you," Oriana said, taking the datapad, "I'm sorry, but I don't recall asking for your name.'

"Jane Shepard, Captain of the Normandy."

"Thank you Captain Shepard," Oriana said, bowing her head slightly, "I really needed that little pep talk. Sorry, but I need to run," and with that, she was gone.

Jun chuckled as she ran down the hallway, "Seemed a little green, but I think that she'll be a good officer, might even become a Captain one day."

"Maybe," Damon said as the four of them continued to walk down the hallway. It was then that something stirred in Damon's memory, something Jane had said mere minutes ago. "Wait a minute rewind," he said, coming to a sudden halt.

"Pardon?" Jane looked at him, a puzzled look on her face.

"Earlier you said something about our future daughter in law, what the Hell are you talking about?"

Jane cocked her head, "Taylor didn't tell you?"

"HE'S ENGAGED?" both Winters shouted at the top of their lungs. "You're telling me that he and Tali are going to get married?" Crystal practically roared, "why didn't he tell us?"

"Oh dear," Jane muttered, her face turning a little red. "Taylor I am so sorry, I thought they knew."

Author's Note: Yeah it's a tad bit short compared to my other chapters but then again what do you really expect from a cool down chapter? I can't put in as much content as I can with the main chapters, there simply isn't enough going on. Well, one more cool down chapter is coming up and then we are back into the fire...which is hotter than ever. As always, tell me what you think.

P.S. Yes that was Miranda's sister.


	71. Relics of the Past

Chapter 71

Relics of the Past

Author's Note: Last chapter before we get out of relaxation mode and things start heating up again. I would like to thank the user S058 for giving me a couple of ideas for this chapter. Well, nothing to pad out the chapter this time around, let's go.

Rebecca let out a content sigh as she relaxed into the bench that she was sitting on. She was in the middle of a small park located just outside of New Mombassa, sitting in front of a small pond, Liara sitting right next to her. She glanced around, she didn't see anyone nearby, most likely because of the distance that this park had from the city.

"You look like there's something on your mind," Liara said, looking at Rebecca.

"Just thinking," the ODST muttered, glancing back at the glistening pond, "This feels so peaceful, but tomorrow we'll be back in the thick of things."

"I know, it isn't a pleasant thought," Liara admitted.

"You do know that I'm the only one here who actually has an obligation to fight right? You're not enlisted in the UNSC or any other Alliance military, if you wanted to you could drop everything and go back home."

"Home to what?" the Asari asked, "my career was examining Prothean relics, mainly in the Terminus systems. Right now, the Terminus systems are hot spots for Coalition activity, no civilian flights go there anymore, and even if I were to find a nice local dig site, the Coalition might just decide that it's next on their hit list. What's more, my mother is dead, I have no idea where my father is, who she is, or even if she's still alive and just can't sit on the sidelines knowing that I have the skills to make a difference. I know how to use a pistol and my biotics, the Alliance needs all the hands that they can get."

"Besides," she added rather sheepishly, "if I left the Normandy I wouldn't get to see you anymore.

"Quite the speaker," Rebecca remarked, sounding genuinely impressed.

"What? Oh that was nothing," Liara said, her face darkening slightly, "you should have listened to my mother when she gave a speech. She know how to suck in those who were listening to her, make them passionately roar to the skies, and make them willing to kill." She stared ahead absent mindedly, "It can be a little scary how some people can be so moved by a speech, especially if it pushes them towards violence."

"Benezia did that?"

"Oh no," Liara said. "Admittedly a couple of people that listened to her speeches about Asari taking a more active role in galactic politics did start a riot or two, but she publicly denounced them, saying that they had to accomplish their goals peacefully. That was after I was born, but I saw further back into her past on the few times that we melded and saw that she was still against violent protests."

At the word "meld" Rebecca squirmed slightly where she sat? "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's not that. It's just that...we haven't done the meld yet have we?"

"I thought that some Humans wanted to avoid rushing a relationship to it's most intimate moments," Liara said, looking confused.

"Not that," Rebecca said nervously, "the shallow one, the one you and mom did while trying to help Shepard understand that vision."

"Do you want to preform it?" the Asari asked uncertainly.

"I...I don't know," Rebecca answered honestly, rubbing her forehead. "Part of me wants to share my thoughts with you but...but after..." instinctively, she threaded her hands through her long silver hair, and Liara knew what she was talking about. "I'm scared," she finished in a small voice.

"Hey," Liara said, putting a hand on Rebecca's knee, "if you don't feel like you're ready then we don't need to do anything, there's no rush here. The meld is a complex and violate thing, if we were to try and force it, the results would be...unpleasant to say the least."

"I know," Rebecca muttered, remembering the intense pang of anger she had felt when her mother had melded with her just after Feros, before the wave of familiar memories had washed it away. "I'm worried about you too, what if I freak out during the meld and really hurt you?"

"I could take measures to prevent that, I could raise my barriers among other things," Liara suggested, "but considering your...history, I think that we should only try it when you want to. Do you?" Rebecca didn't speak, looking directly as Liara, her eyes slightly unfocused, as if she wasn't paying attention. Then she nodded her head. "Right now?"

"Yeah," she whispered, "just, don't force your way in too hard ok?

"Alright," Liara said, slowly and uncertainly reaching out with her hand

and gently touching the Human woman's temple. "Embrace eternity." Rebecca let out a gasp as she felt their nervous systems connect and Liara's eyes turned black.

The sensation that they felt could not be compared to anything else. Both of them were caught in stream of memories, Rebecca catching glimpses of buildings half buried in dirt, the feel of rough ground on her knees, and the rather bitter taste of dust in her mouth as she felt the jolt in her arm of a pick scrapping away. Liara on the other hand felt the recoil of a shotgun being fired in her arms, a slightly charred smell in the air of freshly burned fuel, and sweat dripping down her brown as a cool breeze touched her cheek, gulping down cold water as she did.

As the meld continued, the flow of memories intensified, passing by so quickly that it was next to impossible to make them out, yet both women knew clearly what they were and what they entailed. Rebecca was overwhelmed by the sheer rush of sensation that overwhelmed her, but at the same time it felt absolutely wonderful.

The flow intensified to the point where it was an all out flood, entire years rushing past by in seconds. Something clicked in the back of Rebecca's mind, she had melded with Neriena countless times and it had never been this intense, they were slowly moving closer and closer to intimacy. "Liara," Rebecca whispered, so softly that even she couldn't hear it, "stop...stop...STOP!"

Liara's hand snapped back and the connection was broken, and Rebecca's senses began to pick up her surroundings again. "I'm sorry," Liara whispered, "did I push you too far?"

"It's not that," Rebecca panted, feeling rather drained and noticing that she was sweating. "It felt wonderful it's just that...that...that," Rebecca rubbed the back of her head in an embarrassed manner.

"What?" Liara asked.

"We're...in public," the Russian said flatly.

"Oh," Liara said dumbly, "oh...right. I...forgot about that."

Seeing the innocent look of guilt on Liara's face, Rebecca couldn't help but laugh. "It's ok," she said, "I'm glad that we did that, heck it kind of reminds me of something that happened with me and Elizabeth when we-" Rebecca shook her head. "Never mind, the last thing you want me to do is talk about my ex."

"I don't mind," Liara said, looking at her with interest, "what happened."

"Well," Rebecca said, chuckling slightly, "it's a little silly, but basically we were vacationing on Reach, and Elizabeth decided to treat me to lunch. She was being very romantic about it too, she even got candles and wine. After a couple of glasses we leaned in to kiss, and the next thing I know I had lost my shirt and she was groping me through my bra."

As she spoke, Liara began to giggle maddly, imaging the scene in her head. "I take it your romantic evening was cut short?"

"You better beleive it was, the second I got my shirt back we were both out of there, she managed to grab the bottle though, and we finished it off at the hotel we were staying at. Don't recall getting that much sleep that night."

"Kinky," Liara said, winking slyly, "any more stories like that?"

"Well," Rebecca began as Liara relaxed into the bench, drinking in her words. Sometimes it was just comforting to sit back and listen to the person you called about talk about themselves.

XXXXX

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!" Taylor winced as his mother's voice tore through his eardrums. Both Tali and Sarah also flinched as they stood nearby him. Crystal and Damon stood in front of them Jun and Jane not far behind them. Crystal looking rather happy, Damon half sorry for his son, half amused, Jun interested and Jane slightly guilty.

"Not so loud dear," Damon whispered, "They've already had one major article about their relationship, they don't need another."

"I know, I know, but my son is getting married!" she squealed.

"Oh dear God," Taylor muttered, burying his face in his hands, Tali patting his shoulder comfortingly as he did.

"There's so much planning that you two need to do, there's the date of course but that can wait until later, then of course there's where you want to do it, but then again you'll probably want to do it back in New Denver, you live there after all. After that you'll have to decide how you want the ceremony to go. I'm not sure what Quarians do for marriage but's probably way different from what we do, you'll probably have to talk about this, either a Human ceremony or a Quarian one, though I guess you could have a hybrid."

"After that we'll have to talk about what you're going to do for living accommodations. My door's always open but somehow I get the feeling that you'll want your own place, the military salary that you've accumulated over the years should be enough to get you your own apartment, maybe even a small house considering that you're both officers."

"Even if you pull that off, you'll still need to find work after you retire, but then again you two will probably be able to figure that out, but you might be able to live off of your pension checks for a bit, but that will just get you the bare essentials but I think that you'll want a little more than that. Maybe you should-"

"I think we should give them a little private time," Jane whispered to Jun, "this isn't something that we should be listening in on." As Crystal continued to babble happily, the two SPARTANs silently made their exit, walking through a nearby doorway.

"Well, she isn't mad at him," Jun remarked as they walked.

"Yes, but would imagine that Taylor is still going through Hell though," Jane remarked, chuckling weakly, "poor son of a bitch."

"Oh I think that he'll be alright," Jun, "besides, now you know that if you have trouble keeling him in line you can just sic his mum on him."

Jane, laughed, "he's good at following orders, and even if he wasn't I wouldn't be that cruel...probably. Anyway that kind of thing is...is...is..." Jane's voice trailed off as she and Jun walked into another exhibit. Her eyes widened as she looked around. At the far end of the room were a set of glass cases, six in total, each of which housed a set of MJOLNIR armor.

"Dear God," Jun whispered as he looked at the cases. Both of them recognized all of the armor sets. They were the old models that Noble Team had used. "I remember these," he said, crossing the room and stopping in front of the displays, "The old Mark V models. Back during Reach they were supposed to be start of the art, then the Mark VI came out a couple months later and they were obsolete, even more so now that you and I have the new Mark VII. Just as much power, but as light as the Victory class battlesuits. Funny how that works isn't it six?...six?"

Jun looked over his shoulder and saw that Jane was on the far side of the room. In addition to the sets of armor, several other cases coated the sides of the room, one of which Jane was standing in front of. The small glass case, complete with an inscription engraved into the wooden platform that it was resting on, was a gray Mark V helmet with hole in the middle of the visor, cracks spreading out of it like a web.

"I had to leave it," she whispered, gently opening the case and reaching into it, pulling the helmet out, "the HUD was fried and i couldn't see two feet in front of me with all of the cracks." As she looked at the helmet in her hands, her eyes fogged up as memories filled her mind. Her hand violently darting up to rip the helmet from her head, the rattle of he assault rifle as she fired it at an approaching Sangheili, the dull pain as she was knocked off of her feet, her heart pounding as three Sangheili with energy swords violently stabbed at her, not even giving her enough time to recover her balance.

"Six?" Jun said, approaching the Captain and breaking her line of thought, "you ok?"

"Yeah," Jane said absent mindedly, gently lowering the helmet back into the case, closing it silently. "Just...just thinking."

"I understand," Jun remarked. The two of them stood there not speaking. Jun attempted to break the silence, "Isn't it a little odd that that case was unlocked? You think that they would have tighter security."

"It felt a little wet, I think that someone opened it for cleaning and forgot to lock it."

"Well, that's one janitor that's probably not going to have his job for much longer."

Jane chuckled, "Oh Christ, I'm 119 years old and seeing this stuff still chokes me up. Guess this stuff never really leaves you." Jun smiled grimly.

Both of them continued to look at the case when they heard the clicking of the shoes reached their ears. Turning, they saw a small group of tourists entering the room, a guide at the head of the throng. "And in here you'll see our Noble Team exhibit, a team of SPARTANs that played a key role in the Fall of Reach," she said, her short blonde hair barely tickling the back of the business suit that she was wearing. "Now, the team was comprised entirely of SPARTAN IIIs, as apposed to the original more well trained SPARTAN IIs, despite this they proved to be very effective at-"

"They weren't all SPARTAN IIIs," Jane blurted out. The eyes of tourists and the guide swiveled to look at Jane, the tourists looking puzzled and the guide surprised and slightly annoyed. "One of them was a SPARTAN II, that one," she said, pointing to the set of big, bright, bulky armor, "Jorge-052."

"Why yes," the guide said, a smile that was a little too stiff to be natural crossing her face, "I _was_ going to get to that before I was so rudely interrupted, but that is correct." Jane frowned, she had been a little quick to counter her, as if she was dodging her earlier error. "Noble Team was a bit of a rag tag unit, with a sniper, a CQC specialist, a heavy weapons specialist, a demolitions expert-"

"If you're talking about Kat then she wasn't a demolitions expert, she was more of a technical expert."

"Thank you for the input," the guide hissed, glaring at Jane before turning back to face the crowd. "One of the more memorable memories of Noble Team is when two of their members took a Longsword to the orbital station Anchor 10-"

"Oh come on, tell me you're getting this wrong on purpose," Jane groaned, "They didn't take a Longsword, they took a Saber, and it was Anchor 9, not Anchor 10."

"Miss, do you want to do my job?" the guide snapped.

"Well considering that I could do it a dozen times better than you can, I don't see why not. The operation that you were referring to was operation UPPERCUT, the objective of which was to destroy an orbital Covenant super-carrier. The navy lacked the heavy ordinance that they would normally use to deal with such an issue, so they had to improvise. Using prototype Saber space fighters and a UNSC frigate, Noble Team boarded a Covenant corvette and planted a slipspace drive on it."

"One of the SPARTANs stormed the bridge with a fireteam of Marines and killed the Shipmaster and the bridge crew and reprogramed the navigational controls to put it on a course that would take it to the super-carrier, although the fireteam was killed in the process. However, the Pelican that Noble Team had used to board the ship had been badly damaged in a fire fight and could not be used, as had the slipspace drive, meaning that it had to be detonated manually. The SPARTAN known as Jorge threw the other SPARTAN out of the airlock before his comrade could even think to debate the issue, sacrificing himself to destroy the ship in a valiant attempt to save Reach." She gave a sad smile as she looked at the crowd of tourists, "Any questions?"

There was an explosion of noise from the crowd as they practically jumped over one another, trying to force their inquiry on Jane. Jun grinned as the watched the spectacle, taking special note of the scowl on the tour guide's face. 'Why is it that nosey women always seem to find her wherever she goes?' he wondered.

XXXXX

"Your kind developed a rather interesting selection of weapons," Garrus commented. Both he and Jacob were standing in an exhibit of the Museum of Humanity, dedicated not to the Human-Covenant War, but to the evolution of Human weapons, from the Bronze Age, to Medieval times, to Colonial times, to the World Wars, to the Human-Covenant War era, to modern times.

"You seemed to have focused on stabbing," he remarked, looking at a rapier mounted on the wall, "I doubt that you could use that for much else. Turian weapons were built to slash, having metal in your skeleton will do that."

"That thing have been popular, but it was more for show than anything else," Jacob, "that one's more popular, not as fancy but much more durable," he continued, pointing to a broadsword right next to the rapider, "it's more dull, but also reliable."

"I suppose that it would work," Garrus admitted, "but something has been bothering me ever since I entered this room."

"What would that be?"

Garrus' eyes slowly scanned the room, taking in the massive collection of swords, axes, spears, and rifles. "Why...why do you Humans have so many versions of your weapons?"

"Pardon?"

"Look at this," he said, gesturing to the wide array of swords on the wall in front of them, "there must be a least a dozen different designs here, all within the same period. I know that sometimes weapons are specialized for different situations, but half of this weapons are simply already existing models with changes so minor that they are pointless."

"Humans lacked the unity that Turians did in during the Steel Age back then. When major countries like England were practicing Feudalism, the county's that made up the country was rather independent, with it's own source of food, water and other resources. They also had their own artisans so the design of blades tended to vary, even if the end results were more or less the same."

"I suppose that it fits," Garrus muttered, "seems odd that not everyone would follow a common design. I guess I've been around a veteran like Shepard a little too long, I'm starting to think that all Humans are a disciplined as her."

"Speaking of which, how are you two doing?"

"What do you mean?" Garrus asked, looking slightly confused.

"You haven't hit any snags yet have you?"

"Snags in what?"

"Your...your relationship?

"What relationship?

"You mean you two aren't an item?" Jacob asked, looking surprised.

"What?" Garrus asked, now looking helplessly lost, "Jacob, could you kindly stop speaking in riddles and be up front with me?"

"Aren't you two in a...romantic relationship?"

"Oh," Garrus groaned turning back to look at the swords, "you too huh? You know I really don't see where people keep coming up with that idea. Kelly was asking me yesterday, Chakwas the day before, and Joker the day before that. People seem to have this crazy theory that I'm screwing her, not to be rude, but I don't see the sexual appeal of Humans, and I get the feeling she feels the same way about Turians."

"Really?" Jacob asked, looking a little taken aback. "It seemed like you two were rather close."

"She's a good friend," Garrus remarked, "I've been finding myself talking about things that I don't normally talk about, such as why I joined the Spectres."

"Why is that?"

Garrus looked at Jacob for a few seconds, debating on weather or not he wanted to answer. "To be honest, I was a little paranoid of your kind and the RSN. For centuries, Turians had been the dominant military force of the Council, stronger than even the Asari and the Salarians, and then the Shanxi War rolled around and you kicked us out of your territory like it was nothing and then walked up to the Council and started making demands, demands that you got. When a race makes contact with the Council, they're usually the ones calling the shots, not the other way around."

"I felt like I had to do something, my father wanted me to join C-Sec like he had and forced me to take the training required for working in a heavily populated area and avoiding civilian loses. I was, however, offered additional training, training offered to thousands of other Turians. It wasn't like C-Sec, which was consisted of things like preforming a non-lethal takedown in the middle of a bar, it was more about storming a pirate base making sure that you were the only one that walked out alive. In other words, this training would make it far more likely that I would be considered for the Spectres."

"My father...didn't approve, of the Spectres. He was a very stereotypical Turian, do every single last thing by the book, anything less is unacceptable and he stopped at nothing to drill that into me. We never saw eye to eye on that though, I always thought that rules could be bent if it meant saving lives, so I took the training behind his back Eventually he found out about my training and when he did he was so angry that a couple of passing by, Krogan were actually scared of him he was so angry. When I actually got an invitation to go on a training mission with a season Spectre, my father threatened to cut me off if I did, but by then I had been in C-Sec for a couple of year and it was driving me insane. I lost track of the number of times that I had someone cornered, I _knew_ that he was guilty, and I had to let him walk. That wasn't justice, I thought, so I spat in my father's face and took the mission. We haven't spoken since."

"I know what it feels like to be distant from your father," Jacob said, "it isn't pleasant, but it's good to hear that you made your own decision in life. I thought you said that you became a Spectre because of us though."

"At first," Garrus said, "After you had been in contact with us for a couple of decades, people started to realize that they still had a place in the galactic community and that you weren't going to take it away, so they calmed down a bit. And as I said, the injustice and the red tape in C-Sec drove me crazy, I had to do something. So I became a Spectre."

"Quite a story," Jacob said, "sometimes I wish my life was a little more colorful like that, but then again that's like asking for an anvil to drop on your head isn't it?"

"You have no idea," Garrus said, chuckling slightly.

Author's Note: Well, that's the last cool down chapter, next time we're heading back into the action. Sorry if there are more errors than usual, but I was dead tired when I finished this, and I wanted to not make you wait anymore than you had too. Well I hope that you enjoy, also have fun with the upcoming MW and BF 3. BTW what the Hell is up with the massive flamewar between the two?


	72. Monkey Wrench

Chapter 72

Monkey Wrench

Author's Note: Well the break is over, time to clench our fists, grit our teeth and dive headfirst back into the throng, let's go.

Jane sighed slightly as she relaxed into the chair in her quarters. Yesterday had been the last day of leave for her and her crew, today there we being put back into the field. She was less than enthusiastic. The past week had been enjoyable, relaxing and, dare she say it, fun. It had been a weight off of her chest to not worry about the safety of her subordinates, but now that was over, and their lives were back in her hands.

"Ma'm?" Richard's voice broke Jane's line of thought.

"What is it?" she asked, as the avatar of the Normandy's Smart A.I. materialized on her desk.

"There's an incoming transmission from Fleet Admiral Anderson, do you want me to put it through?"

"Yes...do that," Jane muttered.

Richard nodded as his avatar disappeared, a hologram of the Fleet Admiral appearing in front of her. "Good to see you Jane," he said, tipping his navy cap. "I trust that your ship is all ready to go?"

"Just about, some of the supplies are still been loaded on board, but we'll be ready to head out in half an hour at the very most. I trust that you didn't contact me to make idle chit chat."

"You're right, I've got orders from you, straight from President Richards himself. Two days ago, Salarian intelligence intercepted a series of Coalition communications, they were fleet orders, the Coalition is moving a massive amount of ships to Virmire, a frontier planet that never saw colonization. Richards wants you to set a course for the planet once. It should take you the better part of a day to get there."

"Let me guess, you want me to make an espionage run on all Coalition activity on and around the planet?" Jane asked.

"Yes, an Alliance fleet will be on standby not far away from the system, and as soon as you transmit a report on the Coalition's standing. But Jane, there's something that you should know." Jane raised her eyebrow. "For the most part you have been simply been scanning planets and acquiring valuable information and all other objectives have been secondary, this time espionage is your secondary objective."

Jane blinked, an awful feeling curdling in the bottom of your stomach. "And what is my primary."

"The assassination of the Jiralhanae Emperor, Tritus."

For a second, Jane and Anderson simply stared at each other. Jane broke the silence. "I beg your pardon sir? Assassinate Tritus?"

"Jane, this is more than a simple Coalition strike fleet, it will take several more days for all of the ships to arrive, once they do, the size of the fleet will rival the size of the fleet that attacked Sangheilios. What is more, we have received word that the majority of the Coalition military leadership are will be a part of this fleet."

"There's been a lot of debate going on back and forth between the leaders of the Alliance they've reached a conclusion. The Coalition is desperate."

"What do you mean?" Jane asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Every since the RSN decimated their fleet at Sangheilios they haven't been able to recover from it. They've been suffering major loss after major loss, after major loss, and with the Hegemony out of the fight and only a couple of Batarian splinter fleets still supporting them, they're worse off then they've ever been. It looks like they going to go after a major target in an attempt to get back on the offensive."

"Any ideas what the target is?"

"Not at the moment, it could be Earth, Reach, the Citadel, Domus, anything really. But whatever it is, we're not waiting for them to make their move first. Richards and the other Alliance leaders agree that this is the perfect time to strike at them. No doubt they will have their most skilled Captains and Admirals with them, along with the Empire's remaining Supreme Commanders."

"Admiral, exactly what are you planning for this upcoming battle?"

"To be blunt Captain, we are hoping that this will make victory in this war all but guaranteed. Espionage reports suggest that the leadership of the Empire are all that is holding together. If Tritus is eliminated, we hope to throw the Jiralhahane into chaos."

"Then why can't you eliminate him in the attack? Why do you need my men to drop onto a world filled with millions of hostiles when you can simply bomb the planet?"

"It isn't that simple," Anderson sighed, rubbing his forehead, "The Emperor no doubt knows the destruction that his death would cause, no doubt he has taken steps to ensure his survival. The second we launch an attack, no doubt he would evacuate, putting hundreds of warships between us and him as we do so. We need the element of surprise on our side, and you and your crew proved yourself at Galnu."

"That was different," Jane said, "that was data recovery, the order to kill Rason was only secondary."

"I know that, I am asking a great deal of you, we may be friends Jane, but I simply cannot give you special attention. I think you know the real reason why you were selected for this mission."

Jane's face curled into a grimace, "You want Jun and I to take out Tritus don't you?"

"You are the most qualified individuals for the job. You have the most up to date model of MJOLINR and combat experience that puts everyone else in the UNSC to shame."

"And I'm still not allowed to tell my crew?"

Anderson sighed, "I'm afraid not, ONI has been all over us about that. Section 3 would have our heads if we spilt their secrets. The SPARTAN project only went public in the Human-Covenant War because the brass was trying to pull morale out of the gutters, at the moment there aren't enough of you to pull that off. Nowadays there are barely any SPARTANs left, ONI tried to get funding to rebirth the project, but they kept running into so many obstacles, political and financial, that all they could do was construct your armor."

"Also, as much as I hate to admit it, we would have trouble starting another program. Not to be insulting Jane, but SPARTAN IIIs were designed to be cheap expendable soldiers whose purpose were to buy time. Only those that made it a couple years into the war truly had SPARTAN level capabilities. With the disappearance of Dr. Halsey and the destruction of Reach, we lost too much data on the SPARTAN IIs to try again with them without starting from scratch."

"What about Michael Rivers? The man who found the cure for the Quarian's immune system, why didn't you go to him before he died?"

"He was an old man whose memory would have faded over the years and was denied from keeping any records of the project. What is more the augmentations that he designed killed or crippled over half of the applicants, not something that we can afford."

Jane hung her head slightly, I depressed look on her face. "I see what you mean."

"Why the long face?" Anderson asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing," Jane muttered, "It's just that...sooner or later there aren't going to be any SPARTANs left...it's...it's...it's...depressing to...you know...be part of a dying race. Truth be told I was kind of hoping that another generation would crop up, because when you're a SPARTAN you're...different. You can't really connect to normal people, only other SPARTANs, that's why I'm glad to see Jun again, but to walk around my crew while they lead normal lives...I feel...I feel like I can't connect with them."

"I can only imagine what that feels like," Anderson said grimly, "I'm sorry Jane, but the information concerning your status is still classified. You are not to reveal it to any of your subordinates." Jane did not reply as she stared at the table that was projecting the hologram of Anderson. "I'm sending you the coordinates to Virmire now, along with all of the data we managed to intercept. Good luck," he said as his hologram dissipated.

Jane slumped into her chair, a sense of defeat flowing through her. "We've received the data M'am," Richard said, his hologram reappearing.

"Good, run over it," she mumbled, getting to her feet. "Leave when we're ready, givem e a report when you're done...please cut the cameras to this room. I...I think I need to take a shower."

"Understood," Richard said, disappearing as he did. Slowly, Jane got to her feet, stripping off her armor as she did. As she removed her arm plates, she glanced at the bare skin of her arms. On her right arm there was a patch of six white dots while her right arm had two wide streaks.

'Needler spikes,' she thought, looking at the dots, 'energy sword,' she continued looking at the streaks. She sighed, memories of her past...a mere fraction of them. Shaking her head, her continued to walk towards the shower, continuing to strip pieces of her armor off.

XXXXX

Elizabeth smiled as she relaxed into the oversized Jiralhanae bed in her borrowed quarters, holding a datapad in her hands. She had been overjoyed to learn that the Marauders had acquired occasional data dumps from the Extra-net and while doing so had gained a small archive of literature. The Marauder fleet had tendency to remain inactive for weeks if not months, so unless you were patient you would very easily go stir crazy.

Having something entertaining to do was pretty much the only thing that you could do to kill the time. Gently scrolling down, she heard a set of footsteps coming from the doorway. Glancing upward, she felt her stomach sink as she saw the heavily tattooed Jack standing in the doorway.

"Can I help you?" she asked uncertainly, gently placing down the datapad as she stared cautiously at the biotic.

"Yeah, you have any idea where the fuck Wrex is? Guy owes me fifty credits but the fucker still hasn't paid."

"I don't know," the blonde answered honestly, "I haven't seen him in a couple of days, you know how big this ship is."

"Yeah, fucked up too, a couple million Jiralhanae, a Krogan, a corpse, a Geth the tries to 'mingle' and me of course."

"We're getting things done though aren't we?"

"Oh yeah," Jack said, rolling her eyes, "A raid every month, the Jiralhanae must be on the brink of surrender. Did you get brain damage when you died? These Marauders aren't accomplishing jack shit!"

"Somehow I get the feeling that you don't know the first thing about guerrilla warfare, so I hope you don't mind if I take your opinion with a pound of salt."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"You're a lot of things, a military strategist is not one of them. Marton was fighting long before either of us were ever born, something tells me that he is a bit more experienced that you."

"Are you calling me a fucking moron?"

"Oh for Christ's sake," Elizabeth said, standing up, "You just don't strike me as the kind of person that can lead 30 million warriors against a galactic power with billions of warriors and the resources of countless planets is all. Why is it that you get so worked up over every little thing someone says?"

"You looking for a fight bitch?" Jack growled, a biotic aura appeared around her hand as he clenched into a fist.

"You're the one who came barging in here, and you're accusing ME of starting something?" Elizabeth asked incredulously, her hand slowly and covertly reaching for the pistol that she had at her side, just in case she needed it.

"Trying to act all superior, news flash bitch, you start talking shit you better be prepared to face the consequences."

"Dear God, do your biotics impair your our higher brain functions? You're getting worked up other nothing."

"Sucks to be you then, I've been on this fucking boat way too long and I-ve got some steam to blow off and you're the bitch unlucky enough to piss me-" Jack was cut off as a thich metal hand grabbed her throat from behind. Before she could react, she had been lifted off of her feet and slammed against a wall.

"Sometimes I wonder why I allow you to remain on my ship," Marton growled, as he unsheathed his blade and held it against Jack's throat. "I thought that a biotic as powerful as you would prove to be invaluable, and while it is true that you are a force to be reckoned with on the field of battle, I cannot help but wonder if you are worth it. We are vasty outnumbered, the few allies that I have picking fights is something that my cause cannot withstand, especially when it is a loose cannon like you."

"So allow me to make myself very clear, if you attempt to start a fight with anyone else on this ship again, I do not care what Humans do in terms of establishing order, I will kill you myself."

"Don't make promises you aren't going to keep ape man," Jack snarled, staring at him with raw anger, unhindered by the hand around her throat and the blade pressed against it.

"If you doubt my words, put them to the test and see how long you last," Marton growled, releasing Jack and letting her fall to the ground where she proceeded to massage her throat. "Conner, come with me," he said, ignoring Jack as he exited the room. More than glad to get away from the violent convict, Elizabeth hurried after Marton.

"I trust that you are unharmed?" he asked, looking at her as they walked alongside one another.

"Yeah, you stopped it before things got violent. If you don't mind me asking why haven't you kicked her off on some remote world yet? I mean, she's a freaking time-bomb, she isn't like Wrex where you can use reason to diffuse a tense situation, one day she could go nuts and kill us all."

"I understand your concern, but I doubt that it will come to that," Marton replied. "She seems to know that we are her best form of shelter with the Empire hunting her. I imagine that she only went after you because she believed that she would be able to do it without repercussions. I imagine now that some discipline has been executed it is very possible that we have seen the end of that problem."

"What if she decides that you were bluffing?"

"Then I show her that I was not."

Elizabeth felt chills run down her spine at Marton's sentence, remembering how vicious he had been when he had killed Archer. "You...you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes, Legion was able to pick up an Empire transmission, the Marauder fleet is on route to a high value Coalition target. I want you accompany me on a ground mission, Jack may be joining us."

"What is it?"

"I want you to help me kill my brother."

Elizabeth blinked, "Are you sure?" she said uncertainly, "can't you reason with him to end this whole-"

"I appreciate the thought but that option no longer exists. For years and years I attempted to reason with Tritus, but he has drowned himself in the paranoia that gripped us all during the Tribal Wars. His intentions are good, but is mindset is primitive and crude and no good will come of it." Marton's organic eye glazed with raw hatred and disgust. "He must be stopped Conner, for my people, for yours, for the future of every intelligent race...will you help me?"

Elizabeth paused for a second. Just a second. "Yes," she whispered.

XXXXX

"Yes, I'm quite certain that it is fine, you can go now."

"Now just a moment miss, these engines have seen an awful deal of strain, it is standard procedure to double check and triple check starship engines before they leave dock, the slightest malfunction could cause the destruction of the entire ship, especially with all of the excess heat and radiation that has built up in the-"

"I know how engines work," Tali growled, glaring at the Human engineer standing in front of her, who was persistently running a scanner over the Normandy's slipspace core, "I happen to be a Quarian and this ship's Chief Engineer. The rest of the engineers on this ship and I have been running daily checks on the engines, hourly while the stealth systems are being used. They were at 100% capacity when we left for Halestrom and they were at 100% capacity when we got back. Are you saying that I don't know how to do my job?"

"Not at all miss," the man said meekly, "Just trying to do my job, um," he said, pulling his scanner away and scanning the readout. "I think that covers everything, but maybe I should run another scan just to be-"

"Get out," Tali said, her voice eerily calm.

"Um, alright then," the engineer said, scuttling away as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Oh, thank Keelah," the Quarian muttered, approaching her console, wiping off a thin layer of dust.

"Sounds like you're having a bit of a rough time." Tali cranned over her shoulder, half expecting Taylor to be behind her, but instead saw Damon.

"Oh, hello Mr. Winters," she said, pushing a button that causing her console to burst to life. "Just warming up the engines, what brings you down here?"

"I thought that we would have a little talk, we didn't get much of a chance to yesterday, not with my wife babbling and all," he said, leaning against the wall, chuckling as he did. "Sorry about that, though to be fair I think my son was the more embarrassed one."

"Trust me he was."

"I thought so, speaking of Taylor that's what I wanted to talk to you about, you two."

"Yes?" Tali said cautiously, the sudden feeling that she was about to be chastised creeping over her.

"I got the feeling that both of you were young and inexperienced, so no doubt you probably have a couple of things that either have or will trip you up. I thought that as a married man and a father I could give you some pointers."

"I...really?" Tali asked, sounding taken aback.

"Yup," Damon said, grinning slightly as he looked at his future daughter in law. "So was there anything bothering you in particular, or should I just be general?"

"Well, there is the whole interspecies relationship thing," Tali admitted, "That Jilani bitch did that smear report on us, so now who knows how many people know about us. I have a bad feeling that we're going to have to put up with a lot, Quarians still aren't very popular, even among Humans."

"The best advice I can give you there is what I learned from history, time and time again people have had to endure discrimination for all sorts of things, religion, skin color, even their homeland. In reality racism has been a staple of all species since the dawn of time. It's like what my grandfather used to say, 'Times change, technology advances, but the spirits of men remain unchanged.'"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ever since the stone age, there have been people that have wanted to do nothing more than help others and show kindness, and there were those who did not hesitate to harm if it made their life just a little bit easier. Kind people and cruel people have always existed and they always will, sooner or later you'll have to deal with both. The best advice that I can give is don't let it get to you," he grinned, "after all what the Hell do they know? People used to say that I was stupid for marrying Crystal, but nearly three decades later and we're doing just fine, with two kids no less."

"That's another thing," Tali admitted, wringing her hands slightly. "Sooner or later, I think that's something that's going to come up. We're probably going to want to have kids later on and we...well we can't," she said flatly.

"You ever consider adoption?" Damon suggested.

"It...it wouldn't be the same. A child is the flesh and blood of both of its parents, part of both of them combined to form new life. If we were to adopt a child...I don't think that I would feel like it's true mother."

"Hey, I did alright."

Tali blinked, "What?"

Damon raised an eyebrow, "Didn't Taylor tell you that I'm not his biological father?"

"You're not?" Tali exclaimed, caught off guard. Now that she looked closely, she saw that she didn't see any of Taylor in Damon, while the man's jet black hair was present in Sarah, Taylor seemed to take more after his mother, especially in terms of her chocolate brown hair.

"Can't say that I am, I married Crystal while she was still pregnant with him. Sarah is my daughter though, so technically that makes them only half siblings. But let me tell you something, I raised him since he was born, tell me whatever you want, but that man is my son. Trust me, even if you didn't create the child, if you raise if like your own, then it will be your own."

"You make it sound so easy."

"Trust me, it'll come naturally. I'll be honest with you, I was pretty worried about it, I mean I didn't know the first thing about being a father and Crystal and I went through a lot of trial and error. It was a little intimidating being a stepfather, especially to a boy the glowed purple every time he sneezed, but you know, sometimes you just need to have a little faith in yourself. He's a fine young man now, and he's got a sister that's not even two years younger than him," he chuckled, "and both of them are following in their parent's footsteps now. We're a weird bunch, the Winters family, but that's the thing, we're a family, and it's a family you're going to become a part of soon. Then again, maybe you have already, I get the feeling Taylor thinks so."

Tali smiled at the older man. "Thank you, that helped more than you could know."

"I have an idea. Anything else you have on your chest?"

"Well, this one is a bit more embarrassing, you see one time we were sleeping and-"

Meanwhile, the engineer that had been scanning the engines jumped out of the Normandy's airlock before bolting deep into the station that it was docked with. After five solid minutes of running, he came to a stop, gripping his knees and panting heavily. Glancing to his sides, he saw that he was alone. "I took a big risk doing that," he hissed, putting his hand to his ear "their Quarian was watching me like a hawk."

"Did you plant the device?" a cool stern voice asked.

"Yeah, yeah it's planted Lawson, they'll be walking right into your hands."

"Good, you'll find that the aforementioned credits have been transferred to your account, it has been a pleasure working with you."

Author's Note: Sorry that this is so late, but I just went 48 hours without any power, I live in MA and the weather can get pretty damn bi-polar sometimes. It's still October and we just got _several__inches__of__snow_. Normally that isn't so bad, but when there are still fresh green leaves on the trees, the snow has a lot more surface area to clump to and as a result the tree has to hold up a lot more weight and not all can. So yeah I have a big ass tree branch that I need to get out of my front yard (Still better than last year, I lost an entire tree when a nasty ice storm came through) and I was without power for awhile. Still I found the time to put the finishing touches on this.

I am really glad that I've come so far, I spent an entire year working towards this climax and I'm a little excited about how close I am. Still, I'll probably miss these characters that I've grown to love, just like I missed my Fighting for a Purpose characters, making them laugh, making them cry, making them fall in love...it's a little hard to let them go you know? It's like reading a really good book and being sad when it's over because that's the end of the story and you wish that there was more. Well to be fair I do have an idea, but I want to wait until later to share it with you.

As always, tell me what you think.


	73. Trap

Chapter 73

Trap

Author's Note: Well, moving towards the true ending but it's still going to take awhile. Well, time for the action to start again.

Taylor sniffed deeply several strong scents filling is nostrils as he did. "Are you going to stand there until it rots or are you going to eat something?" Gardner asked, looking cross as he stood behind the steaming plates and bowls of food that was the morning's breakfast.

"Just making sure you didn't put anything dangerous in it," Taylor muttered, "I mean bacon? Scrambled eggs? Toast? Freshly squeezed orange juice? No offense Gardner but I smell a rat, quite possibly a literal one."

"The Captain put in an order for a fresh batch of ingredients while we were on Earth, and frankly you'g have to go all the way to Harvest to find better. I've spent the last hour slaving back here just so that you ungrateful sons of bitches can have a nice meal, so yeah, you're welcome."

"Considering that it was Jane who got us food that was actually edible I think that I'll thank her when I get the chance," he said, ladling food onto a plate, before turning and heading away.

"Yeah, enjoy yourself," Gardner said dryly before muttering to himself, "A rat...maybe when Ken's hungry."

Taylor approached one of the tables in the mess hall and dropped his plate down without looking. "Oh, hey Taylor."

Looking up, he saw Rebecca sitting across for him, a plate covered with food in front of her. "Hey Rebecca," he said as he sat down, "how are you holding up?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he glanced around, making sure no one was listening in, "I heard a little rumor that you and Liara are sharing a room now."

"Oh," she said her face turning a little red, "I thought that we were being subtle about it."

"I thought that I was being subtle about my relationship with Tali, next thing I know it's on interplanetary news."

"Yeah, I better make sure that that doesn't happen," she said chuckling slightly. "I get the feeling that we might attract a bit more attention than you two did, what with me having this and all." As she spoke, she idly ran a finger through her bright silver hair, "courtesy of the...those chemicals I inhaled on Feros," she sputtered, remembering the cover story that she was supposed to use to explain her hair, as to keep the Flood a secret.

"I shoot dark energy out of my hands," Taylor said, holding up his right hand and surrounding it with a biotic aura to prove his point. "Your hair is rather tame compared to that, and I was born like this."

"Yes, well the woman I am sleeping belongs to a species where doing that is normal, and did I mention that she can join minds with others and is the daughter of a spiritual leader of her people?"

"The woman I'm sleeping with can't get nutrition from the food that I can, has three fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot and is the daughter of a former Admiral of her people, and did I mention that she lived on a ship and in a suit for half of her life?"

"I could get her pregnant if we're not careful, and we're both women."

"We could go at it till the day we die and I can't get her pregnant, even though she's a woman and I'm a man."

"She sleeps next to me in her underwear."

"Tali doesn't wear underwear."

"Liara-wait really?"

Taylor's face turned red as he realized exactly what he had said. "Yeeeah, can you do me a favor and keep that to yourself?"

Rebecca burst out laughing, and within a few seconds Taylor found himself joining in, laughing at his own stupidity. "Trust me I'm in no rush to run off telling anyone about that. Know that I think about it, I told you a couple of things about Liara and I that I shouldn't of said, so would you care to return the favor?"

"Consider it done," Taylor said as he shoveled a forkful of egg into his mouth and swallowed it. "You know the two of us have rather weird love lives."

"What's wrong with weird? Normal is nice but it can just be so boring sometimes. Later on in life, you and I are going to get to go home, hearts racing with the knowledge that there is someone who isn't the same species as us warming our beds, waiting patiently so that they can show just how much they love us."

"Is every woman on this ship a pervert?" Taylor asked incredulously.

"Oh, come now Taylor," Rebecca asked, grinningly wildly, "we're ALL perverts, every last intelligent being, you included."

"At least I'm subtle about it," he said, sounding rather amused.

"This coming from the guy who had a good portion of an interview dedicated to him?" the Russian asked, tearing a strip of bacon in half with her teeth before chewing and swallowing, "don't make me laugh."

"I'm not the one that just shot out something that wouldn't be out of place in a porno."

"Oh come now, it's all in good fun, after all what's life without a little-" Rebecca was cut off as she lurched forward, her stomach slamming into the table. She wasn't the only one, Taylor had been thrown into the back of his chair, causing it to topple over, while Gardner had smacked his head against his refrigerator."

"What the Hell was that?" the Mess Sergeant asked grumpily, rubbing his now throbbing head.

"That felt like an emergency stop," Taylor muttered, getting to his feet, "but we can't be anywhere near Virmire, why would we stop so soon?"

"There could be something wrong with the engines," Rebecca suggested, "but if that's the case than the UNSC really needs to start hiring better mechanics."

"Hold on a sec," Taylor said, lifting his hand to his ear. "Tali, do you have any idea what just happened?"

"Just a minute," the Quarian replied over the COM lines, "the slipspace engine just initiated a total shut down, it's only supposed to do that when a critical overload is about to happen, but I'm not seeing anything that indicates that was going to happen. I'm going to have to take a closer look at the core, if I want to know what happened." As she spoke, he heard a silent noise that indicated that Tali was on her back, sliding backwards, no doubt to see the base of the core.

"This doesn't make any sense," she remarked, the beeps of an omni-tool just making their way over the COM line. "Everything looks fine, better than fine, there's no reason that we should have…should have…oh Keelah."

"What is it?"

"I just found something planted on the core," Tali whispered, "it looks like the drive was jury rigged to short out, I think I can see I timer. We were sabotaged."

"What the Hell would someone sabotage the Normandy?"

"I have no idea, odds are we dropped out in the middle of nowhere. I'll be able to fix this no problem, but it'll take a little while to get this out of the core safely. Sorry Taylor but I need to tell Jane about-" Tali was cut off as the ship shook. "What was that?"

"INCOMING!" Joker's voice roared over the intercom, "We've got three hostile frigates inbound, they're Cerberus! I repeat, they are Cerberus! They're launching boarding pods, I need those shields up now!"

"Oh fuck," Taylor swore, standing up and unholstering his rifle as he did.

"I've been itching for a little payback against these bastards," Rebecca growled, grabbing her grenade launcher and loading it, "I've lost too many friends to them, I'm not loosing anyone else."

Before Taylor could reply, there was the deafening noise of metal grinding on metal and four giant claws tore through the far wall. Kicking the table over, Taylor and Rebecca slid into cover behind, aiming their weapons at the boarding pod as it worked its way through the hull.

The pod snapped open and five figures stormed out. Three of them were commandos that wore bright white armor with thick silver visors, while the other two were respectively, a woman with raven black in a black and white jumpsuit with high heels, and a man in plain gray combat armor and heavy Chinese facial features.

Rebecca fired her grenade launch at one of the commandos, the projectile exploding in his face, throwing his now limp body back. Both of them ducked behind the table as shots rocketed overhead. They heard a voice over the shots, "Are you blind? That's her, we need her alive! Use concussion shots, kill the others!"

'What?' Taylor wondered, glancing at the Russian, 'what does Cerberus want with Rebecca?'

XXXXX

Around the garden world Virmire, a fleet of Coalition ships floated, around 200 in number, but they were only the first wave to arrive. Others would reinforce them in the days to come, but until then, the Coalition had dug in on the planet. For the most part, the activity on the planet consisted of equipment checks, target practice and resting. For the most part.

Saren felt the force holding his body up give out, causing him to fall to the ground. He landed with a dull thud, panting heavily as he did. Slowly, he got to his feet, looking warily at the Prothean beacon that was lying in front of him. It had taken much searching and research but he had finally found it, the last piece of the puzzle.

"Did it work?" an Asari standing behind him asked, one of Benezia's commandos that still followed him...not that she had any choice in the matter.

Saren held up a hand, indicating that he wanted silence, and the Asari fell silent. The Turian stood still, silently running through the memories that were now in his head. It took extreme focus and patience, but he was able to organize the thoughts in his mind, although he did have a little outside help.

"Two stars, the second planet...the Pangaea Expanse...the Refuge system." A sinister smile spread across his face. "Everything is so clear, I can see...wait." His smile slowly slid away. "Part of the vision...it is as unintelligible as it was before I received the Cipher."

"That cannot be," the Asari said, "You should be able to understand Prothean thought as if it was your own. Do you wish me to-"

"No," Saren said, "whatever it is it does not matter. I can see where the Conduit lies, that is all that matters. That part of the message has most likely been damaged due to the beacon not being maintained over the years."

"If you insist," the Asari said, bowing her head slightly. Both of them began to walk, before entering an elevator not far away, which began to move upward.

"How long until we move to take the Conduit?"

"Not long," Saren replied, "The Coalition is suffering heavy losses, we will have to make our move before they collapse completely and the Alliance begins to regroup. This must be done with precise timing, lest everything fall apart."

"Then we launch our assault on the Citadel?"

"Yes...then we open the gateway and let them through." Saren's skeletal face stretched into an eery grin. "The fruits of our labors will be seen," he said as the elevator slid to a halt and the doors opened. Both of them stepped out into a brightly lit command center, the walls coated with terminals and a massive holographic map of the Milky Way in the center.

"So glad that you could join us," Tritus sneered as they approached, Xeron, Zalton and Sukron standing around the table with him, "we happen to have an attack to plan."

"Oh, so much complaining," Sukron said dryly, idly throwing his knife into the air and catching it by the blade with his mechanical arm, "do you ever do anything else?"

Tritus ignored him and pressed a button at the rim of the table, causing the Milky Way to be replaced by a bright glowing planet. "I trust that all of you are familiar with the planet Reach? A UNSC fortress world, it's primary exports are starships, firearms, personal sheilding units, and other tools of war. It produces 20% of the UNSC's means to battle with us, we are going to annihilate it."

"Why not a larger target?" Xeron asked, "The purpose of this attack is to give the Coalition it's second wind, would it not be more appropriate to attack Earth? I would be an excellent way to recover from the loss of Khar'shan."

"I trust that you remember the disaster that was the Battle of Sangheilios, the goal of it was to conquer the most heavily defended planets of the RSN and crush the resolve of the Alliance, instead it backfired, our fleet was shattered, and the hopes of our foes were restored. They launched a counter attack and forced us onto the defensive, and now they have the upper hand. We cannot afford to take a planet as heavily defended as Earth, the devastation that we would suffer if we were defeated could be the undoing of the Coalition. For a moment, we must tread with caution."

"Pretty words Tritus," Sukron sneered, tossing his knife and catching it again, "but they do an inadequate job of hiding that you are simply a coward."

"As I was saying," Tritus continued, "Stealth Phantoms will attempt to either board the orbital defense platforms or land on the planet's surface and destroy their power source, afterwards we will use the same tactics that we used at Haven."

"The battle where Ultimas ran with his tail between his legs?" Sukron asked.

"No, the battle where the commands of a mentally unstable psychopath caused the deaths of millions of our own warriors and forced us to retreat, that battle," Tritus growled.

Sukron leered at the Emperor, catching his knife again before proceeding to sharpen it against his arm. "Do not blame me, I appear to be the only one here who has a stomach for blood."

"Sukron, ever since you became a Supreme Commander I have realized one thing and one thing alone, you are accomplished at torture, launching terror attacks, and leading your band of thugs, but as a military and political leader, you are an absolute FAILURE! You are incapable of following the most basic of orders, understanding the most primitive formation, and I am not even certain that you know the meaning of the word strategy. You are little more than a grunt that has been given a position of command through pure political ties and nothing else, so if you wish to criticize me, ACTUALLY HAVE THE HIGH GROUND WHEN YOU DO IT!"

Tritus glared furiously at the cyborg, Xeron and Zalton watching with worry. A slight smirk spread across Sukron's face, as if he knew something that Tritus did not. "Very well Emperor," he said, sheathing his knife, "Continue with you briefing."

"Very well," Tritus hissed, turning back to the hologram. He was about to continue when something struck him. "Where is Rason?" he said, scanning those that surrounded the table and realizing that he was not there.

"He is still in the medical bay," Zalton answered, "he said that he had tests to run and that he would be joining us shortly. Emperor, is something the matter?" he asked in a concerned voice.

"Nothing, nothing is the matter," Tritus growled, "One of my Supreme Commanders is dead, one is borderline insane, and yet another is going soft on me, and the last is barely an adult, what could possibly be wrong!"

Zalton blinked before turning to look at Xeron who gave a subtle shrug of his shoulders. "Now, if no one else has any absurd points to me, let me continue!" Xeron and Zalton looked at each other with worry again. Something was wrong with their Emperor. What they did not know though, was that this had always been the case.

"The Fall of Reach during the Human-Covenant war was said to be Humanity's bleakest hour, the point where many of them lost hope. I intend to recreate that feeling."

"Tritus, are you certain that this will work?" Xeron asked, "the UNSC of that era was massively outclassed by the Covenant's might, they lost engagement after engagement and suffered four times as many destroyed ships as we did, but they are much stronger now. Before a pack of 25 Covenant ships was more than enough to defeat a UNSC fleet of a hundred, but a current UNSC fleet would win that battle without even trying. If we were to attempt this attack, even if it were to succeed, we would incur the wraith of Humanity and the rest of the Alliance, prompting a vicious counterattack that could very well be an all out assault on Dosiac."

"The defense fleet of Dosiac is more than capable of repealing any assault the Alliance can throw at us, and no doubt they will fear that the planet will have Divine Thunder as part of it's defenses."

"I would not go so far as to say that," Xeron replied, "The UNSC has stealth capabilities that we have yet to crack, including their prototype stealth frigate the Normandy which, if you recall, struck at the very heart of the Empire when it attacked Galnu. When we were finally aware of it, the personal that it had dropped off were already making their way out. It is more than safe to say that they will take precaution's in scanning the surface of Dosiac before they launch any offensive move, and no doubt they will look specially for any traces of Divine Thunder, which they will not find."

"Xeron," Tritus growled, looking at the youngest Supreme Commander, "we have no choice in the matter, unless we turn the tide of this war soon, the Alliance will continue to press against us and render us with no means of winning whatsoever. We knew the risks when we started this war, the people of the Empire cheered that they would no longer have to live in fear, I will not have them scream in terror as the civilization we worked so very hard to build comes crashing down around us. I will not have that, this is the only way to survive, you need to face that, DO YOU UNDERSTAND MARTON?"

"I...what?" Xeron asked, looking bewildered.

Tritus blinked and took a step back before turning and striding out of the command center. Xeron watched him leave before turning to face Zalton. "Come with me," he whispered.

As both of them began to head to another exit, Sukron smiled. "Seems like the stress of the job is getting to the old man, he should have known what he was getting himself into," he said, staring at the doorway that Tritus had just walked out of. He caught a glimpse of dark gray clouds, huddling together ominously in the distance, slowly but surely working their way forward. A storm was coming

XXXXX

Jane's ears perked up as she stepped out of the shower, rubbing behind her ears with a fluffy white towel. "We've got three hostile frigates inbound, they're Cerberus! I repeat, they are Cerberus! They're launching boarding pods, I need those shields up now!"

Immediately the towel fell to the floor and Jane dashed to her bed, where her COM unit was lying. "Joker, status report!"

"Not quite sure what happened Cap!" the pilot hastily replied, "Tali said something about the slipspace drive being sabotaged, next thing I know three Cerberus ships are bearing down on us, and they're deploying boarding pods! From the looks of things they're priming weapons too, and the drive isn't going to be working for awhile."

"Do what you have to do!" Jane shouted, grabbing a tank top and a pair of shorts and slipping them on before grabbing pieces of her MJOLNIR, slapping them on as she did, "I don't care what it takes, destroy those ships!"

"On it!" Joker said as Jane slipped on the last piece of her armor before sliding her helmet over her head and grabbing her battle rifle. She dashed towards the elevator reaching for a handle located next to it. Pulling back on it, a man sized door flung open, revealing a ladder surrounded by coils of wires and humming machinery. Clambering into the maintenance hatch, Jane gripped one of the ladder's poles and let herself slide down, still firmly gripping her rifle.

There was a clang as she hit the floor of the deck belong, her knees buckling slightly. The sounds of gunfire and shouting reached her ears as she raised her weapon and kicked the hatch in front of her open. She was on the rear end of the CIC of the Normandy, which had turned into a warzone, two giant holes had been torn on the right side of the room and nearly a dozen Cerberus commandos in pure white armor were using the galaxy map as cover as the fired in the direction of the bridge.

There was a loud bang and the heads of one of the commandos exploded as a sniper rifle round tore through his hand, originating from the bridge. Squinting, Jane saw Garrus, Jun, Crystal, Jacob, Neriena and Liara, crouching behind consoles and around the corners of the entrance, exchanging fire with the Cerberus commandos. A blast door had slammed down when the fighting had begun, cutting off the cockpit from the rest of the ship, and now the Normandy's crew were desperately fighting to protect it.

A look of anger crossing her face, Jane reached for her waist and closed her hand around a plasma grenade. Pressing a button on the side of it, she threw the glowing sphere at the back of one of the commandos. The man barely had time to shriek before it detonated, killing him and two nearby commandos.

With reflexes gained from years of training, four other commands turned on the spot and opened fire on Jane's position, one of them aiming a rocket launcher. Jane swore under her breath as she dove through the doorway to the Normandy's conference room. A shower of bullets coated the wall where she a been a second ago a rocket following it, the splash taking the edge off of Jane's shields.

Seeing an opening, Jacob eased around the terminal that he was crouching behind and opened fire at one of the commandos that was firing at Jane. The first four bursts brought down her shields, and as she attempted to duck down, a five burst slammed into her visor, exiting out the other side of her helmet along with several chunks of gray matter.

"Nice shot!" Garrus shouted, raising his sniper rifle and taking off the head of another commando.

"Joker, report!" Jane shouted into her COM unit, "I need a full status report!"

"Now's not a good time Cap!"

"Make it quick then!"

"Oh for the love of-"

"I've got it," Richard's smooth voice said, crackiling across the COM lines, "keep flying Joker, the Cerberus ships are attempting to surround you. Captain, we have intruders outside the bridge, in the mess hell, and in engineering. These attack paterns suggest that Cerberus intends to take this ship intact, what is more their frigates are targeting engines and weapons, they plan to cripple us. We are in the middle of the empty space between star systems, no one is in ship to ship range and our long range communications are being blocked."

"Can you hack the enemy vessels?"

"Negative Ma'm, A.I.s from all three ships are bombarding me even as we speak, it's taking everything I've got just to keep them from killing every system on the ship. Lucky for us their A.I.s aren't as advanced as I am, but if I stop for even a second we're dead in the water."

"Any idea why they're doing this? What are they after?"

"I don't know, they're transmissions are encoded and like I said before I can't dedicate the manpower to decipher it."

"What about the crew? Where are they?"

"From what I can see a large amount of them are taking cover in the cargo bay, I've sealed the doors and no one is getting in there without my say so, but it doesn't look like any of them are even trying. A couple of them are stuck outside there though, I can see that Mess Sergeant Gardner is stuck in the Mess Hall, and Ken and Gabby and caught in a firefight in engineering. Kelly is making her way from her quarters to the cargo bay, she may get caught in the firefight."

"Direct her to safety!" Jane shouted as she raised her rifle and swung out of cover. "I swear to christ that if one member of my crew gets hurt I will kill every last one of you!" she bellowed as she jammed down on the trigger.

Author's Note: Cerberus is making his move, Sukron is plotting in silence and Jane his getting royally pissed. I hope that you liked this chapter, by the way, there's a new episode of Arby n the Chief out...watch it. It is awesome. Well, tell me what you think.


	74. Shipboard Battle

Chapter 74

Shipboard Battle

Author's Note: Well MW3 will be out by the time that I'm done with this chapter, and to be honest, I'm rather interested in it, despite not being that big of a fan of the series. I'll probably play it when I can pull by brother away from it for five seconds. Well, I don't want to bore you, let's get cracking.

"How did this happen?" Tali muttered under her breath as he leaned around the right entrance to the Normandy's engine and fired her shotgun. The pellets impacted on the shields of one of the two commandos that were slowly advancing on her position, badly weakening it. Reacting quickly, the commando hoisted his assault rifle and opened fire, Tali forcing herself back into cover as he did, a few bullets managing to impact on her shields.

"Keep your head down!" Damon shouted from the other doorway, activating a plasma grenade and throwing it down the hallway. The two commandos on his side were on their toes though, and as soon as they saw the grenade, all four of them scattered, the ball exploding harmlessly. "Son of a bitch," he swore, firing three bursts from his rifle at one of the commandos as they escaped his line of sight.

"Got any plans?" Tali whispered over the COM lines, her words reverberating in Damon's ears.

"Can't say that I do," he replied, "This isn't exactly the most ideal position to defend. As he spoke, both of the Cerberus commandos advancing on his position fired both of their weapons, bullets scrapping the doorframe that he had his back pressed against. Clenching his rifle tightly, Damon peeked out of the room, firing another four bursts from his rifle, hitting a commando in the chest and forcing him into cover again. "How about you? I'll go for anything at this point."

"Well..." she whispered, the parts of an extremely undeveloped plan fitting themselves together in her head, "one, but it's as sloppy as they come."

"I'm game, what do I do?"

"How many plasma grenades do you have left?"

"Just the one," he said, taking an inactive grenade off of his side, tossing it at her before blind firing another two bursts out of the door.

"Hold on," she said, firing another blast from her shotgun before catching the grenade, "this would work so much better if we had a biotic with us." Pressing her shotgun against her chest with her elbow, she brought up her omni-tool, typing furiously. "I haven't had a chance to use this so far, there was never a situation where it was appropriate or I could get the chance," she muttered as a bright pink sphere appeared in front of her.

"Come on Chiktikka vas Paus," she said, taking Damon's grenade and the two at her own waist and putting them on top of the drone, a faint static shock jolting her hand as she touched the drone's Mass Effect field. Releasing the grenades, they floated in in air around the drone, suspended by the Mass Effect field that made the drone weightless. But already she could see the field flickering as the grenades beginning to sag, the drone had not been built to hold up that much mass, even the tiny grenades. It would only be able to hold them up for fifteen seconds at most.

"Go girl," Tali whispered, and with that the drone whizzed out of the doorway, coming to a stop in between the two commandos. Pressing a button on her omni-tool, Tali caused the grenades to fall to the ground before pressing another button. A small fork of lighting shot out and hit one of the grenades, and while the bolt would be harmless to a shielded soldier, it was just enough to make the grenade detonate.

The grenade exploded, the explosion engulfing the other two and causing them to detonate as well. The explosion of the three spheres combined overwhelmed the shields and breached the armor of both commandos, sending their life deprived bodies flying. "Good girl Chiktikka," Tali whispered as the drone disappeared. "Damon stay where you are, keep shooting at the commandos." As she spoke, she grasped her shotgun's handle again, raising it up to eye level as she slowly moved forward.

"Ah," Damon muttered, understanding flooding his face, "I see…gotcha." Firing two more bursts from his rifle, Damon narrowly ducked another stream of bullets from the commandos. Silently, Tali crept forward, her shotgun raised as she passed the elevator and approached the remaining two commandos, who were so engulfed in their firefight with Damon that they had yet to notice their allies falling.

As their backs came into view, Tali pulled the trigger on her shotgun. The resulting burst hit one of the commandos fully on the back, taking his shields out completely. Caught off guard, both of the commandos whirled around, aiming their rifles at Tali. Both of them began to fire, but a trio of bullets tore through the helmet of the shieldless commando, shattering his visor as the exited through the other side.

Seeing that she was stuck in between two hostiles and knowing that even if she was able to gun one down the other one would be able to eliminate her if she remained still, the remaining commando took the only course of action left available to her. She charged. Tali blinked, not having expected this, was knocked off of her feet as the shoulder of the Cerberus operative slammed into her.

Landing on the hard metal floor of the Normandy, her shotgun having flown from her hand, Tali felt a strong hand close around her throat. Glancing up, she saw that the commando had pounced upon her and was hold her other hand in the air, which was surrounded by an omni-tool. With a flick a long yellow blade extended from the omni-tool, shining brightly. The woman brought the blade down with extreme force, intending to stab the Quarian.

One of Tali's hands, which had been dedicated to attempting to pull the hand around her throat away, darted forward and grabbed the woman by the wrist, bringing the blade to a halt a mere inch away from her face. The woman snarled in anger and released her grip around the Quarian's throat, yanking her arm out of Tali's somewhat slacking grip. Before she could react, the commando had tightened her hand into a fist and slammed it into Tali's stomach.

She gasped in pain, nearly losing her grip on the bladed arm, which inched uncomfortably close to her face. Seeing the results of her actions, the commando pulled her fist back, intending to strike again. Tali had no intentions of letting that happen though, for her free hand had flattened itself into a palm which she swung at the woman on top of her, firmly connecting the blow with her jugular. The commando gave a desperate gasp for breath, both of her hands withdrawing to instinctively clutch at her throat. Tali was about to reach for her shotgun, when two thick black armored arms firmly seized the head of the commando and violently twisting it, a wet snapping noise accompanying it.

The commando fell to the floor as Damon looked at Tali, offering his hand to her. "You ok?" he asked

"Yeah," she gasped out, taking his hand, "why didn't you just shoot her?"

"You two were thrashing about like Hell, I could've hit you by accident," the ODST explained, pulling the alien woman to her feet, "and I doubt that my son would appreciate me shooting his wife to be." Tali smiled faintly.

"This is Lieutenant Damon Winters," he said, pressing his hand to his COM unit, "Engineering is secure, I repeat engineering is secure, we have four hostiles KIA and no wounded, what are our orders."

"Winters, I need you to stay where you are," Jane hastily spluttered, the sounds of gunshots more then obvious over the lines, "Cerberus may try to take the engines again, I need you and whoever you have with you to stay there and guard it, understood?"

"Roger that, Winters out." As Damon lowered his hand, he saw Tali crouched by the dead commando, reaching for her still active omni-tool. "What are you doing down there?" he asked.

"Getting her omni-tool," Tali replied, removing a small chip from the commando, causing the omni-tool to dissipate. "It was actually able to form a blade capable of doing harm, this could be a revolutionary form of concealed weaponry."

As she got back to her feet, she looked at Damon. For a minute, neither of them said anything. Then Tali broke the silence. "Jane wants us to stay here?" Damon nodded. "Uh...do you...do you think that the others will be ok?"

"I hope so," Damon muttered, putting a comforting hand on Tali's shoulder, "I pray to Christ that they will be."

"I...I need to monitor the engines," Tali muttered.

"I've got your back."

XXXXX

It was quiet. Rason rather liked that, it made it easier for him to concentrate, but more importantly it made it easier for him to think. He was sitting within a laboratory on Virmire, the table in front of him was covered with test tubes, microscopes, notes and a couple of computers, all of them scattered about in an unidentifiable mess. He liked it that way.

He knew that he was supposed to be testing the experimental cures for Xeron's condition, but at the moment the Supreme Commander had found it difficult for him to get excited about his work over the past couple of months. So much had changed, things simply did not look the same anymore. Xeron was still the same, but Ultimas was dead, Tritus had become short tempered, paranoid and rather fanatical, and Sukron was...Sukron.

Rason had never thought that he would miss Benezia, but as he sat there, he could not help but long for the presence of the blue skinned alien, scornfully criticizing his research methods, only for him to counter. To say that they had had an odd relationship simply did not do it justice, all of their interactions should have pointed to them hating each other, yet there had been some sort of bond between them. The bond that had made her give him some of her commandos on Noveria, the bond that had made him say 'thank you' the bond that had made their insults friendly...and the bond that had made him give her a proper funeral.

Ever since the UNSC had launched it's raid on Galnu, the events of that day had been burned into his mind. One would think that he would feel an untamable hatred towards the UNSC and their allies, but it was more complicated than that. More complicated that he could have ever foreseen. "To watch your own hands commit horrible atrocities and to be powerless to stop, it is a fate I would wish on no one."

The words of the Matriarch still rang in his ears, as clear as if he had said them himself. Was it true, had she truly been manipulated into fighting against her will? The issue deeply tore the Jiralhanae, on one hand the terror in the Asari's voice had been all but genuine, but on the other he had little evidence to support his claim besides that. He could not think of a motive for Saren doing such a thing, nor a way for him to have acquired the technology for him to do so, as such a device would be decades or even centuries beyond the most advanced race.

'Is Tritus right?' Rason wondered, idly pressing a button on the side of his microscope 'have I gone soft in my old age?' He sighed as he leaned forward, pressing his eye against the microscope's lens. Beneath it was a glass slide covered with blood that was infected with Xeron's disease. As he watched, a small mechanical arm holding a dripper squeezed several drops of a bright yellow fluid onto the cells. As the cells and bacteria absorbed the liquid, both of them grew and grew until the membranes of both burst violently.

"Rason's recording, Cure 54 has proven to be ineffective, was just as lethal to cells as it was to the bacteria." As he spoke, he removed the slide and the cure, discarding both before inserting a fresh slide and another dripper, this one filled with an orange fluid.

"I simply do not know anymore," Rason muttered under his breath, barely paying attention to his experiments, "what am I supposed to do with this information? Confront Saren? That would no doubt end in disaster, for if he did control Benezia, he has already lied about it countless times before, and if he did not, I will permanently damage the stability of the Coalition by publicly accusing him of such things."

The mechanical arm squezed the dripper and organge cure leaked out. As Rason watched, he groaned as the bacteria slowly began to divide. "Cure 55 fared no better, causing increased reproduction in the bacteria." He shook his head, discarding the slide and the failed cure.

He could not dwell on the fate of the Asari Matriarch, he would decide what needed to be done later. Xeron was infected with a disease that only left him with a few years, and he had been the one that caused it. "Last one,"he grunted, placing it into his microscope along with another sample of infected blood.

Pressing the button, his thoughts drifted to the early days of the Empire's biotic warrior program. Jiralhanae had only been exposed to Element Zero over the past few decades, therefore all Jiralhanae biotics were children or adolescents. Countless young and eager candidates had come forward, eager to serve the Empire. Rason had designed implants and combat stimulants from the data that they had salvaged from the Cerberus base that had created Subject Zero. Xeron had been the only survivor.

Rason still felt pangs of shame about it, although Xeron was without a doubt one of the most powerful biotics ever seen, and the second generation of Jiralhanae biotics had been a massive success, over a hundred young Jiralhanae were now dead because of Rason's actions. Ever since then, he had searched high and low for a cure to Xeron condition. He had made several leaps when he had acquired a sample of Subject Zero's Blood and discovered that the source of the virus was not his implants but Serum 16, he had yet to find a cure.

Forcing himself to lean forward in his chair, he glancing through the microscope again. He felt his jaw drop. Slowly but ever so surely, the bacteria was slowly shriveling after absorbing the final cure. "Cure 56 shows surprising progress, in the sample the bacteria has been killed or weakened at a-" he did a quick count "-60% rate. Such statistics are highly promising and outclass previous breakthroughs massively."

Rason carefully snatched the cure sample from the mechanical arm. It was a light bright blue, and seemed to glow in an almost friendly manner. "Could it be?" Rason wondered, "could this be the cure to Xeron's condition? No...not yet, 40% of the bacteria still survives treatment. I will have to run further tests on this, improve it's chemical makeup until it completely purges the system. Who knows how long that could take, but it matters not, I have a lead."

Rason tried to fight down the excitement that was bubbling up in his stomach. He reasoned that this could be like when he had received the blood samples from the Blue Sun prison ship, he may only buy Rason a couple more years, or it could turn out to be another dead end. He failed through as his hands began to tremble in anticipation.

"I must contact Tritus, he needs to know that...Tritus." Rason's face contorted into a scowl. He remembered how the Emperor had dismissed his claim and refused to take any action against Saren for the crime that he had committed. Rason free hand tightened in anger as he recalled that day until he forced himself to calm down.

"There is no point in telling him until I actually have a solid foundation to stand on," he reasoned as he turned back to the table. "He gains nothing by learning that I have taken a step that may lead nowhere." Rason slowly sat down. He had much work to do.

XXXXX

"Damn it!" Taylor swore under his breath as he gathered a ball of biotic energy around his hand before throwing it over the table that he and Rebecca we still taking cover behind. The Warp hit one of the commandos in the chest, badly weakening his shields. Right after, Rebeca aimed her grenade launcher and fired, the projectile bouncing once before exploding, killing the commando.

"You holding up?" she whispered to Taylor, throwing her launcher to the side before reaching for her shotgun.

"Yeah, why are you ditching that?"

"Out of ammo, I don't wear my bandolier around the ship," she muttered, "There's just three of them left, let's finish them off fast."

"Agreed," Taylor said, both of them whipping out of cover at the same time. Rebecca squeezed off two shots with her shotgun, taking off the shields of the remaining commando. At the same time, Taylor leveled off another Warp at the same man, ripping off half of his torso, causing him to fall to the ground.

As Taylor pulled his arm back, he saw a bright glowing ball of biotic energy bearing down on him. Raising his arms, a barrier surrounded him just as the ball hit, draining both his barrier and some of his shields. "Motherfuck," he swore, ducking behind the table again, "watch out for the one in the catsuit, she's a biotic."

"Eye on the whore, got it," she said. As she finished speaking, a massive biotic blast hit the table, causing it to shatter into hundreds of shards. Scrambling to their feet, they saw both Cerberus operatives bearing down on them. Raising her shotgun to aim at the man, Rebecca didn't even have time to pull the trigger before an armored leg rose up and knocked it from her hands. She saw Kai Leng baring down on her, a combat knife in hand. Her actions fueled by adrenaline, Rebecca quickly grasped her own knife, drawing it and parrying a stab to her leg.

Taylor on the other hand had raised his rifle to aim at Miranda, only to have her project another Warp at him, blasting the DMR out of his hands. His own biotic aura flaring up around him, Taylor extended both palms and sent a pull at the raven haired woman. Ducking it, Miranda closed the distance in between them at a lightening pace, her hands tightening into fists as she did.

Taylor realized what was about to happen as she stopped directly in front of him, a fist flying at his helmetless face. Hastily stepping backwards and leaning his head to the side, he felt Miranda clip his face. His aura glowing darker, he countered, punching at the woman's gut. Her right leg rose to meet him, deflecting his blow and leaving a stinging sensation in his wrist.

Taylor was shocked at how she was keeping up with him, despite him using a Victory class combat suit. He assumed that Kai Leng was using something similar as he continued his knife fight with Rebecca, but the woman seemed to be matching him blow for blow, wearing nothing but her skin tight outfit.

The ODST's line of thought was broken as a high heeled foot swung at his neck. Dropping to a squatting position and pressing both of his palms to the ground, he kicked outward, aiming for her leg. He felt a satisfying jolt as the blow connected, causing Miranda to grunt as she toppled over backwards. As she fell and while Taylor was wondering why his kick had not broken the bone, she extended her arm outward. A Shockwave shot out and Taylor, who was in no position to dodge, was hit head on.

He was launched back, his head smacking rather hard against the wall behind him. Stars dancing in front of his eyes, he groggily got to his feet, Miranda doing the same.

While the two of them were fighting, Kai Leng was advancing viciously on Rebecca, his knife a silver blur as stabbed, slashed and swung it at her. It took ever last bit of the Russians skill and reflexes to merely keep the knife away. Her eyes rapidly darted back and forth as she swung her own knife. Right, left, above left, below, right, left, above, above, center.

She bit her lip in frustration as she continued to block the oncoming blows, not certain that she could continue to do it for much longer. Leng stabbed forward again this time aiming for Rebecca's chest. She swung her knife from below, intended to parry it, but as she did, Leng's knife changed course, heading for her knife hand instead. She pulled her arm back violently, but not before she saw a flash of silver and felt a stinging sensation in her wrist.

She winced as she stepped back, bright crimson blood dripping from her hand. The cut felt shallow, but next time she might not be so fortunate. Ignoring the pain, she held her knife up in front of her, facing the Asian man.

"Lawson!" a voice shrieked over the Cerberus COM lines.

"Busy right now," Miranda hissed, narrowly dodging a Warp from Taylor before replying with her own.

"We're getting slaughtered up here! We're caught in a crossfire and the engineering team isn't responding, we need backup!" Miranda felt chills creep up her spine. She has already lost most of her team, and with the third one dead while the primary was being slaughtered...they had to get Frost and get out. But she would need a plan.

"What is going on here?" a confused voice shouted. Miranda and Kai both glanced in the direction of the voice and saw a confused Kelly Chambers standing in the hallway.

"Kelly get out of here!" Taylor shouted, sending another biotic sphere at Miranda, Rebecca lunging at Leng at the same time. Both of them were caught off guard, a Warp hit Miranda dead in the chest while Rebecca was able to bury her knife in Leng's gut. While Miranda's barriers projected her, Leng was far less fortunate as blood began to squirt out of his wound.

Miranda grimaced in anger and raised her hand to retaliate when an idea occurred to her. An idea that might just get them out of here with Frost. Taylor was preparing another attack when her biotic aura thickened around her and before he could react, she had executed a biotic Charge. She landed directly in front of Kelly, the yeoman stumbling back from the shockwave. Quickly and viciously, Miranda elbowed Kelly's stomach, causing her to double over before wrapping her arm around the red head's neck, drawing a machine pistol from her side and pressing it to her temple.

Taylor quickly drew his magnum, aiming it at Miranda with his finger tense on the trigger. He dared not fire though, for fear that he might hit Kelly, or that Miranda would shoot her first. Both Rebecca and Leng had frozen, staring at the events that unfolded before them, the former horrified, the latter mildly interesting, both of them seemingly obvious to the fresh wounds that they were sporting.

"Here's what's going to happen," Miranda said coldly, tighting her grip on Kelly who was now quivering in fear. "Frost, you are going to get into that pod come back with us to our ships, or the Normandy will be short one crew member."

"Don't!" Kelly shouted out, "I'm not-GAHHHHHHH!" Miranda had lowered her pistol and pressed it against Kelly's shoulder before pulling the tirgger. A look of cold fury gripped the faces of Taylor and Rebecca, but they remained rooted where they stood.

"The next one goes in her head," Miranda snarled, pressing her pistol against the Yeoman's head, who was now panting in agony, "what's it going to be?"

Author's Note: Sorry that this one took awhile, creativity isn't a faucet you know, I can't turn it on whenever I feel like it. Some people have pointed out that I tend to portray Cerberus as one dimensional villains, and while I do tend to make them less developed than the Empire, that's only because I think that Cerberus is slightly over the top. Seriously, these people have not had one major project that didn't end in a body count, even the Lazarus project ended with their security mechs going physco and shooting the place up.

One of my reviewers pointed out that Cerberus wouldn't have expected the Shadow Broker to hack them, and that Lazarus was proof that Cerberus was a lighter shade of gray. I disagree with both, TIM helped Liara find Shepard's corpse and she fought several Shadow Broker agents along the way, if Cerberus really expected the Broker to just give up once they had the corpse, then they're fraking idiots. Also it's true that TIM brought Shepard back to life, but the thing about TIM is that whenever he does something nice THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING IN IT FOR HIM! Yeah he was willing to work with Shep, but turned on him the second Shep didn't give him the Collector base, something even Jacob and Miranda agreed was a no no. I'll admit that he IS gray, but so is the Empire in this fic and Ceaser's Legion and Fallout, they're all extremely dark shades of gray, you understand why they do what they do, but you don't sympathize with them.

And killing an Alliance rear admiral? Experimenting with Rachni and Therons? Setting a Thresher Maw on Marines and then injecting the lone survivor with acid? Killing a pope? Subject Zero (I don't acre if that cell technically rogue, TIM still authorized the kidnapping of kids)? IMPLANTING A MAN WITH FRAKING REAPER CYBERNETICS! Hey TIM, how's your twirly mustache coming in? Someone pointed out that Cerberus experimenting with the Flood was unreasonable and out of character, but given what they've done, I think that it fits in rather well. So yeah, I don't like Cerberus, they've just done too many horrible things AND they're slated to shoot your ass off on ME3, I don't get why so many people try and defend them, THEY'RE ASSHOLES! Maybe ME3 will change my mind, maybe TIM will be like Snape, but until then he's a villain with questionable goals that is willing to go way too fraking far, I don't care for him.

I guess I find it hard to like someone when I go through the Paragon play through and Shep keeps making his distrust for the organization well known, that's the reasonable and likable Shep people. I believe that everything that Cerberus has done in my fic, including taking Kelly hostage and experimenting with the Flood, to be completely in character. Please don't try and start up a debate with me about this, I know for a fact that at least one of you will, we've been down this road before, don't bother.

By the way, Skyrim has me interested and I am considering buying it on tuesday when I head up to Gamestop to buy CEA. Can any of you comment on the game? Should I buy it?


	75. Iron Rage

Chapter 75

Iron Rage

Author's Note: WARNING this chapter is going to be...a little more violent than usual. I've been planning this for some time and...well you'll see. Also, I would like to thank SO58 for the little idea at the end of the chapter.

"What's our status Sarah?" Admiral Hall asked as she sat in her command chair on the bridge of her new starship, the Marathon-class cruiser _Archangel_, Fleet Admiral Anderson's old ship. Hall had recovered from the wounds that she had sustained at Haven and a new eye had been flash cloned for her, but a mess of ghostly white marks from where the shrapnel had buried itself into her face were still present.

"All supplies are loaded on board, all personal are accounted for, all ships reporting in, green across the board ma'am," the golden avatar of the Smart A.I. Reported from her usual place on Hall's armrest. The _Archangel_ was currently orbiting high above Earth along with two hundred other UNSC vessels, in addition to the home fleet. Hall had orders to take her fleet to a rendezvous point that was only half an hour away from Virmire to meet up with the rest of the Alliance invasion fleet.

"Music to my ears Sarah, start up the drive, take us out of here," the Admiral said, relaxing into her chair.

"Copy that," the A.I. said as she relayed Hall's orders to the rest of the fleet. Slipspace rifts opened up in front of all of the vessels under her command, and one by one they slipped through, the gates closing behind them. The Archangel was one of the last to go through, crossing the threshold into slipspace with a feeling of power.

"How long till we reach our destination?" Hall asked.

"Should be around 8 hours give or take," Sarah answered, "but even once we get there we'll have to do a little more waiting. More ships will be scheduled to arrive after us, and even once they do we'll have to stand still until the _Normandy_ gives us the all clear."

"I suppose that we will just have to be patient and find a way to pass the time," Hall said. As she did a very faint growling noise was heard. It originated from Hall's stomach, earning her a confused glance from Sarah. Turning slightly pink Hall muttered "I think that I will drop by the cafeteria. Care to join me?"

Sarah smiled, looking slightly amused, "I'd be delighted." Hall reached out with her hand, touching Sarah's avatar and transmitting her into her neural implant. Pushing herself to her feet, Hall made her way towards the rear of the bridge, the door automatically opening as it detected her presence.

"I still can't believe I'm in command of Anderson's old ship," Hall muttered, idly tracing the wall beside her as she walked. "This was the command ship for the fleet that destroyed the Coalition forces that wiped out Stronghold."

"Well, it works just fine, the UNSC isn't in a mood for wasting ships, and Anderson just got a dreadnaught to command from."

"Oh goodie, I always wanted a hand me down." Sarah laughed. Hall approached the elevator at the far end of the hallway, her finger extending out to push the button. Just as she was about to push it, she felt something slam into her side, causing her to stumble. "What the Hell?" she said, recovering her balance and glancing around, looking for what had hit her.

"Oh God not again," a young dark haired woman in a naval uniform said, tightly clutching a datapad as she looked at Hall. "Admiral I am so sorry I wasn't looking where I was going, I just got a letter from my parents and I was reading it while I was walking but I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and I didn't notice you, I swear that I didn't mean to-"

"Whoa," Hall said, holding her hands up in front of her, "take it easy, It was an honest mistake, no one got hurt, what's the big deal?"

"I...sorry," the woman said, looking rather nervous. "It's just...I still can't believe I'm serving on a Marathon-class cruiser, especially under you. It's just...unnerving."

"You're Oriana Wells aren't you? One of the new personal we picked up."

"Yes," Oriana said meekly as Hall pressed the button for the elevator, causing it to slide open. "I'm supposed to start my shift in a couple of hours."

"Navigation right?" Hall asked as she stepped into the elevator, Oriana right behind her.

"Um, yes."

"Well then, I'll see you on the bridge," Hall said, smiling widely.

"How...how can you be like that about this?" Oriana asked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm replacing one of the men that died at Haven, one of the men that was either sucked out into the vacuum of space or one of the ones that were filled with shrapnel. They died defending one of Humanity's most heavily populated worlds and saving billions of lives, and now I'm an FNG that's just walking in and taking their place!"

"Ensign," Hall said, "if I didn't think that you could get the job done you wouldn't be on this ship, I would have talked to command and they would have gotten me someone else, there are plenty of fresh recruits out there. I checked the files on all of the replacements that were given to me and I went out of my way to make sure that they met my expectations. I only found a couple that didn't, you weren't among them."

"But...I..."

"No buts Ms. Wells," Hall said, wagging her finger playfully, "you are going to serve on this ship, and you are going to exceed the expectations of an average Ensign. I don't even know why you're so worried, I looked at your resume, your reaction speed is amazing, and that's what we need out here in space. They're just as fast as mine, and I've got decades of experience under my belt."

"I...I don't know how, it's just something I've always been able to do," Oriana admitted.

"It's not something to be ashamed of, some of us just have special gifts, like biotics." As Hall spoke, there was a soft chiming noise and the door slip open. "Now then, I want you to come with me," she said as she stepped out.

"Wait what? Where are we going?"

"I've always found that a hot plate of food does wonders to calm your nerves, so come on." Oriana hesitated. "I'm not ordering you you know, I'm asking you to join me for a meal. Or do I have to write a letter to your parents saying that their daughter rudely rejected my offer," she said, continuing to walk as she spoke.

"No wait!" Oriana said, running after Hall.

The Admiral let out a bark of laughter. "I was joking you know!"

XXXXX

Taylor's teeth ground together as he aimed his pistol at Miranda. He had a perfectly clear shot at the Cerberus operative's head and a fully loaded pistol, but he did not pull the trigger. Miranda's machine pistol was still pressed against Kelly's temple. Miranda had biotic barriers protecting her, Kelly didn't.

"Step over to Kai Leng," Miranda ordered, staring with cold eyes at Rebecca, "drop your knife." Rebecca stood routed to the spot, glaring intently at Miranda. "Do you want her to die?"

"Oh what? And the second I do what you say you let her go? Yeah, we all know that Cerberus is well known for their honestly in between experimenting on an UNSC platoon and killing the Pope."

Snarling Miranda elbowed Kelly in her shoulder wound. The Yeoman bit down on her lip, attempting to remain silent, but a yelp managed to escape her lips. "I suggest that you do not try my patience, I'm in a bad mood today. Drop your knife." Looking as if she wanted nothing more than to drive it into Miranda's through, Rebecca let the blade fall to the ground with a clatter. "Good, now you with the pistol." Slowly, Taylor flipped the pistol over before tossing it to the ground.

"Good," she said, reaching around Kelly's neck and pressing her finger to her ear. "Valkyrie 1 come in, make our exit now." No response. "Valkyrie 1 come in."

"They're all dead," said a viciously cold voice from behind Miranda. The Cerberus operative turned around just in time to see a fist sailing towards her face. It connected with the force of a cannon, so powerful that she was knocked off of her feet, her grip on Kelly gone and her machine pistol flying.

Scrambling to her feet, she saw Jane Shepard advancing on her, the Captain's eyes frozen with hatred and her hands balled into fists. Her face still smarting, Miranda punched at Jane's gut with her right arm, a biotic aura flaring around her hand. With speed and grace not normally seen in a Captain, Jane raised her right hand and caught the fist. Miranda attempted to pull back when Jane twisted her hand with all of her strength.

A sickening pain tore through Miranda as her wrist snapped, letting out a scream of pain as it did. Instead of releasing her, Jane pulled Miranda's arm forward, raising her free hand and forming a palm before chopping down. Another sickening lurch tore through Miranda's body as her arm broke, a feeling of nausea building up in her stomach as she screeched. Releasing her, Jane raised her foot and slammed it into the operative's face, shattering her nose and knocking her onto her back.

Miranda gasped as she hit the ground and the air was forced out of her. Pathetically, she flipped herself over and attempted to get to her feet, only to yelp as she attempted to put weight on her broken arm and collapsing to the ground. Unrelenting Jane approached the woman, grabbing her by the back of her catsuit. With a roar, she lifted Miranda several feet off of the floor before whipping her against the wall, which she hit with a painful crack.

Taylor felt his jaw drop as he watched the display before him. He had witnessed Jane on the battlefield before and knew that she was a skilled soldier, but it was amazing and terrifying to watch her completely and utterly destroy the Cerberus operative, who was unable to fight back in any way. Rebecca had a similar look on her face as she stood rooted to the spot, watching silently.

Pain roared through Miranda's nervous system, so much that it was next to impossible to focus on anything else. Weakly she reached out with her good arm, grasping the wall in front of her. Before she could attempt to pull herself to her feet, two strong hands gripped the back of her head, and before she could so much as blink, her face had been slammed into the bulkhead. Stars swam in Miranda's eyes as her head was slammed into the way again and again and again, even more blood spurting from her already broken nose.

After the sixth time, Miranda felt herself being thrown across the room, skidding to a halt near Gardner's small kitchen. She let out a violent hack, blood spattering all over the floor in front of her. A grunt and the sound of metal scraping on metal reached her hears. She had just enough time to glance behind her to see Jane lifting the still intact mess hall table over her head. With a roar, she swung it onto Miranda, the table shattering as it hit her, the woman's body contorting in spasms of agony.

Panting heavily, Jane approaching her again, kicking her onto her back before raising a booting foot and bringing it crashing down onto her chest. Three if not four of Miranda's ribs splintered under the impact on her boot, causing her to cough up blood again. Bending down, Jane reached out with both of her hands and grabbed Miranda by the throat, glaring directly into her eyes as she choked her with all of her strength. Miranda desperately gasping for breath, her face slowly but surely turning blue as her eyes began to roll back into her sockets.

Jane was still strangling the other woman when two heavily armored arms slipped under her shoulders and pulled her into a full nelson, dragging her off of Miranda as she did. "That's enough six!" Jun cried as he gripped the SPARTAN, even as she violently fought to escape his grasp.

"Shepard! What's gotten into you?" Garrus approached her from the front, grabbing her by the shoulders and shoving her back into Jun's stable grip. "She was about to kill Kelly in cold blood, don't descend to her level and kill her when she's completely helpless."

"Listen to him six," Jun said, "besides we need to take her alive for interrogation, don't you want to know why they attacked us?" Their words seem to strike Jane deeply, as she stopped struggling and went limp in Jun's arms, breathing heavily.

Twenty seconds later, she took a deep breath a glanced at the SPARTAN who was holding her. "Thank you Jun, you can let me go now." Nodding, the bald man released his grip, as did Garrus.

"Hey wait a minute," Rebecca said, looking around her, "where did that other guy go?" As she spoke, the boarding pod on the far side of the room slid shut and rocketed off into space, emergency force fields springing up as soon as it had left. Darting through a hole in the Normandy's shields, it sped towards one of the Cerberus frigates that the UNSC ship was battling. As they watched, a MAC round tore through one of them, reducing it to little more than scrap. Docking with on of the remaining frigates, both of them opening a slipspace rupture and disappeared into them, the portals closing behind them.

"Uh, can someone tell me what happened?" Taylor asked, retrieving his equipment as he did. "I got the transmission that we were being attacked and had been sabotaged, but what happened?"

"From what Joker told me the frigates circled us, trying to disable our engines with Archer missiles, not using their MACs," Jane answered as she walked over to Kelly who was clutching at her shoulder wound. "We managed to take out the commandos in navigation and Tali and Damon managed to kill the ones in engineering. Whatever they wanted with us, they wanted the ship intact," she continued, crouching down. "You ok?"

"Yes, I'll be fine," the Yeoman whispered weakly.

"Glad to hear it, next stop is still the med bay though," she said, helping Kelly to her feet and putting her uninjured arm around her shoulder. "Taylor, grab the other one, I don't want her dying on us just yet."

Taylor nodded as he holstered his weapons before extending both hands, a bright purple aura surrounding them. Biotic energy covered the unconscious woman as she began to drift off of the ground. "Is everyone alright." Rebecca asked.

"From what I can gather, yes. No one was injured in the assault on engineering and the force there was apparently a small one. There were around twelve commandos in navigation we were able to clear them out without too much trouble. I had the others stay back to make sure that they didn't take the bridge."

"I can't believe that some people weren't at least wounded," Taylor remarked, following closely behind Jane. "You took out a dozen of them without suffering any loses? Jesus, how the Hell did we pull that off? That's the kind of result that I would expect from a SPARTAN."

For a fraction of a second, Jane hesitated as she walked. Kelly looked at her in confusion before Jane continued to walk again, a look of sadness on her face.

XXXXX

"What is your plan?" Tesueg asked as he stood with Marton, Rutherforae, Wrex, Elizabeth and Legion in the hanger of the Eternal Salvation.

"Our listening outposts intercepted a transmission, Tritus is gathering as many Coalition vessels as he can at Virmire for an all out assault on the Alliance. They are losing and he knows it, he hopes that a massive victory will force the Alliance back onto the defense. I highly doubt that that will work, the Coalition's morale was crushed beyond repair when it lost nearly a thousand ships in one day, but still he could cause serious damage. But this also gives us a chance."

"A chance to kill to kill Tritus?" Rutherforae asked. Marton nodded.

"Are you sure that this won't backfire?" Elizabeth asked, "before Humans discovered FTL, there were countless wars in which the leader of a faction being killed just turned him into a martyr and strengthened the resolve of those who followed him."

"I can appreciate your concern, but I have little fear of that happening," Marton replied. "As much as I do not want to admit it, many of my people are savage. Without a common uniting point, we splinter and fracture, squabbling and fighting among ourselves. I have seen this first hand in the Tribal Wars and the Civil War. Without Tritus' leadership the Empire will be a mere shadow of what it is now."

"What about Rason, Xeron and Sukron?" Wrex asked, "you know, his Lieutenants."

"I admit that Rason would be able to manage the Empire to some degree, but he would not be as effective as Tritus. Xeron is too young to be a politician, he would fail to grasp the finer points required, such as being careful who he makes agreements with and not putting all of his trust into one source. As for Sukron I do not know if I should laugh or quake at the idea of him being in power."

"The most rational conclusion would be to eliminate all four," Legion chirped.

"I agree," Marton said, "but it appears unlikely that we will be able too do that. No doubt hundreds of Coalition ships will be orbiting Virmire, even with the Salvation we will not be able to remain for long without being massacred. Tritus will be our top priority, any Supreme Commanders are only to be eliminated if the chance presents itself."

"As for my approach, I want all of you to accompany me to the ground, Jack as well if her attitude has improved when the time comes. I imagine that we will encounter countless obstacles if we attempt to land too many ground forces, so we will simply use a small team while the rest of the Marauders do as much damage as they can to the Coalition war machine."

"I warn you, Tritus will no doubt be heavily guarded, I suspect that he will have a dozen Imperial Guardsmen with him at the very least, the transmission hinted that all of them were being transferred to the planet, along with the Blood Brothers."

"What are we going to do about them?" Rutherforae asked.

"If the option is presented to us, we will eliminate them, but I doubt that orbital bombardment will be an available tactic, it will be a chore to break through the defensive fleet. I almost wish that the Salvation had energy projectors, but we needed the space for the shipyards." He shook his head, "no point in dwelling on past design flaws I suppose, it has served us well so far."

"Besides from killing Tritus we have no other major objective to accomplish, I want a full retreat to be initiated the second he is dead, once our element of surprise is gone, we are in great danger."

"What is he talking about?" Elizabeth asked.

"Every last Marauder is a former member of the Imperial military, most defected when we did, but we acquire renegade recruits every once in a while," Tesueg explained. "The main problem is, we have no steady supply of reinforcements, and the Empire outnumbers us vastly. If we were to remain at Virmire for too long and continued to battle the Empire, the damage the fleet would take would be crippling and may very well finish us off. That is why we have used the death of ten thousands strikes for the last ten years as our main strategy."

"Couldn't we get reinforcements?" Elizabeth asked.

"And where pray tell are we supposed to find the hundreds of warships that would make a difference?" Rutherforae asked.

"Couldn't the Geth help?" Elizabeth asked, looking at Legion. "I thought that only half of them followed the Coalition, couldn't the other half help us?"

"She makes a good point you know," Wrex admitted, "so how about it lightbulb head, why haven't you called your buds yet?"

"I have spoken with Legion about this matter already," Marton half groaned, "it is out of the question."

"The True Geth are deeply divided on the issue," Legion stated, "never has it taken us so long to reach a universal agreement, 4.5 trillion debates have been had over the issue of joining the war, and while opinions have wavered we are still deeply divided. This is most troubling, galatic conflict has lasted for a year and still we have not made a choice, one week was the record for longest Geth made decision before this."

"Don't the True Geth know that if they don't make themselves known that the Alliance will stamped across their territory?"

"This unit has reminded the collective of this fact 541.491 million times. It temporarily caused 45.4 million programs to adjust to the pro-war side of the argument before our policy of not interfering with organics and respecting the wishes of the Heretic Geth were raised."

"Respecting their wishes?" Rutherforae started before Marton raised his arm.

"He does not think like us," he muttered, "we should be grateful that he is helping us at all."

"Very well," she said, looking away.

"The fleet is already mobilizing for the attack, we will be heading out soon. it will take time for us to arrive, so get some sleep, you will need it."

XXXXX

"My God," Chakwas muttered, reading from a datapad in her hand. "Broken wrist, broken arm, broken nose, three broken ribs, cracked skull, multiple major concussions, massive internal bleeding and a bruised larynx? I don't know what's harder to believe, that Jane did all of this or that this woman somehow survived it." She was standing in the medical bay in front of the bed that contained Miranda, having just finished surgery with her. Her jumpsuit had been peeled off, revealing a lacy black bra and a red and purple chest, a thin line that was a surgical scar just barely visible. Countless life support wires had been connected to her and her arm was in a sling.

"Jane pulling off stuff like this isn't exactly a huge shock for me," Taylor said who was sitting on a nearby bed, cleaning his DMR with a white cloth. Despite the near fatal injuries that Miranda had suffered, Jane had ordered that at least one armed soldier be present in the infirmary at all times while she was still there. From what he had heard, Jane planned to move her to the brig once the Cerberus operative no longer needed life support. "I saw her on Sanctuary, the Batarians couldn't even touch her. If she can kill a couple hundred mercenaries in the space of about five minutes then I have no trouble believing that she did this...still I had no idea that she was... so strong."

"It certainly is odd, now that I think about it, I don't think that she ever let me give her a proper medical examination, the only time I was ever able to get her in here was after Eden Prime, and I had barely gotten to run any tests before she was on her feet and out again. I'm starting to think that she might have latrophobia."

"She might have what now?"

"A fear of doctors."

"Oh come on that's absurd, why would Jane try to avoid you? You don't strike me as the 'turn your head and cough' type."

Chakwas chuckled softly. "That isn't what it's about Taylor...well not all of the time. Some people that have it just have something to hide, like an embarrassing birth mark or a tattoo. Or a scar."

"Scar..." Taylor muttered, taking one hand off of his rifle and gently tracing the marks on his face, a permeant reminder of what Sukron had done to him. "I just realized something, Jane was already a Lieutenant Commander when she was commissioned to become the Captain of the Normandy, so she must have been with the UNSC for years to get a rank that high...I don't think have ever heard of her anytime before that."

"I've taken a look at her personal record a couple of times and it didn't look like anything special. Like a lot of people she joined up with the UNSC the second she turned 18 and has been a member of the Navy ever since. Served with diligence and dedication, became a protégée of Anderson when she was a 1st Lieutenant and continued to work her way up the chain of command. Not to mention there's rumors flying around that she's going to be made a Rear Admiral sometime soon."

"Seriously?" Taylor asked. Chakwas nodded. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you know what they say in the military 'up or out', hell they're even talking about making me a Captain in a couple of months."

"Isn't it a little fast for you to be promoted to that rank?"

"Not by that much, and the war is speeding the process up a little. But still...I'm not certain that I'm ready for that kind of responsibility. I...I seriously fucked up on Feros."

"That isn't what I heard, if I recall you were ambushed and paralyzed almost immediately, it's rather hard to give orders when you cannot move. That was after you had destroyed your target, they way I see it you did the best that you could given the circumstances." Taylor gave a small smile.

Before he could speak, the door to the medical bay opened and Jane walked in, holding a dead Cerberus commando in each arm. "How are our patients?" Taylor glanced at the bed behind him. Kelly was lying in it, sleeping soundly. Her arm had been cleaned and bandaged, Chakwas having given her painkillers to deal with the agony.

"Kelly is fine, the wound is minor enough that her health is in no serious condition. She should make a full recovery in a week," Chakwas said. The other one though...she's quite a mess. Normally I would suspect that she would be hospitalized for a month after what happened to her, but already her wounds are healing, and at a rate that is far beyond that of a normal Human. I am starting to believe that she has been genetically augmented, everything about her seems too refined to be natural."

Jane looked at the unconscious woman, taking note of her facial features. A memory stirred in Jane's mind, and she remembered the nervous, eager and slightly clumsy Ensign that she had met back on Earth. This woman...looked just like Oriana. Could it be that they were the same...'That's impossible,' Jane thought to herself, 'this woman is at least fifteen years older than her.' Shaking her head, she dropped the corpses on two empty beds. "I had a feeling about that, especially if she was able to hold her own in a fist fight against Taylor while he was wearing Victory armor. That's why I want you to take a look at these two, we need to know if she was a special case or if augments are standard issue for Cerberus personal."

"Of course Captain, it will just take a minute," Chakwas said as she approached the beds and a button on the side of each. A long thin arm extended out of each bed and placed themselves over the dead commandos, emitting a green light. The scanners slowly dragged themselves over the commandos and then back again before retracting back into the bed.

"It appears that you were partially right," Chakwas said, looking at the datapad in her hand again as the results of the scan filled it. "Their muscles are denser than that of an average Human, their vision appears to be 20/20, from what I can tell their brain activity was faster than that of a normal Human. Oddly enough though that woman over there seems to have much more advanced augmentations, it's as if Cerberus doesn't have the funding to create more advanced ones."

"Or the knowledge," Jane pointed out. "The augmentations behind the SPARTAN project are among the UNSC's most heavily guarded secrets. If they are using their own augments, Cerberus probably would have had to start from scratch. The fact that they were able to get any improvements into their thugs, no matter how minor, scares me."

"That may be," Chakwas said, turning back to the datapad. "They are also...no...no that can't be right."

"What is it?" Jane asked.

"Their...their DNA is exactly the same."

"So?" Taylor asked, "A pair of identical twins both joined up with these guys, it could run in the family."

"That can't be it Taylor," Chakwas said shaking her head, "according to these readouts...one of these men is three years older than the other. It's as if...they're clones."

Author's Note: Sorry that this took so long, but between school, work, Halo CEA, Skyrim and my hemorrhoid I haven't had a lot of time to write, I think that you'll understand. Also I pre ordered ME3 Collector's edition (Yes I'm a massive nerd, I wrote this thing didn't I) Yeah I was brutal with Miranda but...are any of you really upset about it? Well I'm glad that I'm making progress again, I'm really looking forward to finishing up this story, it's been so long. Oh yeah by the way, I know it's almost over but...HAPPY THANKSGIVING


	76. Drawn Swords

Chapter 76

Drawn Swords

Author's Note: Yeah, this chapter is coming around a little slowly, but there's a lot of distractions in my life...also I do this for no pay so shut up...kidding kidding, but seriously, appreciate the fact that I take time out of my life to work on this with there being no reward with the exception of your praise.

"Tali?" The Normandy's chief engineer stuck her head out from underneath the the slipspace drive and saw Liara standing in front of her. "Shepard wanted me to tell you that you're needed by the HEV pods in a few minutes. You're going to be joining the ground teams."

"Any idea who's going to be with who?" Tali asked, pulling herself to her feet.

"I think that Shepard said that since we managed to get off of Galnu without any casualties we'll be in the same squads that we were in back there."

"Everyone managed to get off of there alive, but not unscared ," Tali muttered, "Sarah nearly died and Taylor...he was pretty shaken up."

"Is he alright?" Liara asked, "from what I heard he's still seeing Kelly over what happened."

"He's...coping," Tali muttered. "Still has nightmares though. I swear to Kellah it tears me apart to see him like that. I just...I don't know, wish that I could take all of his pain away."

"I know what you mean, Rebecca is still traumatized over what happened on Feros. When the flo- I mean when she was exposed to those chemicals, it...did things to her mind. I had never seen a person more broken than her on that day. It...it can't be healthy to focus on the low points of our lives like this, we need to focus on happier times. Better times."

"What did you have in mind?"

We should think about...the happiest time that we've had with them."

"No offense Liara, that sounds unbelievably girly."

Liara chuckled, "I suppose that it is, but what's wrong with acting a little girly every once in awhile."

"Fine," Tali said, throwing her arms up in mock defeat, "I'll go first. I suppose that a good place to start is when I admitted that I..." she broke off. She was going to say when she had admitted her feelings for him, but had recalled that she had done that while the pair of them were trapped within the depths of an Empire base, their wounds from torture still fresh.

Liara seemed to understand the reason behind her hesitation. "Maybe it would be for the best if I started, I first met Rebecca on...Eden Prime," she said, her voice growing quiet as she realized what she had said.

"I never really thought about this before," Tali said, "but...our relationship has kind of been...miserable." Liara blinked as she looked at Tali. "Not in that way," Tali said, "I don't mean that we aren't working out, it's just that...half of the time that we've held each other, one of us was crying our eyes out. We're...we're a mess, the two of us are an emotional mess, and to be blunt I'm tired of it. I don't want to feel like this anymore, and I don't want him to feel like this either...I think that's why we stick so close together. To make this whole thing tolerable." She laughed grimly, "that probably sounds really stupid to you."

"No...I think I understand what you mean," Liara muttered. "Every time I see Rebecca scared or in pain, I just want to make it all go away, do whatever I can to make her feel better. I think that she feels the same way about me, she came to see me after Galnu, to make sure that I was ok."

"We may not be able to fully appreciate it right now, but the two of us are incredibly lucky, not everyone has someone that stands by them no matter how hard things get. We should count our blessings."

"Out of curiosity," Liara said, "what do you two plan on doing once this conflict is over? Do you plan on continuing your current career in the UNSC?"

"Oh Keelah," Tali said, "we've only glassed over that topic. Taylor said that he wanted to retire, that he had seen more combat then he cared for, something that we both have in common. I can only assume that we would go back to Sanctuary and try to make a life for us there. What about you and Rebecca?"

"I would hope that I could return to my studies on the Protheans and that she would accompany me, but I am not certain if she would appreciate jumping from planet to planet for years on end digging through the dirt all the way. It isn't exactly romantic."

"You never know," Tali pointed out, "she was living on Eden Prime before it was attacked, she may enjoy being out in the open."

"Possibly," Liara said, scratching her chin, "I'll talk to her about it when this mission is over. If not then I suppose that I will have to find another occupation. Perhaps I could teach."

"You? Teach?"

"I am a doctor you know," Liara said, putting her hands on her hips, "and contrary to what snickering Terminus thugs may say, I did not achieve that title by 'Embracing Eternity'."

Tali burst out laughing, clutching her sides as Liara stared at her, looking slightly confused. "Oh come on," Tali said, gasping out words as she continued to laugh, "you have to admit that that was pretty funny."

"I suppose," Liara said, smiling slightly. It was then that an idea struck her. "Tali, do you think that you could pass on a proposal to Taylor?"

"No I didn't!" Tali blurted out, panic covering her face as she blushed.

"What?" Liara asked, feeling puzzled.

"Oh," Tali said, comprehension crossing her face, "you said...ok what is it?"

Still wondering what had been the cause of the Quarian's outburst Liara spoke. "Rebecca offhandedly mentioned that she once went on something called a 'double date' when she was younger."

"A what now?"

"Something when two couplies spend time together instead of just one...I think," Liara said, looking uncertain.

"Why would you want to do that? It doesn't make any sense."

"I know, but she talked about it like it was a happy memory. How about the next time we get leave, we try it out?"

Tali hesitated before speaking. "Um...alright, I'll run it by Taylor. A 'double date' it is...I swear I don't get Humans."

"Neither do I," Liara said, "but they're interesting nonetheless."

"Attention all ground personal," Jane's voice said over the COM lines, "report to the HEV deployment section at once."

"Well," Liara said, "that's us."

XXXXX

"Grand Fleetmaster, we have just received word, the Human vessels have entered the system. They are joining the rest of the Alliance fleet now."

Rtas glanced from his gravity chair on the bridge of the super-carrier the Unchained Wrath to the navigator that had just spoken. "Good, how long until their scout vessel arrives at Virmire?"

"It should be approximately half an hour, another half an hour for them to run the scans necessary and a hour to reach us here." The Sangheili paused, "must they come directly to us? Can they not simply transmit the information that they will acquire directly from Virmire? If not, a simply jump to the neighboring system or the space in between will be more than adequate, we cannot afford to tarry."

"I understand your impatience," Rtas replied "but Alliance leadership agreed that this situation is far too rare to pass up. In fact, many suspect this is a trap."

"A trap?" the navigator asked.

"It may very well be," the Grand Fleetmaster said darkly, "the Coalition is becoming very sloppy if they leaked information including the gathering of such a massive fleet and of the Jiralhanae Emperor and his Supreme Commanders. They may be simply lying in wait, hoping to catch a large Alliance fleet in a snare. Because of this, we are to wait until the Human scout ship has reported directly to us. Brand me paranoid if you wish, but there is the slightest possibility that the Coalition may be able to forge UNSC transmission codes."

"How would it even be possible for the savages to do such a thing?"

"The are not quite as savage as they once were, although their brutality has not faded with time. They are wiser, they seem to have a firmer understanding of tactics, and I would not put it past them to reverse engineer Alliance tech. They may have captured a UNSC A.I. From one of the many battles in this war, before the Humans could initiate their Cole Protocol."

"But Fleetmaster would we not know this? Would not a massive strike against Humanity have been carried out if such a breach had occurred?"

"Most likely," Rtas said, "As I said before, these are merely safety measures, a valuable prize has been placed before us, we are simply taking an additional hour to confirm its value."

"Very well."

Rtas began to relax into his gravity chair when he heard movement from the other side of the bridge entrance. "A moment please, I have a guest." Rtas jumped down from his gravity chair and faced the door as it slid open, revealing Iasa 'Cirate on the other side.

"You wished to speak to me Fleetmaster?" she asked.

"I did, about several things. First of all, I must extend my thanks to you, your actions resulted in the Rachni coming to our assistance in our darkest hour, which brings me to my next topic. While your actions were heroic, you will be under my command in the upcoming battle, and allow me to make myself clear, you will follow my orders to the letter. I will not deny that what you did on Noveria indirectly saved countless lives, but it was a gamble, and at the moment we cannot afford to gamble. Do you understand?"

"Yes Fleetmaster."

"Good, there is one other matter that I wish to talk to you about. Are you familiar with the state of the Sangheili people after the end of the Human-Covenant War?"

"Vaguely," Iasa admitted, "I was barely an adolescent at the time of the Second Contact War, all I know about it is from history records, which I have seen tend to vary."

"It was...a complicated time. Our entire way of life had been shattered, the religion that we had based our lives around had been proven to have been led by madmen, and with each passing year more evidence amassed to prove that the entire belief itself was false. Once the Great Schism ended and we forced the Loyalists to retreat into their territory, many were convinced that civil war would break out. Thel 'Vadam held us together. He created the basis for the Republic of Sovereign Nations, he called for peace with the Humans, he even helped resurrect the religion that most citizens of the RSN follow today, that of Staliu. Some political opponents sent assassins after him, but he slew them and pressed on, never faltering."

"With all due respect Fleetmaster what is the point of this?"

Before either of them could answer, a set of angry footsteps echoed down the hallway. "What in the name of Staliu is that?" Rtas exclaimed, looking past Iasa. A Shipmistress was storming down the hallway, her mandibles clenched together into a look of pure rage.

"Fleetmaster," the Shipmistress said, stopping next to them, "may I ask what this disgrace is doing here?"

"I beg your pardon?" Iasa asked, her eyes narrowed

"Shipmistress Ntell 'Sakgree what are you doing here?" Rtas asked, clearly not pleased, "why have you left your ship?"

"I had heard that this one," the Shipmistress said, pausing to spit at the ground near Iasa's feet, "had been made a Shipmistress. I was hoping that you would be able to explain this outrage to me."

"It is not your place to ask," Rtas growled, "the order was given by the Arbiter, and his reasoning is not given out freely like a cheap trinket."

"I do believe that it is my place to ask!" Ntell roar, "my brother was part of the Alliance strike force on Noveria, UNDER HER COMMAND NO LESS! He was killed while attempting to take the main lab, something that I was more than willing to accept as an inevitability, but despite him paying in blood to take the lab, SHE." Ntell pointed at Iasa "let the creature that dwelled in there loose. She spat on my brother's corpse that day, but I took pleasure in the knowledge that the RSN Council would administer justice for her crimes. But now, not only has she not been punished, she has been PROMOTED! I will not stand for-"

"ENOUGH!" Rtas bellowed, "remember your place 'Sakgree!"

"My place? I am seeking justice!" Viciously, she turned to face Iasa. "I doubt that you even know his name, so tell me might warrior, what was the name of the one who died alongside you while you fought against the Coalition." Iasa was at a lost for words. She distinctly remembered three Spec Ops operatives under her command dying back on Noveria. Their names...she realized that she did not know any of them.

"Nothing, I did not think so," Ntell snarled, "I will not stand for this." With a flurish, Ntell grabbed her energy sword from her hip and activated it. Both Rtas and Iasa hastily reached for theirs, but slowed when Ntell help hers at an angle, halfway between her and Iasa. If a Human had been watching this, no doubt he would have been releaved that conflict had been avoided. A Sangheili on the other hand, would be watching with undivided attention, waiting to see what happened next. Iasa looked at the sword in the fellow Shipmistress' hand, then slowly reached for her own and activated it. extending it forward, Iasa pressed her blade against Ntall's, causing them to form an X.

"Well," the other Shipmistress said, deactivating her energy sword and placing it back on her armor, "I am glad to see that you have some trace of honor. When?"

Iasa hesitated before speaking. "In an hour. It must be done before the fleet is needed, no matter the outcome. Where?"

"The eating quarters of this ship. I will see you there," and with that, Ntell turned and walked away.

For a second, Iasa and Rtas remained where they stood. They knew what one Sangheili presenting their sword in that manner and another following suite meant. A duel. "I must ask you," Rtas said, looking at Iasa, "why did you accept?"

"I am a Shipmistress now," Iasa said, a trace of a shake in her voice. "I must command the respect of those below me. If they knew that I turned down a duel, that is something that would be forever lost to me."

A duel among the Sangheili was not something to be taken lightly. Although movements had been made to move the species away from their Covenant era mindset, some traits of that lifestyle were still found in modern day society. A challenge for a duel was normally issued when one Sangheili had offended another in a way that permanently stained their honor. If the second Sangheili refused the challenge, the stain was removed from the first Sangheili and the second one was labeled a disgrace and a coward, usually for the rest of his life.

If the challenge was accepted however, the two Sangheili would face off in a one on one battle to the death. The challenger would attempt to reclaim their honor, while their opponent defended theirs. The outcome would decide the fate of the disagreement that had led to the duel, and in some cases, affected the status of an entire Sangheili family or political group.

"I do hope that you understand something," Rtas said. "Thel sided with you and by extend the 'Cirate family when he promoted you in front of the Council, especially after they demoted you. Your name is not the only one that is on the line, his is as well."

"Is that why you called me here?" Iasa asked quietly.

"I did wish to remind you that your actions would reflect on him, though I must admit I never dreamed that it would come to this."

"Very well, but Fleetmaster I must ask you something. Is it truly wise for us to do this while such a pivotal battle is merely hours away?"

"Had you delayed it, your actions would have been viewed as a sign of weakness, and a crack in a defense, no matter how small, is an invitation for your opponents to attack. While it is indeed a close scrape, this will most likely not interfere with the upcoming battle...with the exception that one vessel will require a new commander."

"True. I...I must prepare myself," Iasa said, making to walk away.

"Are you familiar with the old Sangheili saying," Rtas said, causing her to stop in her tracks, "wield a sword that has not been properly tempered-

"and the only foe that you will slay is yourself," Iasa finished.

"In many ways you are the Arbiter's blade," Rtas said, "I pray that you are not faulty."

XXXXX

"Richard give me an ETA," Jane said as she held the Cain in front of herself, inserting a power cell into it.

"We will be arriving at Virmire in approximately six minutes, Ken and Gabby are preparing the stealth systems as we speak."

"All right," the SPARTAN said, sliding the heavy weapon onto her back and drawing her battle rifle. Turning, she looked at Taylor, Sarah, Damon, Crystal, Rebecca, Neriena, Liara, Tali, Garrus, Jun, Jacob and Ashley, who were strewn about next to the Normandy's drop pods, talking among themselves and preparing their weapons.

"Everyone listen up," Jane said, causing heads to snap in her direction. "In a couple of minutes we will reach our destination, here is the plan of action. At Galnu we were far behind enemy lines, they weren't expecting us. This time around that is a luxury that we don't have, they'll be watching for so much as a twitching toe. Because of this the Normandy won't be able to get close to the ground without a couple thousand Brutes spotting and hearing us, so a direct drop off and pick up is out of the question."

"We'll be using HEV pods instead, we really don't have any other options, with the Normandy out of the question and dropships are too slow and detectable. We'll be past orbital defenses so most likely they won't be able to get a good scan on us, and I'm praying that the grunts on the ground think that we're just meteorites. To be safe we're landing a fair distance from their HQ, don't want them right on top off us."

"So..." Taylor said, looking as if he was rather nervous and unsure of how to word his sentence, "where is...Tritus?"

Nobody said anything, looking at Jane as they waited for her reply. "We have a rough idea of where he is, we're going to be splitting up and checking all of the hot spots."

"The brass really wants us to take him out huh?" Jacob said quietly.

"Yes," Jane replied, "but listen closely. I am giving you a direct order here, if you find him, radio it in at once and then fall back. He is not to be engaged until all of us have regrouped. Our target is one of the most deadly Jiralhanae that ever lived, and no doubt he will be heavily guarded. I am not going to have my men throw away their lives in a fight they will most likely lose." She flipped the safety on her rifle off, "I know that this is an extremely high risk mission so I'll make you a deal. If you all come back from this alive then I'll by you all drinks on the Citadel until you're puking up your livers."

"Well, I'm not one to say no to a nice glass of wine," Garrus said dryly, smiling ever so faintly, "count me in." The rest of the gathered personal all nodded in agreement, the ghosts of grins gracing their faces.

"Thirty seconds!" Richard shouted over the COM lines.

"In the pods everyone, same teams that we had at Galnu. Damon you're with Jacob, Crystal, with Ashley. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Ok, Richard will transmit the coordinates that you are to check to your HUDs." As she spoke, everyone climbed into their respective pods, the doors sliding shut as the did. There was a grinding noise as they were maneuvered into position for the drop.

"Dropping out now, preparing to-" Richard said, but was cut off as the ship shook violently.

"The fuck?" Ashley swore over the COM lines, "how did they find us already?"

"That was a plasma torpedo that passed by," Richard said over COM lines, "the stealth systems are holding though. It was aimed at...you guys will never believe this, there's a major battle going on here! A fleet is attacking the Coalition forces!"

"I thought that the Alliance wasn't going to attack until we had reported back to them," Tali said.

"This...this isn't the Alliance," Richard said, "I'm picking up...Jiralhanae life forms on the attacking ships...they're fighting each other!"

"What?" half of the Normandy's crew shouted over the COM lines.

"We'll figure this out later!" Jane shouted, "what matters is that our job just got easier. The Coalition will be in a state of turmoil with this attack going on! It'll be easier for us to sneak by, Joker, bring us in and make the drop!"

"Understood," the pilot said over the COM lines. The occupants of the drop pods grit their teeth as the Normandy lurched forward, the minutes passing by brutally slow as they waited to be deployed. Then they all felt a sicking lurch in their stomachs as the pods were released and they began to free fall to the planet's surface.

As the did, they caught glimpses of the battle that was taking place in orbit of the planet. A fleet of 250 Jiralhanae vessels was trading fire with a Coalition fleet of 400. What truly stood out though, was the massive starship of 50 kilometers among the Jiralhanae fleet, which was in the middle of firing a massive salvo of plasma torpedoes. The Normandy personal watched in awe as they descended to the planet's surface.

On the ground, Sukron stood in the middle of an open field, dark grey clouds covering the sky overhead. His eyepiece beeped and he pressed his fingers to it, "the Marauders are attacking in full force," Saren whispered into it.

Sukron smiled widely, "Then everything is going according to plan."

Author's Note: Iasa has her hands full again with RSN political issues. For those of you wondering why I added another female character, I did a mental check and I noticed that all of my villains minus Miranda and Benezia were men, I try (I SAID TRY) to make both my protagonists and antagonists balanced when it comes to gender. Also the Marauders and the Normandy are attacking the same planet at the same time, we'll see how that plays out. Yeah not much happening but this is a set up chapter, they happen, stop complaining.

But there is something that I want to talk about, recently a Halo novel called Glasslands came out and I glanced at the plot summary and some of the reviews, now allow me to describe what I heard, WHAT THE FUCK? That's right people, it's rant time!

First off, this novel takes place after the Human-Covenant War, and the Sangheili are in a state of turmoil. The first major alarm that went off in my mind is that I realized that this book was written by Karen Traviss, and while I have not read any of her previous works, I did not need to look far to see that there is a fair amount of controversy surrounding this woman, especially for her Star Wars and Gears of War works, mainly due to her tendency to majorly twist characters into forms that suit her better.

In the reviews that I read, the book received a lot of flak for bashing Halsey, basically painting her as Hitler and saying that she tortured the children in the SPARTAN program for her amusement, and that this was said by a SPARTAN herself...while the SPARTAN program is a major shade of grey, I know for a fact that all of the SPARTANs looked to Halsey as a foster mother, and not only is that true, I get the feeling that if one of them was to say that, the others would take turns bitch slapping him/her. Also I recall reading that Halsey had a major guilt complex about the SPARTAN project and as a result spoke to them with extreme respect, even using their actual names.(Though there is the whole debate as to exactly how super soldiers are supposed to be used to combat a covert terrorist force, but that's an argument for another day.) I recall her not liking the SPARTAN IIIs, but then again since Ackerson created them and considering that Ackerson is kind of an asshole...understandable.

But that didn't bother me that much, what REALLY pissed me off is what ONI ordered one of their agents to sow the seeds of discord among the Sangheili people in order to make sure that the rose up against Thel and keep them divided so that they didn't pose any thread to Humanity...where the fuck do I begin?

Ok, first off they make it very clear that Thel is calling for peace with Humanity, and yet for some reason, ONI wants their agent to provoke a rebellion against him...why? Why aren't the helping THEL this is the guy who fought alongside Master Chief at Halo, the guy that turned the Sangheili race away from the Covenant, the one that stopped Rtas from glassing all of Earth, the guy who helped wipe out the Flood and destroy the Ark, AND YOU'RE STABBING HIM IN THE BACK! What doesn't make any sense is that one of the major Sangheili that wants to take down Thel, wants to do so because Thel turned his back on the Great Journey, I.E. FIRING HALO! AND ONI WAS HELPING HIM!

...just to clarify, there are two Elites, one that wants to have peace with Humanity, and the one that still wants to fire Halo, and ONI helps out the latter defeat the former...um small question guys, WHAT HAPPENS IF HE WINS? I'll tell you what, either he'll start another war with Humanity, or he'll just ignore you and then go and fire Halo killing you all. I know that ONI is supposed to be this morally ambiguous agency doing whatever it takes to protect Humanity, but this isn't doing what's necessary, this isn't a the ends justify the means scenario, this is just being an asshat for the sake of being an asshat! It's stupid, there's no reasoning behind it, and it's just being a jackass!...I wonder if the older Star Wars fans felt this way when the prequels came out.

So...yeah, I really got mad over that. If Traviss did stuff like this in Gears and Star Wars then I think I understand why there's a lot of controversy around the woman.


	77. Collapsing Resolve

Chapter 77

Collapsing Resolve

Author's Note: I couldn't help but notice that some people were asking if this was the climax of the story last chapter. I imagine that this people would like me to confirm or deny this...well here you go, chapter 77.

Jane didn't even flinch as her pod hit the ground, despite the fact that the slightest miscalculation could shatter even her bones. Activating the explosive bolts and blasting the door to the pod off, Jane climbed out to see Garrus and Jun nearby. "You two alright?"

"Fine six," Jun said.

"I'm breathing, but I still can't help but wonder why you Humans insist on making these things feel like coffins," Garrus grumbled as he exited his pod, assault rifle in hand.

"You get used to it," Jun said.

"How is that supposed to be comforting?" While the two of them talked, there was a roar as a Seraph fighter flew over head, trailing smoke behind it. A second fighter followed closely behind, spraying plasma at the damaged craft in front of it. As they watched, the one in front slowly began to spin and dive towards the ground, impacting on it and exploding violently. Seeing that it's target was down, the second fighter swiftly pulled up and sped off.

"We can't stick around for long," Jane said, "I get the feeling that this could very well end with the planet being glassed by either side. Let's do our mission and sound off."

"Fair enough, where is he?" Garrus asked.

"We don't know his exact location, but that is the most likely place that he'll be." As she talked, she walked away from the pods and to the edge of a cliff that they were standing on. She pointed her finger downward at the very base of the cliff where a massive purple structure was, Jiralhanae pouring out of it on foot and in vehicles. "It's the main HQ for this planet from what we can gather, stands to reason that Tritus would be there. If he's not though the others are checking alternative locations."

"So what's the strategy?" Jun asked.

"Jun, I want you to stay here and provide sniper support. If you see Tritus, kill him, if you see anyone that poses a threat to us, same thing." Jun nodded. "Garrus, I hope that you don't bruise easily."

"Why is that?"

Jane smiled a little, "I want you to help me storm the base."

"Fair enough, but how are we supposed to get down there with what we- you wouldn't." Jane grinned slightly as she jumped over the edge of the cliff and began to slide downward. Garrus looked at Jun with exasperation before following.

"Oh six, always with the crazy risks," Jun muttered as he dropped into a prone position, holding his sniper rifle up to his eye.

"Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," Garrus swore as he bumped against the rocky edges of the cliff that they were heading down. After a particularly long agony filled moment, Jane reached the bottom, Garrus right behind her. "Where do you come up with these ideas?" Garrus groaned, feeling like he had just lost a fight with a Krogan.

"David Anderson."

"Figures," Garrus sighed, both of them raising their rifles. Slowly, they approached the building, noticing a small side entrance. Making a gesture at it, Jane moved towards it, Garrus right behind her. Silently crossing the threshold, they entered what looked like a massive command room, packed with terminals, tables and what looked like a holographic projector in the center. It was deserted, several tables had been knocked over seemly at random.

"They must have abandoned it," Jane muttered, lifting her hand to her COM unit," Jun scan the Jiralhanae leaving the base, is Tritus with them?"

"From the looks of it no," the sniper reported, "I'll keep looking though."

"We must be in the wrong place," Garrus said.

"I want to make sure," Jane said, spotting an elevator at the far end of the room. "He may have taken shelter in a bunker, come on," she said, starting across the room. Activating it, both of them hurried inside before it began to slowly descend. "Only one other floor," Jane remarked, looking at the screen that was placed just to the right of the door, "well, we won't have much looking around to do."

"Shepard, is there any chance that I could ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Before we were deployed, you said to the others that if they spotted Tritus that they were to fall back, report it in and wait for reinforcements. You didn't want them to take him on by themselves."

"And?"

"Well," Garrus said, as if he was uncertain how he wanted to word what he wanted to say, "we're kind of heading into a situation where we can't exactly fall back if we do find him, and if we radio in I doubt that anyone else we be able to get here in-"

"What's your point?"

"You're...kind of contradicting your orders," Garrus said dumbly, as if not certain why he had to point it out.

"Those orders applied to them, I said that they are to radio in and fall back, I did not say that I would do it."

"But Shepard, why would you want them to call for reinforcements but not us?"

"Garrus, I did that because they can't handle Tritus. Tali, Taylor, Rebecca, Liara, Jacob, Neriena, and everyone else, he would tear all of them combined to pieces. Jun you and I though...we're different."

"I know that I am a Spectre, but I wouldn't exactly say that I'm cleared to take him on," Garrus said, looking at Jane with confusion and concern, "and not to be rude Jane, what makes you think that you and your friend are qualified to do so? I have heard and seen impressive things about you, but we're not talking about an army of hired guns or a bunch of grunts. We're talking about the leader of a galactic power whose actions have affecting every single existing species, and who is at the very top of a social structure where the higher up you are the deadlier you are in combat."

"I can appreciate that," Jane said, "but you must know that both of us have been in the UNSC for years, we have experience that very few can match. In reality, the Normandy was chosen for this mission specifically because of us. We're the ones that they want to do the deed, it's pointless for anyone else to sacrifice themselves."

"Any chance that I ask why?"

"Did Jun by any chance mention when we served in the same unit?" Garrus nodded. "We did...wet work...a lot of it. We're good at this kind of thing. I would tell you more if I could but everything else is classified."

"Shepard-"

"Garrus please, don't you think that I want to tell you about my history with the UNSC? Don't you think that I would if I could?" Garrus sighed before nodding. "Alright," Jane said as the elevator slid to a halt. "Huh, that took awhile," Jane muttered, checking her rifle. "All right, if he's here don't hesitate to take him out, even if he's heavily guarded. Don't worry if he runs, we if we need to we can just flush him out of the base and Jun will get him." Garrus nodded as the door opened.

Both of them raised their rifles and aimed them, only to see nothing living. "Damn it," Garrus muttered, "do you want to head back up or poke around a little for information?"

"Hold on," Jane said, walking forward slowly.

"Shepard, what are you-" Garrus began, but stopped as he spotted what Jane was looking at. In the middle of the room was a bright thin beacon that seemed to be glowing slightly. It looked just like the one back on Eden Prime. "What is that doing here?" Garrus said.

"I don't know," Jane said, approaching the device.

"Shepard what are you doing?" Garrus said, sounding concerned. "You're not going to do what I think you're going to do are you?"

"Saren must have brought this here," Jane said, pointing at the beacon, "or found it here. He's looking for something, the other one on Eden Prime, the Cipher, the coordinates that we got from Benezia and now this? Whatever he's doing it's big."

"Jane, the last thing that we need right now is for you to be knocked out. What happens if it does that?"

"It won't" the Captain said, stopping in front of the Prothean relic. Almost instantly, it glowed brightly and an unseen force pulled Jane into the air. Images flashed in front of her eyes, ones that she had seen before. Scenes of chaos and slaughter, metal fusing into flesh, beings screaming and running in terror and a planet orbiting two suns. Jane half expected for it to stop there as it had done before, but the planet sped towards her, the distance between her and the surface closing. As she neared, a streak of white light appeared and the planet opened before her. And with that, the vision ended and Jane fell to the ground. She landed on her feet, and quickly fell to all fours, panting heavily.

"Are you alright?" Garrus asked, rushing to her side and helping her up.

"I'm fine," Jane said, "I saw the same thing, but there was more this time." She looked at the machine that stood before her, "I think that this has the rest of the message that Saren wanted, but nothing made any sense. I'll need Liara or Neriena to sort it out later."

"That's fine, but right now we need to stay focused," Garrus said.

Jane shook her head, he was right. "Right, we need to head back up, if Tritus isn't here then all we can do is scour the base for intelligence, afterwards-" she was cut off as voices came from a door not far to the side.

"I do not care what must be done!" a strong angry voice called, "Saren is obsessed with that infernal contraption. There must be something about it that he knows that I do not, that is not acceptable. Bring it up to the surface for extraction." The door slid open and the unmistakeable form of Tritus exited, flanked by four Imperial Guardsmen, two on each side, their golden armor glinting in the artificial light.

His eyes darted to look at the beacon, and while doing so, spotted Jane and Garrus, who were already reaching for their weapons. "INTRUDERS!" he bellowed, grabbing his rocket launcher and firing it. 'Human? Turian?' he thought as both of them dived and the rocket hit the ground in between where the two of them had been seconds before. 'I should have known that Marton would have struck a deal with them!' "Kill them, but do not harm the artifact!" he shouted, loading another rocket into his weapon as the Imperial Guardsmen drew their ravager rifles.

XXXXX

"Remind me what this place is supposed to be?" Sarah whispered as she and the rest of her team lay prone on the ground watching an Empire facility in the distance.

"Jiralhanae field barracks, supposedly it's being used by the Blood Brothers," Ashley replied. "Odds are that most of them cleared out to fight whoever is invading at the moment, but Tritus was reported to have close ties with Xeron, the Supreme Commander who heads them." She glanced at Crystal, who had her sniper rifle set up and was starting through the scope, "anything?"

"Not by the looks of it, the place is defiantly guarded but I don't see any signs of the Emperor, I don't even see any matches to the description of their biotics. Looks like a dead end."

"What do you want us to do?" Taylor asked, glancing at Ashley.

"There isn't much that we can do except hold our position," Ashley reasoned, "that place isn't built to withstand orbital bombardment, if he's in there he'll have to come out sooner or later. We'll remain here until we get the order to do otherwise, or another chance presents itself to-" Ashley trailed off as a shadow was cast over them. Everyone glanced upward and saw the outline of a truly massive ship, easily 50 kilometers in length passing by overhead. As the continued to look, they spotted several OIPs being ejected from the ship, heading towards the ground.

Within seconds, the pods landed not too far away, the shockwaves causing the UNSC team to shut their eyes as a reaction. Hastily they scrambled to their feet, aiming their weapons at the pods as they opened. The occupants of the pods where Jiralhanae, all of them clad in pitch black metal armor, with no remarkable features minus the glowing green line of a visor that was placed right in front of their eyes. Upon seeing the UNSC forces, the Jiralhanae raised their weapons, fingers tensing around the triggers. Everyone stood stock still, aiming their weapons but hesitating to fire.

"Wait!" a voice shouted out and an ODST climbed out of one of the pods, a look of panic concealing by her helmet. At once she stepped in between the UNSC and Jiralhanae forces, facing the former with her arms spread out. "They're not hostiles! They're friendly!"

"What?" Tali said, pure confusion etched into her face.

"Friendly? What are you talking about?" Ashley questioned.

"They're not part of the Empire, they're a group of revolutionaries called the Marauders, they want to overthrow the Emperor and end the war!"

"This is true," a large Jiralhanae said in a deep synthesized voice, walking forward. He was holding a massive gatling gun in his hand, which was connected to a ammunition pack on his back, as well as a sword at his side. "My name is Tesueg, I am one of the three leaders of the Marauders."

"How can we trust you?" Ashley asked suspiciously. "A group of insurgents that we've never heard of before turning up just when we're trying to take out the head of the Empire? Sounds a little to good to be true."

"Believe me," the ODST said, removing her helmet and showing her short blonde hair, "they're telling me the truth. They rescued me from a Cerberus station, they've been launching attacks against the Empire for the last eleven years."

"Then how come they haven't gone to the Alliance, we would have been more than happy for another ally."

"We were concerned," Tesueg said, "we thought that you would not believe us and would open hostilities with us, we wished to hold off until we had a way to prove that we meant you no ill will."

"If they're not trying to take down the Empire, then why are they attacking this planet with everything they have? Did they know that there would be Alliance forces here and decide to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of their own men to gain the trust of a handful of people?"

Ashley blinked. When put that way, it certainly was hard to see dishonesty in their claims. "You said that you were here to eliminate Empire leadership, it seems that we have a common goal," Tesueg said, stepping forward. He took one hand off of his weapon and extended it, displaying his open palm to Ashley, "would cooperation between us not help?"

Hesitating, Ashley slowly reached forward and gingerly shook Tesueg's hand. "Most excellent," the Jiralhanae said happily, "I imagine that you were planning to storm the barracks in the distance. With our combined forces, we should be able to make quick work of them."

Tesueg was about to continue when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Something dark purple and heading towards them at an intense speed. "Incoming!" he bellowed, bringing his weapon to bear as it began to spin. There was a bang as a stream of bullets erupted from his nozzle, skimming his target, even as it continued to close. Seeing that he had failed to harm it, Tesueg leapt out of the way and the object zoomed past, landing in the dirt and kicking up enough to create a cloud. Before anyone could react, another object whizzed past and landed next to the first, both of them hidden by the blanket of dirt that floated lazily in the air.

The UNSC personal and the Marauders raised their weapons, aiming them at the source of the disturbance and watching like hawks for any sign of movement. "It would appear that the Humans and the rebels have made peace," a calm voice said, only the faintest hint of distress present. "Surprising, yet rather troubling, would you not say Zalton?"

"Do we not have more important matters to deal with Xeron? Must we not repel the fleet and evacuation key personal?"

"These matters are being dealt with by others, there is little doubt in my mind that the ones before us are a highly trained team of assassins, how else would the Humans have been able to land without our knowledge. They must be dealt with."

As the dirt finally cleared, two figures came into sight. Both of them were Jiralhanae that were being hugged by biotic auras, one of them wearing a simple robe while the other wore bright gold ornate armor and had a rifle slung on his back. "Oh god, not you again," Taylor swore.

Xeron turned to face him. "I know that voice," he muttered, scratching his chin absentmindedly. "But where was that...oh yes, Eden Prime!" he exclaimed, looking overjoyed to have remembered. "Yes, I recall meeting you on Eden Prime, you were among those that fought me there, and you gave me quite a challenge, it is most impressive that you managed to live past that day, let alone this long. I commend you for that."

Tali glanced at Taylor, completely lost. "Uh, do you know this guy?"

"Long story," he muttered.

"While it has been pleasant to meet you again, I can not simply chat, I do after all have tasks that must be completed." As he spoke, a dozen weapons were fired at him and Zalton. Ready for it, they both used a biotic Charge to boost away, each of them heading in a different direction. Their opponents spun to follow the blurs of purple, weapons at the ready.

XXXXX

Rason feverishly scattered about his lab, gathering various materials. "Samples of Cure 56," he muttered, tucking the vials into slots locating around his waists. "Data on chemical structure and hypothetical alterations," he muttered, reaching towards a terminal and pulling a microchip out before dropping it into another slot. "Means of defense," he continued, slapping his wrist mounted grenade launcher on. He hesitated for a second before grabbing another one and fitting it to his other wrist. "It cannot hurt," he muttered, loading fragmentation grenades into both before donning his gas mask and making his way out of the lab.

As he left the building, he found a group of Chemical Corps operatives gathering outside, loading their weapons. "Commander!" one of them said, looking up at Rason, "the rebels are everywhere? What are we to do?"

"They may be on the offensive, but they are outnumbered," Rason said calmly, "no doubt reinforcements are already on the way. We will hold our ground until then, remain strong."

Little did he know that in the distance, he was being watched.

"What is this place again?" Rebecca asked as they slowly advanced across a small hill towards their target.

"A field research lab," Jacob said, holding his rifle up to his eye, along with the other members of his squad. "Hold up," he said, raising a hand and dropping to a kneeling position, the others following suit. "I see movement," he said, glancing through his rifle's scope. "Around a dozen Chemical Corps operatives, and unless I need my eyes checked, I think I see Rason as well."

"He's not our target though," Damon pointed out, "we're here to kill Tritus not his Supreme Commanders."

"You've got a point there," Jacob muttered, "not to mention it killing him would probably put the entire planet on alert for us. On the other hand Tritus could still be inside, this is one of the hot spots that were are supposed to check. The question is how do we go about this?"

"You're the commanding officer here, it's your decision," Liara pointed out.

"Gee, thanks," Jacob said, smiling grimly. "All right here's what we're going to do, I don't want to stick around here longer than we have to, so we're going to make this quick. If we sneak around to the back we'll probably be able to get inside without anyone noticing, when we do we'll do a quick search of the lab and then bail. We neutralize that target if we get the chance, but if we don't we pull out at once. There isn't much else that we can do."

"Sounds like a plan," Neriena said, "let's get moving." Before anyone could take so much as a step though, there was a thunderous crack from behind them. Turning around, Jacob had just enough time to duck as a Warp flew at his head. A blur of purple energy flew towards them and landed in front of Neriena, giving out a small pulse as it landed.

As the purple energy cleared, it revealed woman that was completely bald, covered in tattoos and wearing little else save a pair of trousers and a couple of leather straps around her chest. Snarling the woman extended her arm and firing a Warp at her. Conjuring a barrier in front of her, Neriena blocked the attack before raising her rifle and firing three bursts. The shots were blocked by the woman's barriers as she prepared another attack.

Before she could though, a thick armored hand grabbed the woman by the back of the neck and hoisted her into the air. "ARE YOU BLIND OR SIMPLY SUICIDAL!" the Jiralhanae holding the woman roared in a deep synthesized voice. "They are not Coalition! Half of them are Human! Have you been isolated from the rest of your kind for so long that you have forgotten what they look like?"

"Put me down bitch or I'll take your fucking head off!" the woman Jack swore.

"What the Hell is this?" Jacob demanded as he and the rest of his unit raised their weapons. Around a dozen Jiralhanae in matching sets of black armor were approaching their position, presumably after having been deployed via either drop pod or dropship.

"Forgive our companion's rashness," Legion said, walking forward through the crowd of Jiralhanae. "The subject in question has suffered from abusive conditions, multiple complexes, and is emotionally and mentally unstable."

"Fuck you tin man!" Jack swore has Rutherforae put her down, non to gently.

"Whatever deal Marton struck with you I do not care, if you jeopardize our mission, I will take whatever steps necessary to ensure that it does not happen again!" Turning to face the strike team, she saw the weapons pointed at her and her men. "Oh Spirits, put those down," she snapped, "don't start fights with those that you cannot beat, especially when they bear no grudge against you."

"How about you tell us who you are before you start barking orders at us?" Neriena said scathingly. "You certainly look like Empire special forces to me, you've even got a Geth with you."

"All that you need to know is that our goals may be rather similar."

"And why exactly should we trust you?" Liara asked. As she did, a hail of grenades flew through the air and impacted on Rutherforae's shields, badly weakening them.

"You do not have much of a choice!" the Jiralhanae said, turning in the direction of the grenades and seeing that it had come from the Chemical Corps operatives, who were rapidly advancing on their position, "our convict friend gave away our position!"

Author's Note: Sorry that is took so long, towards the end I contracted a case of the dreaded writer's block. The marauders are meeting up with the Alliance and they are now standing side by side. On a more personal note, if Bioware hadn't been forcced make it so that acts committed by companions outside of loyalty and recruitment missions in ME2 had to be interchangeable, I get the feeling that we would have seen things like this, Jack flying off the handle, Samara executing people, Zaeed torturing someone pointlessly, etc. Even in game we see some weird things that were supposed to be interchangeable (Um, since when did Tali use rifles?)

BTW while I have your attention, I would like to make a quick commentary on rap. Before you fly off the hook and tear me apart, I just want to say that I'm not one of those people that believe that a cultural medium can corrupt you and I even found a couple rap songs that I enjoy...but I DO believe that the cultural mediums that you gravitate to can say a lot about your character. For example, I overheard my sister listening to Eminem (I think) and probably some other rapper, and when you hear lyrics like "BLEED BITCH BLEED!" and "Nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" I can't help but drop a WTF and I can't help but wonder who honestly consider's stuff like that to be music and WHO THE FLYING FRACK ACTUALLY WANTS TO LISTEN TO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!...just wanted to bring that up.

Oh yeah, and then there's the fact that rappers tend to be less than pleasant, watch Yahtzee's review on 50 cent blood on the sand to more or less get my views on them.


	78. Grand Scheme

Chapter 78

Grand Scheme

Author's Note: A lot of people have said that they're excitied that this story has finally reached it's climax...... Sorry about that, well, on with the chapter.

XXXXX

Jane raised her rifle and fired at the Emperor as the Imperial Guardsmen raised their ravager rifles and opened fire. Tight packs of plasma spheres shot out of the end, not unlike a shotgun. Jane and Garrus were forced into cover behind a pair of terminals just behind the relic their shields having been trimmed. The doors that Tritus and his guards had just walked out of opened again and another dozen Jiralhanae stormed out, these ones wearing standard armor and equipment, their weapons ranging from spikers to carbines to needle rifles. They were clearly part of the regular military and belonged to no specialist division.

"Well, we've got our work cut out for us," Garrus muttered as he darted out of cover and killed a Minor with five bursts to the face before darting back in again. "Two of us and sixteen Jiralhanae, not the best of odds."

"That can easily be remedied," Jane said, unholstering the Cain. Her finger jammed down on the trigger, the weapon slowly beginning to hum with power as the nozzle expanded. She watched with bated breath as the power meter on the front of the weapon climbed up, rapidly approaching 100%. When it hit 90%, she whipped around the edge and aimed it at the mob of approaching aliens. Seeing the weapon, Tritus and the Imperial Guardsmen were fast enough to dive away. The others lacked their reflexes.

The gauge reached 100% and the Cain fired a 25 gram slug at 5 km/s that landed in the midst of the Jiralhanae. The effect was as devastating as it was imminent. The slug exploded and sent the Jiralhanae flying. The bones of several were shattered by the force, the fragments burying themselves in their internal organs, dooming them to a painful death. Others were more lucky, their necks having been snapped by the blast, sparing them the torment of the deep burns that they were now sporting. Some of those that were closer to the impact point had been reduced to mere pieces of flesh and drops of blood that fell to the ground like raindrops.

Of the eleven Jiralhanae that had been caught in the devastation of the anti-tank weapon, five were still alive, and of them two would live past the next minute and were still able to fight. Garrus let out a dry screech, which in reality was the Turian equivalent of a whistle. "Impressive," he said, Jane ripping out the Cain's power cell and replacing it while he spoke, "I thought my kind had the market cornered on blowing things up."

"We can chit chat later," Jane hissed as the Major and the Minor that has survived staggered to their feet, holding a spiker and a needle rifle respectively, "get rid of rest of the grunts so that they won't bother use when we hit the bigger targets. I'll hit the red one, you get the other." Garrus nodded. "On the count of three. One, two-" Jane was cut off by a deafening grinding noise.

Glancing upward, she saw a massive hole being torn in the ceiling as something was forced through. Before she could blink, a drop pod smashed through the roof and imbedded itself in the ground, another landing right next to it. The Jiralhanae raised their weapons and opened fired at the pods, but even as their did the companions of the metal containers sped out.

A massive figure charged at the Major, drawing something bright and golden as it did. With a single powerful swing, the Major was cut in half diagonally, the blade tearing through him like a butcher's knife through a cow. The Minor fired his spiker but had only gotten half a dozen of the projectiles off before a Warp hit him in the center of his chest. As the warrior doubled over, his assault raised a shotgun and fired it at point blank range, causing the Minor's head to explode like a watermelon.

Peeking out from behind the terminal, Jane was able to clearly make out the figures. One was a Jiralhanae clad in onyx dark armor, and wearing a helmet that completely covered his face. The other was a Krogan in rather grayish armor that had a face that was covered in scars and several weapons on his back. "Taking me to kill the Emperor," the Krogan muttered, pumping his shotgun, "I have to say Marton, it really does feel like you're holding up your end of the bargain. I'm pleasantly surprised."

"So," Tritus said, his voice thick with anger, "you have finally made your move brother? You have finally come to wrest control from me?"

"You should have known that this day would come," Marton said darkly, flicking his blade and spraying Jiralhanae blood across the floor in a jagged streak.

"You are determined to be the undoing of our race are you not?" Tritus hissed.

"I?" Marton asked, "I? I am the one who is dooming our race. OPEN YOUR EYES! How many Jiralhanae have died in this war? Fleets obliterated, cities leveled, countless dead, you say that you want nothing more than to ensure the future of our kind, but in reality you do nothing more than feed the young of the Empire into a meat grinder by the MILLIONS!"

"You are not one to talk," Tritus hissed, "for over a decade you have attacked every Jiralhanae target that fell within your sights, always outnumbering the defending forces 2 to 1 at the very least, leaving no survivors. You are guilty of all that yet you still have the nerve to lecture to me from the moral high ground? You are no different then me, how much longer will you continue to delude yourself!"

"We could not be more different," Marton said quietly, starting at his brother with firm unblinking eyes. "It is true that the blood of untold Imperial warriors are on my hands, but that is all, the blood of warriors, those who were armed and fought back. You however, are not so innocent. Hundreds of millions if not billions were killed in this conflict that you generated, and they were not warriors, they were not soldiers, they were not even militia. They were civilians, unarmed, untrained and unorganized civilians, and your warriors slaughtered them like cattle. That is why stand against you brother, that is why I have always stood against you, the voices of agony and sorrow that now echo throughout the galaxy have all been caused by you. Every last orphan, widower and torn family that was born from this war, they all are a direct consequence of your paranoid and inability to see sense, every last living being, Jiralhanae and alien."

"Even now you are like a child, you speak of the way life should be, but fail to see the way life IS! Had I taken any other path we would have been trampled underfoot, this is the only way to protect the Empire!"

"Protect?" Marton asked incredulously, "Protect? Look around you! You are losing, the Imperial military is demoralized, the Coalition is coming apart at the seams, the Batarian Hegemony has already fallen and the Alliance is enjoying victory after victory. You are not saving the Empire or our race, you are merely digging graves for both."

"We have nothing more to say," Tritus said, raising his rocket launcher and aiming it at Marton, the Imperial Guards mirroring his moves.

"Jane, what do you think about this?" Garrus asked.

"You ever hear of the old Human saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend?'" Jane asked, "I think that this could turn out to be helpful.

"We never did," Marton said sadly, raising his Forerunner blade in one hand and a heavy pistol in the other. "This ends today."

XXXXX

"Come at me! No holding back!" Iasa shouted. Viluse did not hesitate, charging forward with a training energy sword in his hand. It had the same appearance as a regular energy sword, but had a pink tint to it and was completely harmless, even if it did sting unpleasantly. He thrust forward with his blade, Iasa viciously parrying it with the lone training sword that she carried.

Viluse stepped back before striking again, this time aiming for her exposed flank. Iasa neatly side stepped the strike and swung a blow meant to decapitate the biotic Sangheili. He was barely able to duck the blow, swinging at Iasa's ankles as he did. Jumping above the sweeping blow, Iasa brought her sword down, hitting Viluse's unprotected shoulder, earning a small yelp of pain from him.

"That has been our seventh match," Viluse said, panting as he got to his feet, "is this not enough?" They were standing in a training room on Rtas' super carrier, the Unchained Wraith. Even since Iasa had accepted challenge that Ntell 'Sakgree had presented to her, Viluse had boarded the ship and the two of them had begun to spar.

"I require all of the practice that I can afford," Iasa snapped, sounding half angry, half scared. "Why did you not use your biotics? I said not to hold back."

"Ntell is not a biotic, it would be a waste of time and energy for you to prepare for an eventuality that would never occur."

For once, Iasa had to concede that Viluse's logic truly made sense. "Forgive me," she said, deactivating her training sword and throwing it to the side, not caring where it landed. "A duel is not something that is issued to you every day."

"I understand," Viluse said, reached upward and touching where his missing eye had once been. "The feeling can be rather intense, knowing that everything that you and the rest of your family stand for is on the line. Such is the way of the Sangheili, especially those of high position...or of those with well known family."

"I cannot help but wonder if the Arbiter truly should have given me this position," Iasa wondered, "it has not exactly brought us much fortune."

"It was a wise move when examined more closely," Viluse said, "it protected you and by extent your mother from being shamed by the RSN Council. At the same time though, it was an invitation for others to strike, the Arbiter's popularity is not unanimous and like Ntell, there are those that despise you for what you have done, despite the benefits that we have reaped from it."

"This may be unnerving, but it is certainly not surprising. The Asari, Salarians and Turians were outraged to learn that we had released the Rachni without telling them for months." He shook his head, "I do hope that you were not planning on making any trips to the Citadel any time in the near future. Last I heard...you were not welcome there."

"I care not," Iasa said, her voice slowly but steadily stealing, "I may stumble once and again, but I will not back away from a path that I have chosen, I will follow it to the end, no matter how tasking it may be. I was prepared to face execution without protest after Noveria, the trials I face today are like a novice's training exercises in comparison to that."

Viluse smiled, "It may be that Staliu seeks to test you. Perhaps..." Viluse trailed off.

"What?"

"Perhaps there is a place for in his holy guard." Viluse barely had time to blink before Iasa's palm smacked the back of his head. The one eyed Sangheili roared in laughter as Iasa glared at him, looking flustered.

"Fool," she hissed, furiously attempting to not blush and failing miserably, "the guard of the warrior god is reserved only for the most skilled and disciplined of fighters, those who on the level of the Arbiter and the Grand Fleetmaster."

"Staliu works in mysterious ways," Viluse said teasingly, "can you honestly claim to know the inner workings of a deity's mind?"

Iasa groaned, "In too many ways you remind me of my mother." Before Viluse could respond, the door slid open and Rtas walked into the training room.

"It has been an hour," the Fleetmaster said quietly, "the time has come." Iasa and Viluse nodded as Rtas turned and walked out of the room, both of them following him. "As per customs and as the host of this particular dispute, I am forced to remind you of the conditions of the battle. One on one, using only a single energy sword, the victor is whomever is able to kill or disable his or her opponent first."

"I am well aware of what is expected of me," Iasa said "I would not have accepted otherwise." She reached for her waist, grabbing one of her energy swords and handing it to Viluse as they walked. "Return this to me if I survive the day." Viluse nodded.

After a minute of walking they passed through a doorway into a wide open room that was the mess hall, the tables having been pushed to the sides of the wall to make room. "Fleetmaster?" Rtas blinked as two Human women in naval uniforms approached him, both of them looking confused.

"Ah, Elizabeth Hall, it has been too long. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I was to come aboard to confirm whatever strategy you had for the upcoming battle. I...may I ask what is going on?"

"I assure you that it will not take long," Rtas assured as Iasa walked by both of them, heading to the center of the room where Ntell was waiting for her.

"You actually came," Ntell remarked, "I am genuinely surprised as well as pleased. My brother will be able to rest in peace at last."

Iasa made no attempt to convince the other Shipmistress that her brother was already at peace, that he had been even since the Battle of Sangheilios. Contrary to Human belief though, honor varied slightly among the RSN. Practices such as assassinations, duels and honorable suicides were a staple of their society, but the reasons that they were used tended to differ from person to person. Iasa could tell that Ntell was bent on satisfying her need for blood, and only death would stop her.

"Fleetmaster, what is this?" Oriana asked as she nervously stood next to Hall, glancing around at the assorted Sangheili, Unggoy and Mgalekgolo who filled the room, all of them stepping back to give the two Shipmistresses room. A dozen Sangheili approached them, all of them holding active energy swords. Forming a circle around the two, they held their blades flatly in front of them, creating a ring of plasma around the two.

"Fleetmaster!" Hall shouted.

"Worry not Admiral, it is merely a duel." Hall gaped as the two Sangheili women activated their energy swords, staring each other down with cold contempt. And then they charged.

XXXXX

While the battle between the Marauder and the Coalition fleets raged on in orbit, a single Geth frigate moved over the surface of the planet. Inside, Sukron and Saren were standing in a control from, surrounded by Geth. The Jiralhanae had a finger to his ear, a look of pure glee on his face. "Marauder ground forces have successfully landed," he said, lowering his finger, "they're making moves to eliminate the fool, the old man and the boy. It looks as if they may as well do half of the job for us."

"I would not rely to heavily on them," Saren said calmly, "I doubt that they plan on sustaining this attack for long, eliminating Tritus may be enough for them. It would be much safer and practical to do it ourselves."

"When did I ever say that I would let them take all of the pleasure," Sukron asked, smiling, "of course I will, though I may have to let them take one, too many assailants from too many directions and they may grow wise to our plot." He sighed, "such a shame."

"I thought that you had planned to have your supporters create a media blackout and then make an interstellar statement that Tritus and his followers had betrayed the Empire. Will that not be contradictory to a body that sports wounds from Human weapons?"

"You assume that anyone will have a chance to examine any of the bodies," Sukron said lazily, drawing his combat knife and sharpening it against his metal arm. "The ministers under my command have a way of making anything seem believable. The public will believe that this planet was glassed by the Marauders and that the traitors were left behind after we had dealt with them. He laughed, "half of it will even be the truth. Think of it as insurance, if anyone speaks out against my rise to power, they will be labeled as the supporters of traitors."

"Pray tell, how exactly do you plan on dealing with your targets, you glazed over that particular piece of information."

"You are like Tritus in so many ways," the cyborg said in an irritated voice, "always fussing over every single detail to the point of sounding like an anxious child. If you must know, I have cloaked Metal Fist units stationed around their positions. I merely have to give the order, and they act."

"Much planning has gone into this," Saren said, "I do hope that you put this task in the hands of capable warriors, the last thing that we need is for one of them escaping."

"That is the beauty of our scenario," Sukron said, "leak intelligence about the Coalition gathering at this planet, then strike when the Alliance attacks. The Marauders came instead but it does not matter, what does matter is that people will be more than willing to believe that Tritus, Rason and Xeron were killed in the heat of battle after revealing their true intentions, rather than after they were stabbed in the back. And when we say that Tritus was secretly planning to betray the Empire, to surrender to the Alliance in exchange for safe haven because he know that he was losing, dead Jiralhanae cannot exactly defend themselves and we have forged evidence on stand by."

"I still do not understand why you must go to the trouble of framing him," Saren said coldly, "it is needlessly complex."

"If I simply said that he was slaughtered by the Alliance, there would no doubt be questions asked about if I should truly become the Emperor. Even if we succeeded in wiping out Tritus, Rason and Xeron the many public figures would stand against me rising to the position, saying that I would not be worthy and would push for another to take the position. This way, as the one that ousted them, I have the love and support of the people at my back, and at my beck and call."

"It seems that you have thought things through," Saren admitted grudgingly, "this may be the lone moment of brilliance in your life."

"Yes, your plans are superior in every way," Sukron said dryly, "is the fleet on standby?"

"Your followers have fallen into formation with mine and left their rendezvous point nearly an hour ago. They should be here within a couple of minutes."

"Excellent, the moment that they arrive I will give my men the order to attack."

"Ah yes, I thought that your plan sounded a little to perfect to have been concocted by you," Saren said, "thank you for reminding me. They chose of action that you have taken will result in the destruction of hundreds of Empire warships, warships that you could have used in future operations as they would have fallen under the blanket of lies that you intend to spread across your entire Empire, because you were unable to come up with a more sound plan."

"Oh spare me," Sukron said, "we have lost thousands of vessels already in this conflict, a few hundred more will make little difference."

"There is also the matter that after you devastate the Imperial fleet, you plan to bombard the surface of the planet, wiping hundreds of thousands if not millions of Empire personal. You are losing a massive war, yet you throw away those under you as if you have a limitless supply of them. I cannot help but wonder exactly how long the Empire will last when it is under your rule." As he spoke, Saren swore internally, he had misspoke. He had said, "you are losing a massive war" not "we are losing a massive word". In reality he wasn't a part of this war, merely a manipulator, and he could have nearly given it all away.

Sukron, however, did not seem to notice. "I would have thought that someone with as much experience as you would know that victory requires sacrifice. If you wish to achieve your goals in life, you must be willing to get your hands dirty." A disgusted look crossed Sukron's face. "What Tritus did to the Jiralhanae is nothing short of shameful, during the days of the Covenant we were proud warriors, we sought out our foes and slaughtered them without hesitation."

"Tritus turned us all soft, I thought that he knew what needed to be done when he reunited the Empire I believed that he would bring us all together and with our combined might, cleanse the galaxy of these lesser filth, to let us exercise our warrior's blood. But this is unacceptable, he doesn't want to destroy other races, he wants to conquer them, he wants to spare them. It is pathetic, Tritus is reasoning about how we must move forward and leave our savage ways behind, he is not a true Jiralhanae."

"He does not understand one simple thing, one that should be painfully obvious to him. This...this is who we are. For ten thousand years we fought among ourselves, killing without mercy, never resting, always ready for more, it DEFINED us. I would have thought that he, who fought in the Tribal Wars for a century" would understand, conflict shapes us, it forms us. Without it we are nothing. I WILL put the Jiralhanae back on the true bath, all other races in the galaxy are mere playthings for us, and I will prove it when I bring them to their knees."

'I never knew," Saren said, looking at Sukron with disbelief, 'I never knew...how utterly insane he his.' He grinned, 'I suppose that it helps me in the end, someone unstable like him in a position of power will be exactly what we need.'

"Your words hold some truth," he said, "a species being denied it's natural birth right is nothing short if cruel. As he spoke, he felt a pang as he remembered the Turian's defeat at Harvest and how the UNSC and RSN had marched up to the Council, making demands of the millennia old power. This pain was dull though, in the past it would have been sharper, but he had much more urgent things on his mind. Far more urgent.

XXXXX

Author's Note: You know, I just took a step back and I'm really starting to realize that the Jiralhanae Empire a lot like the Imperium of Man. All powerful Emperor with fancy sword and armor leading a great crusade, a select number of close followers who kick ass and lead their own special units, a unit that numbers at 1000 extremely highly trained and dangerous warriors, forcing convicts into combat with crappy gear, highly xenophobic, and now I'm throwing in the Horus Heresy, Jesus. Seriously, Sukron is even allying himself with someone that could fill in for a chaos god, Sovereign fills all the check marks, he screws with people, makes deals that the other guy comes to regret, takes over their mind, consumes their mind and is responsible for wiping out countless civilizations. Hell, Sukron's motivations are identical to Horus's less sympathetic and more of the unreasonable ramblings of a mad man but still.

I swear to Christ I didn't do this on purpose, Hell, I don't even really that much about 40k, I know jack shit about Necrons, Tyranids and Dark Eldar, only a little about the Eldar and the Tau, and some info on Orks, Imperium and Chaos. If you were to ask me what a Fabricator general was or what a salamander is, I would reply "I have absolutely no fraking idea" (drum drum symbol) So yeah, hope people don't think that I'm being unoriginal.

On a side note I would like to get this done before ME3 comes out, partially because I want to be able to bury myself for a week with no responsibilities and partially because I get the feeling that after ME3 "canon marches on" will take effect and plot holes regarding the Reapers and maybe more will pop up. So yeah, I'm praying that this story will be done by then, we're around 75% done already so I might be able to make it...I hope.


	79. Treachery

Chapter 79

Treachery

Author's Note: Oh God, I don't know if I'm going to make it. Two and a half months left, I get out an average of two chapters per week (being generous) and if I continue at that rate...I'm screwed. Well, I suppose that I'll just have to do my best, I guess that if I bust my ass I can get past the climax and then hopefully people will be patient with me dealing with the aftermath. Oh, wait there's something that I wanted to talk about...ah I'll wait till the end of the chapter.

Garrus fought back the instinctive need to flinch as a massive orb of plasma flew by and exploded brightly. 'Those Guardsmen have got some heavy firepower,' he thought, 'that would've taken out anything lighter than a tank. Rather slow though.'

"Garrus," Jane whispered, glancing around the cover that they were using. She saw Marton jumping forward, firing his pistol and swinging his blade at a nearby guardsman, who was just able to avoid the tip of his blade. Wrex raised his shotgun and fired it at another guardsman, weakening his shields. Instantly, the golden armored Jiralhanae raised his rifle at the Krogan and fired a thin burst of plasma at him. Wrex managed to avoid the majority of the blast, but it still trimmed his shoulder, completely tearing through his shields and causing them to collapse. "We're never going to get close to Tritus so long as his guard is still alive. They have to go first."

"What did you have in mind?" the Turian asked as he swapped his assault rifle out for his sniper. "The intel we have on those rifles of theirs says that they can hit us from any range."

"Then we don't give them a chance," Jane said, raising the Cain and aiming it in the direction of the Jiralhanae whose shields Wrex had weakened. Spotting it out of the corner of his eye, the guardsmen leapt to the side as the weapon fired. The slug hit the ground where he had been seconds before, and while he had avoided being vaporized by a direct impact his shields had collapsed under the brunt of the explosion.

"Now!" Jane hissed, and before the Jiralhanae could recover, Garrus raised his sniper rifle and fired it at the alien's shieldless head. The guardsman's right eye exploded as a bullet tore through it and he fell towards the ground, dead before the shot even made it out of the back of his skull.

Garrus pulled back, just barely avoiding a solid line of plasma that tore past. Jane discarded the Cain's used power cell and replaced it with a fresh one. "Only two shots with the Cain left," she muttered, glancing at the railgun, 'can't afford to waste them."

"MOVE OVER!" The two of them looked up just in time to see Wrex vault over the terminal's that they were taking cover behind, another massive ball of plasma flying narrowly over head. "Alliance huh?" he asked dryly, looking at Jane and Garrus, "what, were you all that they could spare?"

"Shut it," Garrus said, watching as his rifle cooled, "who are you people supposed to be anyways?"

"Wow, you don't know? The Salarian's recon skills must have really gone down the shiter. I thought Marton was mad when he said he didn't want to go to you guys, after all you must have figured out who we are by-" another massive sphere flew overhead and exploded. "You know what? Another time."

"Sounds good. You two, give me some supporting fire," Jane said as she dashed out of the cover, the Cain charging in her hands. The remaining three guardsmen raised their rifles and fired at Jane, one using a concentrated blast, one a thin burst and the other a straight solid beam. Jane narrowly avoided the projectiles with her SPARTAN reflexes, even though her shields were still torn to shreds. There was a pair of bangs and the shields of the far left guardsman flickered, holding even as they were hit by a shotgun blast from Wrex and a sniper round to the face from Garrus.

Jane aimed at said Jiralhanae, firing a fully charged Cain shot directly at his chest. The guardsman, who had stumbled slightly in surprise after being shot, could not move in time. The slug hit him directly in the heart, causing him to explode from the force, organs and blood being scattered everywhere. Holstering the Cain, Jane full out ran towards the corpse of the guardsman, her hand reaching down and grabbing his fallen ravager rifle as she did.

Turning on the spot, she aimed the alien rifle at one of the remaining guardsmen and pulled the trigger. To her dismay, the rifle fired a concentrated burst of plasma, which would have been devastating in close combat, but at the distance that they were at, only some of the balls hit. "Son of a bitch," she swore, reaching down and switching the dial on the side of the rifle.

"Not exactly the best time to be experimenting with a weapon you've never used before wouldn't you say?" Wrex asked, glancing at Garrus.

"You're pushing it Krogan," the Turian said, cocking his rifle before firing another shot, hitting another guardsman in the head, shields flickering slightly. At once, Garrus was forced to pull his head back, a blur of plasma flying over head.

While this was happening Marton had charged at Tritus, his guards occupied with the others, and had swung his sword at the Emperor, firing shot after shot from his pistol as he did. The bullets impacted on Tritus' shield and weakened them as the Jiralhanae leveled his rocket launcher, aiming it at Marton. His brother was fast however, and with a powerful swing of his blade, the anti-tank weapon was neatly sliced in half.

Instinctively, Tritus drew his massive, ten foot long blade, heaving it over his head before bringing it down with a roar, intending to tear Marton apart in one blow. Hastily hosteling his pistol, Marton put both hands on his own blade and intercepted the attack. Both Jiralhanae struggled, Tritus forcing down in an attempt to break Marton's guard, and Marton pushing upward in an attempt to force the massive weapon back.

With a massive grunt, Marton shoved forward, causing Tritus to stumble back, his attack faltering. Leaping forward, Tritus swung horizontally with a wide sweeping blow, that Marton was barely able to deflect. 'My cybernetic arm is far stronger than my old arm, but even with the additional strength I can barely block his attacks,' Marton thought, stabbing forward only to have Tritus deflect it with the flat of his sword. 'There is simply too much weight in his blade, just one hit connecting will kill me instantly. I need to end this before that happens.'

Grinding his teeth together, Marton's golden machete sliced through the air, intending on burying itself in Tritus' neck. The Emperor's massive two handed sword rose up to meet it, causing the smaller blade to bounce off. The two began exchanging blows at a much more rapid rate. As their weapons became incomprehensible blurs, one thing became very apparent. In their duel of skill and wits, the first mistake made would be the last.

XXXXX

Iasa and Ntell's energy swords clashed before both warriors drew them back and struck again. Both of them were standing in the middle of the ring of plasma that was being maintained by a dozen Sangheili in the mess hall of the super-carrier the Unchained Wrath. Ntell's face was etched with pure rage as she viciously advanced, putting all of her strength into every blow. Iasa was remaining on the defense, studying her opponent's strategy and looking for holes in her guard, but so far had been unable to counterattack due to the rapid nature of Ntell's strikes.

"A DUEL!" Hall bellowed, sounding incredulous. "We will be commencing an operation that could very well decide the fate of the entire galaxy in a matter of hours, and two of your Shipmistresses are dueling?" She looked at Rtas, a mixture of confusion and outrage on her face. "This is neither the time, nor the place!"

"I understand your concern Admiral," Rtas said, not turning to face her but instead focusing on the duel, his eyes darting back in forth as they followed the movements of the duelists. "However waiting was impossible, turning down a challenge after it has been issued if considered forfeiting, which in many ways it worse than losing."

"Are you serious!" Hall shouted, "it's considered worse to forfeit than to lose, and yet you allowed this to even take place right before what could be the most important battle in this war?"

"I must admit," Rtas snarled, glaring at Ntell as she let out a roar and swung a particularly violent blow, Iasa just barely sidestepping it, "Ntell no doubt issued her challenge at this time intentionally."

"What are you talking about?" Hall asked, looking confused.

"Are you familar with the situation involving the Rachni?"

"Not so loud!" Hall hissed, "that's classified information. The Council themselves just found out and I can tell you that they're not happy about it."

"They are not the only ones," Rtas said, as he prepared to say what he had felt he had already explained several times before. "The Sangheili that you see before you are Iasa "Cirate and Ntell 'Sakgree. Iasa was the one that spared the Rachni and as a result, caused them to intervene at the Battle of Sangheilios."

"At the moment, she is deeply intertwined in RSN politics, as our Council made to demote her for insubordination. The Arbiter, angered at this injustice, responded by promoting her to Shipmistress, even though she had been a mere Spec Ops officer before the battle. The majority of the RSN leadership is outraged that he defied a direct verdict from them, and they now thirst for his blood."

"I imagine that they would not attempt an assassination, that is a method that has proven to been ineffective on Thel, so instead they watch him and those that he has put his trust in, waiting for their chance to strike. Iasa in particular is a target that they wish to eliminate, to reinforce their will and to discredit Thel at the same time. Sadly this is not as hard as it may seem, Thel took a risk when he promoted Iasa. The misuse or abuse of position of power is a crime that is viewed with disgust by almost every known race, but Sangheili have a particularly strong hatred for it, in part because of our culture, in part because of the Prophets' treachery."

"If the Council can prove that Iasa is not fit for the position of Shipmistress and that Thel used his influence as Arbiter to indulge in favoritism, political attacks on him will be relentless, brutal, and above all effective. He may very well be forced to relinquish his position to a warrior chosen by his opponents."

"But what does that have to do with this?" Hall asked, still looking confused.

"As you have said before, we stand on the eve of a life altering event. Iasa was to play an important role in that event, considering that she was to command one of the ships that would take part in the assault. If she was to return with her ship intact, her crew alive, and possibly with a kill or two to her name, she and Thel would both become more difficult targets, and successful attempts at dishonoring them would not be as effective as they would have been."

"I have little doubt that Ntell hopes to give the Council the momentum they need to accomplish their goals by killing Iasa in a duel. She hates Iasa, as presumably by extend Thel for protecting her, why she is doing this could not be more obvious. As for why she is doing this now, us Sangheili are not without a sense of irony. No doubt she sees symbolism in this, as will countless others, a tainted warrior being struck down by one whose name is bright and clear on the dawn of the downfall of the Coalition-" Rtas shook his head, "I do not wish to even think about the speeches that are more likely than not already being written."

"So...you're saying this duel will decide the fate of the RSN?"

"To an extent," Rtas replied, "I doubt that our interactions with other galatic powers would change much, but there could very easily be massive revisions to our inward policies, mainly who holds certain positions of government."

"Oh God," Orianna said as she watched the two Sangheili swing their blades, looking as if she wanted nothing more than to look away but could not bring herself to do so. "Why does it have to be like this?"

"I understand your confusion young one," Rtas said, glancing at Oriana. "Bridges are being built between Humanity and other species and while many relationships are still rocky, from what I have heard your kind as a whole has a more positive outlook on aliens now. But what some forget is that in many ways our culture is as different as night and day. Your kind would solve such an issue through debate and trial, we however," the two energy swords clashed again, "take a different path."

XXXXX

"What is it?" Saren said as his Asari companion entered the room that he and Sukron were standing in.

"We have received word, your fleet has arrived. They are standing by."

Sukron grinned viciously, "Excellent," he said, putting his fingers to his COM unit. "To all of those that are true Jiralhanae, attack at will. Destroy any Marauder vessels that get in your way, but your primary targets are all Empire ships and instillations that are not loyal to us, focus on them."

"This is Saren," the Turian said, mimicking Sukron's movement, "Assist the Metal Fist ships in their operations, show no restraint."

"I doubt that we will need your allies," Sukron said mockingly, "they are rather useless. The Geth have proven only to be moderately effective so far and these newcomers will most likely fare just as well. What were they called again?"

"Collectors," Saren hissed, "and you would be surprised, they posses technology that rivals the Empire's, as well as the UNSC and RSN."

"I highly doubt that, if that was the case you would have used them earlier," Sukron said, "holding a technologically advanced ally in reserve while the rest of your allies are devastated holds no purpose whatsoever."

'It does if you plan on saving them for something far more important,' Saren quietly thought. "Their weapons are advanced but their numbers are limited, they could not afford the risk."

"Yes, yes, make your excuses," Sukron said dismissively, speaking into the Battle-Net again, "all strike teams report in, what is the status on the targets?"

"The Emperor and his Guard are in the lower sections of the base that contains the relic that Saren discovered," one Jiralhanae reported. "Marauders have stormed it, we are standing on stand by should he survive."

"Rason has engaged a hostile strike force outside of his lab with a team of Chemical Corps operatives. We have them in our sights."

"Xeron and a guardsman are currently battling a Marauder attack force," a third Jiralhanae reported.

"Very well, then. Your orders are to eliminate all of them, and before any of you moan about the suddenness of this order, you were only informed to observe them up until this point, I could not risk an intelligence leak. The second that you see an opening I want you to strike, even if it means sacrificing your life. Understood?"

"YES COMMANDER!" the Jiralhanae chorused.

"What happened to letting the Marauders take a kill?" Saren asked coldly.

"That was merely if my men failed to do it themselves, if they have a chance it is only reasonable that they take it, I want the deaths of these three confirmed, I will not be satisfied with merely assuming that they are no longer an issue."

"Speaking of issues, I cannot help but notice that the orders you gave to our forces will leave the Marauders relatively unscathed. Considering how much of a nuisance they have been to the Empire for the last decade, shouldn't you deal with them now?"

"You are right, they are a nuisance, but nothing more. For years they waged attack after attack against us, but they never had the numbers or the firepower to deal true damage against us. Even today, when they plan to defeat Tritus destroy everything that he had ever built, they were only able to do so because we leaked information on the fleet gathering here. The Marauders will pose no major threat to us once I lead the Jiralhanae people." He grinned viciously, "besides, they will be a useful distraction, an enemy for the common people to hate and a reason for them to give me their support."

Saren shook his head, 'Five years maximum until someone assassinates him and takes his place,' he thought, 'most likely the Marauders.' "I suppose that we will have to see if your logic holds up or not."

"If you truly doubt me then you made a grave error in trusted me didn't you?"

Saren didn't answer, not bothering to attempt to reason with the cybernetic Jiralhanae, knowing that it was just be a waste of time. He felt a gentle tapping on his shoulder and turned to see a Geth standing behind him. "What?" he asked impatiently. The Geth silently activated an omni-tool which began to project a flat holographic image. It displayed the Prothean relic that was kept within the depths of the Jiralhanae HQ. Glancing at the timer in the bottom right hand corner, Saren saw that the events of the recording had taken place mere minutes ago.

Watching it and toying with the idea of demanding an explanation from the Geth, he saw a Turian and a Human approaching the relic. "What the..." he began but before he could finish, he saw the Human walk forward. Pure terror tore through Saren as the woman was gripped by the force of the beacon, being lifted up into the air. Saren's sense of panic only intensfied when he recognized the armor of the Human, it was the same Human that he had been receiving scattered reports about. Jane Shepard, who had been exposed to the first relic on Eden Prime, who had been spotted on Feros, and who had lead the team that had killed Benezia.

"She no doubt has the entire vision now," Saren muttered to no one in particular, "But she is incapable of understanding it without the Cipher, and if she cannot find the Mu relay the information it contains is useless to her." His words did nothing to banish the fear that was now creeping through him. He needed more time, unless the factions of the galaxy were weakened for their arrival, they would not hold up their end of the bargain, no one would survive it. He had to be certain, that woman had to be stopped.

"Set course for the relic's location," Saren said, attempting to not give away his fear and succeeding for the most part. The Geth silently walked away, heading for the bridge.

"What was that?" Sukron asked, looking Saren, "growing a backbone?"

"If you truly want to be Emperor, wouldn't it be more fitting that you were the one that killed your predecessor, or at the very least you were there to see him die? You don't want your future subjects to call you a coward do you?" The second the words had left his mouth, he knew that Sukron was going to do exactly what he wanted the Jiralhanae to do.

"Coward?" Sukron hissed, activating the igniter to his scorcher, "I suggest that you do not even consider calling me that again...but I suppose that you have a point. Very well." Saren smiled inwardly. This was merely tying up a lose end, nothing more.

XXXXX

Author's Note: You know, I'm starting to notice that a lot of people tend to complain when something is not realistic (Such as complaining about Ashley's "armor boobs" saying that they're sexist and juvenile. I wish these people would understand that using intelligent words doesn't make you right, Ash's new armor is very practical and completely tame, ESPECIALLY compared to people like Samara Miranda and Jack) I tend to make my stories rather unrealistic too, I'm pretty sure space combat works nothing like the way that I portray it and I'm all but certain that if a soldier ever read this, he would be able to write a book about all the screw ups about military structure and tactics that I made. But you know what? Fuck realism.

If I wanted a realistic portrayal of military life, I would join the army, go through back breaking training for six months while a guy with anger issues shouts at me, get my head shaved, get deployed and within a couple of weeks get shot and either die an unimportant death or get stuck in a hospital for three months before getting forced back into the field and shot again, with me killing a person here and there. Here's the thing, I'm a cynic, I don't tend to look at the world in a positive light and I believe that the majority of the world is comprised of assholes.

You're probably wondering why I'm complaining about realistic stories when they portray the world for the craphole that it is, well maybe I don't want to be reminded did you ever think of that? I know that life tends to suck, I don't need my new video game confirming accepted facts. And what's more, did you ever consider that I like to believe that there is hope for our kind? That we are capable of moving past our flaws and becoming better, and while it's true that there are countless assholes in this world, all you need to do is squint your eyes to see the hidden layer of goodness that most people are too stuck up or dramatic to look for? You know centuries ago, entire armies would go to war just because, do you see any of that today?

People complain that "and they lived happily ever after" is a cliche and stupid ending. 1. A "and they lived miserably ever after" ending is stupid and feels like a slap to the crotch and 2. How long until it's cliche to have the hero BREATHE? The point I'm trying to make is I like stories with likable characters that I sympathize with and who overcome the obstacles in front of them and win in the end... And would people stop whining over every little unrealistic thing in popular media?

Maybe having places for your breasts in armor is unrealistic and a bit of eye candy but compared to the other things out there it's nothing, less than nothing (Also from what I heard, having your breasts squashed is rather uncomfortable). Hell, give Ash a helmet and you can call her Samus Aran, I just wish that people would stop jumping on the juvenile and sexist band wagon anytime a woman is acknowledged to have breasts. It's the same bullshit that was directed at the in game sex scenes, it is nowhere near as bad as they're portraying it. You know, there ARE cases where women are just used as eye candy, I just wish that people would learn the difference between shameless fan service and classy fan service. If you portray a woman as strong and capable, then the fan service becomes less harmful and more classy (Especially when you don't bash people over the head with it) and Ash in ME3 is most certainly classy, I think people are just

bitching because her character model got changed. The classic "DIFFERENT BAD!" approach, although some may just think that actually portraying a women with breasts is immature...Jesus help me.

God sorry about that, you know I should probably start up a blog for things like this or...I don't know, record myself and put it on youtube. OH there's something that I wanted to talk to you about. I am doing...A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! The nature of the special that you might ask, simple really a christmas party held by the protagonists, but there's a twist. Some old friends will be reappearing. That's right, the cast of my first crossover FIGHTING FOR A PURPOSE! Please, if you have any requests for characters from that fic or this fic that you want to see partying together, please note in a review or PM (I ask because...well with two casts this big I won't be able to get everyone in, so I'm going by popular demand.) Sorry that this AN was 1/4 of the chapter...again.

P.S. If I made a blog or youtube videos who here would watch/read it?

P.S.S. Yes I know that these chapters are short, but I go for an episodic feel, and even with my delays I still upload 3x faster than most people on this site.

P.S.S.S. Sorry about two sword fight scenes back to back, kinda wrote myself into a corner there, had nothing else to write about and I wanted the last section...last.


	80. Fratricide

Chapter 80

Fratricide

Author's Note: At time of writing I'm not sure when exactly this chapter is going to be up, and if it's up later than usual, that's because I goofed off for some days during my Christmas vacation because...this pays nothing and it's Christmas...yeah that about sums it up. Now don't get me wrong I do enjoy writing this stuff and I'm really looking forward to writing the end of this story but, oh how to I put this. Do you like soda? Do you like a particular kind of soda? Imagine drinking nothing but that soda for seven straight days...you'd want something else wouldn't you? The point is, this is a past time for me and like all past times, I balance them out so that they don't become dull and bland. Well to make up for the long wait and the rather short last chapter, how about a chapter with significant plot events?

XXXXX

"Damn it!" Taylor swore, swinging his DMR around, desperately firing at a purple blur that was soaring through the air, "I can't get a bead on these guys!" As he spoke, the purple ball slammed into the ground, creating a bright flash and sending out a shockwave. Emerging from the light, Zalton aimed his rifle at one of the Marauders and fired. An anti-tank sphere of plasma hit the Jiralhanae rebel head on, sending his limp corpse flying. Taylor did not hesitate and opened fire on the now still biotic. He managed to get two shots off before Zalton executed another Charge.

"Got any ideas?" he asked, glancing at Tali who was in the middle of pumping her shotgun, having taken a shot at Zalton too.

"Why are you looking at me?" she asked, her light silver eyes jumping back and forth, trying to keep an eye on both of the biotic Jiralhanae. "You're the only one here who's fought one of these two before, if anything I should be asking you for plans!"

"Oh for the love of Christ, all I can say is that we need to focus on staying alive and stripping away their shields bit by bit."

"Decent advice Taylor," Ashley said, firing a burst at Xeron as he blazed by, "but do you have any words of wisdom that we didn't figure out for ourselves five minutes ago?"

"Sorry Major!" he said hastily conjuring a barrier in front of him that shattered as a Warp from Xeron hit it before the Supreme Commander preformed another Charge, "that's all I got!"

Xeron felt his gut clench as two sonic blasts, a stream of .60 caliber bullets, several sniper shots, and what appeared to be a particle accelerator beam narrowly missed missed him as he tore through the air. "Do not trust Metal Fist!" a voice hissed over the Empire Battle-Net. Xeron blinked in surpise, landing on the ground and causing another shockwave as the voice continued to crackle over the Battle-Net. "They are making their move, they plan to-damn!" just as the transmission had abruptly begun, it suddenly ended.

"Xeron did you receive that message as well?" Zalton asked, landing next to Xeron. The Marauders and UNSC forced trained their weapons on them and opened fire, forcing both of them to preform Charges again, each of them heading in different directions, "the one about Metal Fist?" he continued over the Battle-Net.

"Yes, but it was not very clear and it stopped mid sentence, as if the one on the other side had to stop transmitting for some reason." As he impacted on the ground, Xeron extended one hand out and fired a Warp at a Human woman holding a sniper rifle, who hastily rolled out of the way, and pressed the other against his ear. "Whoever contacted me, respond at once." Nothing happened.

"I do not believe that whomever that was is either unable to speak anymore or choses not to."

"True, but I do not like the sound of that message 'do not trust Metal Fist,'" Xeron remarked, landing and firing off a Warp before preforming another Charge, "Zalton, we can no longer afford to delay here, we must use Serum 43 to find this fight now."

"Very well."

Xeron once again felt his legs jolting as they met solid ground. His hand flew inside his robes, grasping one of the syringes strapped to his arm and pulled it out. He flicked the cap off and was about to slam the needle into his neck when he noticed something about the syringe. The fluid inside it was not the dark purple of Serum 43, it was the pitch black of Serum 16, the chemical formula that had created the disease that now plagued him. "I...must have grabbed it by mistake," he muttered. It made sense, he had only ever used Serum 43 once before, it would make sense that he was used to reaching where he kept Serum 16, especially considering that he had chosen to keep it where it had always been, putting the leather strap with Serum 43 right below it.

He made to slip the syringe back into his robes when a shot rang out and a bullet hit him in the wrist. His barrier absorbed the kinetic energy, but the shock was still enough to break his lax grip on the vial, which fell to the ground, landing lightly in the grass. "TAYLOR, GET THAT THING!" Ashley shouted, her SMG still outstretched. Not hesitating, Taylor extended his palm outward, sending a ball of biotic energy outward, which engulfed the fallen vial. Glowing brightly, the syringe shot back to Taylor, who caught it with his outstretched hand before slapping it onto his waste, where it stuck to the magnetic clamp there.

Xeron chuckled softly. "Impressive, very impressive," he said, his voice sincere. "Attempting to deny me usage of my combat stimulants, you clearly know what I am capable of with them and seek to avoid me using them at all costs. Three dimensional thinking and creative approaches like that is what wins battles, but while this has been most enjoyable I am afraid that I must...I must..." Xeron's voice trailed off as he looked up. There was a faint shimmering in the sky, which was slowing vanishing and being replaced by a much more solid object, a Phantom to be precise.

"Oh son of a bitch!" Sarah swore as she looked up at the Phantom.

"Metal Fist stealth Phantoms," her mother muttered, "first two super powered biotic Jiralhanae and now this, I'm starting to think that we bit off more than we could chew with this mission.

"What are Sukron's Phantoms doing here?" Xeron asked out loud, looking at the bright purple gunships as their guns rotated to lock on to their primary target. Xeron blinked as both gunships fired their primary weapons...at him. A dozen concentrated plasma blasts hit him head on weakening his barriers severely.

"What in the name of the Spirits?" Tesueg said, watching with a dumbfounded look as Xeron used a biotic charge to avoid another volley from the gunships.

"Tesueg, what the Hell is going on?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the Jiralhanae with confused mapped across her face.

"I do not know," he replied honestly, watching the scene that was unfolding before him. "It appears that there is some sort of eternal conflict within the Empire, but I from there I can only guess...unless...oh no." A look of horror crossed his face.

"What should we do?" Tali asked.

"Seems like we've got a little bit of help here," Ashley said, "for a moment at least."

"This is not what it seems Human, you must believe me," Tesueg said, rapidly approaching, "I trust that you are familiar with the Supreme Commander Sukron?"

Ashley stole a glance at Taylor and Tali, a grimace consuming her face. "Yeah, I know about the bastard," she whispered, looking back at Tesueg, "what about him?"

"He is power hungry, he has always sought to control as much as he can and slaughter what he cannot. If he has ordered his men to open fire on a Supreme Commander of the Empire, it can only mean that he is attempting to overthrow the Emperor!"

"Coup d'état?" Ashley exclaimed, "that maniac?"

"We both may desire the death of Tritus, but if Sukron is given command of the Empire, Tritus will be a preferable alternative."

"So are you saying that we should help them?" Ashley said looking at Xeron and Zalton, "because that is starting to look like best available maneuver, as much as I hate to admit it."

"I am not certain," Tesueg said, "it may be wiser to hunt down Sukron and ensure that his plans never come to fruition, Metal Fist seems to be more focused on Xeron than-" no sooner had he spoken, one of the Phantom's gunners had spotted them. Bringing his turret to bear, he opened fire, spraying the Marauders and UNSC personal with plasma. "It would appear that I spoke to soon!" Tesueg shouted as he raised his machine gun, returning fire, his heavy caliber bullets raking the side of the gunship. "Conner! I require your assistance!"

Elizabeth nodded and raised her Collector particle accelerator and fired it, the concentrated beam burning the hull. The two continued to fire their heavy weapons until the gunship began to smoke. "Crystal!" Ashley shouted, looking at the older woman, "you've got an anti-material rifle, help them out!" The ODST nodded as she brought her scope up to eye level, firing three shots at the Phantom. That, combined with the firepower of the other two, was enough to engulf the Phantom in a ball of fire.

"Requesting reinforcements!" the pilot of the remaining Phantom shouted into his COM unit as the three who had destroyed the other air craft turned their attention to the remaining one. "Encountering heavier resistance than expected! Assistance required at-GAH" A pair of heavy Warps flew through the air and collided with the already damaged machine of war, destroying it.

"They'll send more," Ashley said, looking at Tesueg as peices of burning metal fell to the ground, "we need to bug out."

"We must...oh I see, yes a withdrawal would be wise," Tesueg said, looking momentarily confused by the Major's choice of words.

"But what about them?" Taylor asked, pointing at Xeron and Zalton, who were walking towards them. Everyone cautiously raised their weapons, unsure if the biotics were planning to attack them.

Xeron opened his mouth to speak when his COM unit burst to life again. "Is anyone receiving this!" a panicked voice bellowed, hysterical shouting and explosions present in the background. "A Coalition fleet just jumped in and-oh Spirits I do not know what is happening, they opened fire on us without warning! Please, I beg of you, Emperor, any Supreme Commander, I-" the line went dead and was filled with static, no doubt the speakers ship had been destroyed.

"Spirits," Zalton whispered, "Sukron is not satisfied with merely killing the Empire's leadership, he seeks to slaughter everyone on this planet." He looked at Xeron, "what are we to do?"

Xeron looked at those who stood across from him. "I thank you for your assistance," he said truthfully, "but I have ill news. The traitor is launching an all out assault on this planet, all those that do not stand with him will meet their end. If we wish to live past this day then cooperation is essential.

"Jesus, first rebels that we've never heard of and now we're working with the guys that we were sent here to kill?" Sarah whispered.

"It...appears that that is the case," Ashley said, her face a mixture of confusion, frustration and anxiety.

"Oh Spirits, more Phantoms!" Zalton shouted. Sure enough, three more stealth Phantoms had decloaked and were bearing down on them, Metal Fist operatives jumping out of the sides as they did.

XXXXX

"We are arriving over our destination," Saren's Asari companion said as she drew her fingers away from her ear. The two of them were now standing in the cargo bay of the Geth frigate that they were in, along with Sukron and around fifty Geth.

"Good," Saren said, "deploy a dozen Geth, have them infiltrate the base and eliminate every last living thing in there!" As he spoke, the floor of the cargo bay began to slide apart stopping when there was a gap in the floor, several meters wide. The starship flew over the arced Jiralhanae base and as it did, ten Geth grunt units and two Geth Primes jumped out, landing on the ground with a thud.

"You plan to let mindless drones eliminate them?" Sukron said, sounding rather disappointed, "and just when I was beginning to develop some form of respect for you."

"When dealing with situations like this, you don't always charge in guns blazing. Sometimes you need to know exactly what you are dealing with, so you send in scouts to get a grip of the situation." As he spoke, his eyes were firmly trained on the Geth as they advanced towards the base, weapons at the ready.

Then, without warning, a bang echoed through the air and the optic on one of the forward Geth exploded, drenching the ground in white fluid as it fell. Two more shots rang out and two more grunt units were destroyed. "You see?" Saren said scathingly, glaring at Sukron, "if we had gone down there ourselves, we would have been the first targets for that sniper, we wouldn't have survived!"

"Pft, and you have the guts to call yourself a warrior," Sukron said.

Saren didn't even bother replying to the cyborg's comment. Bashing his head against the hull would be just as, if not slightly more, productive. 'Where are those shots coming from?' he wondered his eyes sweeping the surrounding area. "Have the ship run a thermal scan of the area," he said to the Asari that stood next to him. As her hand flew to her ear again, Saren turned back to the scene that was unfolding below him.

Three more Geth infantry had fallen to the hidden sniper. The remaining ones had turned to face the top of the cliff that they were standing in front of, firing their weapons indiscriminately at where they assumed the sniper was. Two more Geth were hit in the head with sniper rounds as their weapons blazed, hitting nothing.

"You see what I told you?" Sukron say, watching Geth after Geth fall with a look of amusement on his face, "your little toys are useless on the battlefield, such tasks must be left to true warriors."

"I highly doubt that your operatives, whom I must remind you specalize in clost quarters combat and stealth, would fare much better in this situation," Saren snapped. 'If it was not for the betterment of organic life everyone, I would have personally killed this wretch years ago!' he thought angrily. 'To be forced so low as to actually cooperate with this abomination of nature, it sickens me!...but it must be done."

"My warriors would never be so incompetent as to be caught in a kill zone with no ways of defending themselves, they would find a way."

'Oh for-' Saren thought, going off on a mental tangent of Turian cuss words. The two Geth Prime units where all that was left of the Geth that Saren had deployed. Both of them fired a pair of the rockets at the top of the cliff, where they exploded in a ball of fire and a cloud of smoke. Both of the synthetics aimed their weapons as the obstructing cloud, ready to fire at a moment's notice. Before they could react though, three loud bangs tore out and the shields around one of the Geth collapsed before another tore it's head clean off. The sole survivor made to return fire, but three more shots rang out and sealed it's fate.

"Well?" Saren said impatiently, looking at the Asari.

"The location of the sniper has been identified," she said calmly, "we are changing course now."

"Good," the former Spectre growled, unholstered his assault rifle and flicking the safety off, "now Sukron a quick lesson in military tactics. Once you have identified the strength and location of your enemy, then you send in forces that are best suited to deal with them."

"Oh indeed," Sukron said, sounding rather bored, "and what is your wise verdict?"

"We are dealing with a lone sniper, a very skilled sniper but a single person nonetheless. Once he is engaged in close quarters combat, he will present no threat." He turned to face the Asari, "take half a dozen Geth and deal with our friend. Afterwards we will land all of our ground forces and deal with the Emperor."

The Asari nodded, drawing her own assault rifle. The ship hovered over the top of the cliff as six Geth troopers surrounded her. Without a word, she jumped out, landing firmly on the cliff, the Geth right behind her. Before it had managed to even touch the ground, a sniper round tore through the head of one of the troopers, shattering its optics and spilling fluid everywhere.

A frown spreading across her face, the Asari commando raised her rifle and fired two bursts at the Human sniper, who was on one knee with the scope of his rifle to his face, the Geth mimicking her actions. Bullets impacted on the sniper's shields, but even as they flicked, he raised his rifle and fired off three more shots, each one taking out another Geth.

"This isn't working" the Asari muttered, "even this close up we're being shredded. If that's the case..." a dark purple aura surrounded the alien woman as she executed a biotic charge. In a split second she crossed the gap between her and the Human. Taking one hand off of her rifle, she fired off a Warp the second she landed. Already stumbling back from the Charge's shockwave, the sniper took the Warp directly to the chest, badly weakening his shields.

The Asari put both hands back on her rifle and aimed at the Human's face, seeking to end this battle with a headshot. Before she could pull the trigger though, the sniper had dashed forward with speed beyond that of a normal human. Before the Asari could so much as blink, her opponent threw his sniper up in the air, caught it by the barrel, and then swung it at her head. There was a loud crack and stars danced in front of the Asari's eyes as she fell to the ground, her assault rifle falling from her hands.

Behind his visor the sniper's eyes darted to look at the alien when a stream of bullets tore through his shields, finishing them off. Flipping his rifle back to it's proper position, he fired off two more shots, finishing off the last of the Geth, but causing his rifle to overheat in the process. The Asari scrambled to her feet, drawing her pistol and aiming it.

His rifle still unable to fire, the Human charged forward, sliding the firearm onto his back and drawing a viciously curved knife. As the Asari pulled down on the trigger, the knife slammed down into her arm, causing it to jerk as blood spurted from the fresh wound. The gun still went off as it's owner's arm jerked, missing it's target but still scrapping the human's visor, causing cracks to spread like spiderwebs.

Drawing his knife out of the Asari's arm, the Human swung before she could recover. The second stab buried itself in the blue skinned woman's gut, followed by a third and fourth stab. The Asari let out a deep gasp as she raised her pistol, attempting to get just one shot off as the sniper thrust forward. There was a nauseating wet and squishy sound as the knife was plunged into it's target. The Asari commando's neck. Blood flowing freely from the wound, the knife was withdrawn and it's victim fell to the ground, dead before she landed.

"Oh yes," Sukron said dryly, "truly you know no equal when it comes to strategy."

Saren ignored him, watching as the sniper tore off his damaged helmet, idly tossing it over the cliff and revealing a slight brown and bald head. 'This is no ordinary Human," Saren thought silently. Before he had defected from the Council, he and the other Spectres had been given every last scrap of information on Humanity and the RSN, this included the most vague of rumors. Among those rumors had been genetically engineered super soldiers from the Human-Covenant War that were on the brink of extinction, could it be?

"Deploy all available units," Saren said, turning around to face the Geth, "I want everything we have dealing with this one, Sukron, we're going with them."

"Finally found your backbone I see," the Jiralhanae said, grinning sadisticly. The remaining 34 Geth jumped out of the frigate, Saren and Sukron right behind them. They all landed on the ground in a tight formation, weapons raised. As the frigate flew overhead, it fired a blur of an object that landed behind the mob of Geth, which smashed into the ground. As the dust around it cleared, a mass of metal was revealed, which quickly unraveled into a Geth Colossus.

"Well," Jun said, sheathing Emile's kukri and drawing his now cooled rifle, "Looks like I have my work cut out for me."

XXXXX

Jane swore loudly as another massive ball of plasma narrowly missed her. As the dial on the ravager rifle clicked into place, she raised it and fired, aiming straight at the heads of one of the two surviving Imperial Guardsmen. This time a solid pink beam shot out, impacting on the shielded head, viciously draining it. She dove to the side as both Jiralhanae raised their weapons and fired, one sending out a concentrated burst and the other another massive sphere.

Garrus rose out of cover, aiming his rifle at the Jiralhanae with weakened shields, firing a shot. It landed directly on his torso, breaking the shields and causing him to spin around, lining up his weapon with Garrus. Before he could fire though, Wrex sent a Warp directly at the Jiralhanae's head, taking it clear off.

"You owe me one Turian," he said, a grin crossing his face as both of them ducked down to avoid another anti-tank blast.

"You were only able to take that one out beause I weakened him for you," Garrus shot back.

"And in doing so you set yourself up to get your head blown off," Wrex countered, "rather reckless."

"A Krogan criticizing me for being reckless," Garrus muttered, "never thought I see the day."

"Hold on!" Jane shouted, wheeling around the corner and firing her ravager rifle at the last guardsman, narrowing missing him as he rolled to the side.

While that was happening, Marton and Tritus continued to trade blows, their blades glancing off one another as they swung with all of their strength. "What do you hope to accomplish with my death brother?" Tritus questioned, attempting to rip Marton in half with a powerful horizontal blow, only for it to be narrowly blocked and held in place. "Did you ever consider what will follow? Do you believe that the people of the Empire would simply bow to your will?"

"It will weaken the Empire enough for us to conquer it," Marton growled, his face tight as he pushed against the Emperor's much larger blade, managing to force it back with a strong shove.

"And then what?" Tritus demanded, sidestepping a quick jab to his gut before heaving his sword over his shoulder and bringing it down, Marton taking the full brunt of it with his machete. "You do not have enough forces to police the Empire, nor enough sympathizers for recruitment. Our people will descend into anarchy and the Second Jiralhanae Civil War will begin. Hundreds of millions if not billions of Jiralhanae will die before you are able to bring them to order again. You are willing to make that sacrifice in so that you can bring your own view of the Jiralhanae into reality, as opposed to the stability that I have created!"

"The Empire is already stained with the blood of billions!" Marton roared, swinging his blade horizontally, attempting to decapitate the Emperor, but his massive weapon rose up to meet his blow, causing his sword to bounce off. "The peace that you have sought has already been protected with countless acts of genocide and blood of both Jiralhanae and alien! What is more how many more planets will be rendered barren until you actually obtain the goal you seek?"

"Have you ever considered the alternative?" Tritus bellowed, lunging forward with his sword, forcing Marton to sidestep it and counterattack, slashing his blade across Tritus' shoulder, drawing blood. "You never looked past what was ten feet in front of you! If we do not do this our boarders will be invaded, and our people will slaughtered! It is the only way to protect our-"

"Have you grown drunk on your power?" Marton demanded, vertically slashing downward, only to have his blade forced away. Before he could recover Tritus' elbow smashed into his face, causing him to stagger back. "The Alliance will defeat you within a year! The age of the Tribal Wars has ended, everyone who is not our direct ally is not our enemy, and the age of the Covenant has also ended, we are not alone in the galaxy with a single inferior foe, we have many foes, powerful foes, more foes than we can handle!"

"You never could take the path that was right in front of you could you!" Tritus shouted, "you always had to take your own path! Even when it lead to your destruction!" As he spoke, both of the brothers swung forward, their blades clashing in mid air, both of them pushing with all of their might. His teeth clenched, Marton grasped for one of the weapons on his back and his hand closed around the handle for his plasma cannon. Pulling it off, he aimed it at the ground near Tritus' feet and pulled the trigger, just as the other Jiralhanae noticed it and jumped back.

The bright green sphere exploded where Tritus had been seconds ago, nearly taking out his shields. Tritus' eyes snapped on the cloud of smoke that the explosion had created and saw Marton dashing out of it, his machete angled for a low blow. Gritting his teeth, Tritus heaved his sword over his head and brought it down, aiming it at Marton. It connected.

Tritus watched with a slight smile of satisfaction as the blade connected with Marton's head, tearing through it and the rest of his body until he had been reduced to two pieces. Tritus felt a sense of victory soar through him...followed by a slight nagging feeling. It had been...to easy to cut his brother in half, he had not felt the resistance that one would expect from forcing a sword through armor and flesh. His eyes darted to look at the pieces of his brother as the fell to the ground. What he saw made his stomach go cold. His brother's remains turned faintly purple before disappearing into thin air. It had been a hologram.

Tritus heaved his sword again, raising it off of the ground and turning to look back at the cloud of smoke, only to see that the real MArton had emerged from it and was feet away from him. "EMPEROR!" the remaining Guardsman shouted, raising his ravager rifle, but before he could fire, a beam of pink plasma, a sniper round and a shotgun blast all hit him in the back, tearing though his shields and blowing a chunk of his torso off, killing him. Tritus watched in horror as his brother bore down on him, thrusting his sword directly at his chest. He did not miss.

Tritus felt an agonizing pain as Marton's machete tore though his chest, exiting out the other end. His massive two handed sword slipped from his hands and landed with a massive clang. "You," he hissed, grabbing his brother's shoulder's, his strength already beginning to fade, "just killed our race."

"No," Marton said coldly, "I killed your Empire," and with that, he drew his blade out before driving it back in once, twice, three times, four times, Marton lost count as he tore the flesh of his brother. His body now stained with blood, the former Emperor of the Jiralhanae fell back, his body sagging like a rag doll as he hit the ground.

Marton drew deep heavy breaths, looking at the body that lay before him, the look on his face mixed. On one hand, he had finally achieved what he had been fighting for for nearly a decade, and while he knew that it was far from over, he could now see the light at the end of the tunnel. On the other hand, he could only imagine what his sister would say about the sight about one of her brother's killing the other. He even felt a faint sense of guilt and sorrow. Tritus may have been a threat to life everywhere, but once upon a much happier time, they had been brothers, a bond that could be frayed and weakened, but never truly severed.

"So," Garrus said, standing up from cover along with the others, "he's dead. We didn't kill him but frankly that doesn't matter, so long as the Empire doesn't have him to lead them we benefit greatly."

"Yeah," Jane said, looking slightly relieved as she slid the ravager plasma rifle on her back, "I gotta say it'll be fun to write my report about this." She turned to face Marton, who was sliding his sword back into his sheath. "I thank you for that, but I must ask you, who are you?"

"It is a long story," Marton sighed, "I will be more than happy to tell you, but first we must get out of-" Marton trailed off as he heard something coming from Tritus' body, specifically his helmet. Crouching down, Marton realized that the source of the noise was his COM unit, which he promptly grabbed and lifted up to his ear.

"Do not trust Metal Fist! They are making their move, they plan to-damn!" a voice said before the line went dead.

"What in the name of the Spirits?" Marton muttered, looking at the COM unit.

"What was that?" Jane asked, walking towards the rebel.

"I am not certain, something about Metal Fist. I will investigate later, for now we must-"

"Uh, Shepard," Garrus called, "you might want to take a look at this, I don't think that we're alone anymore." Both Marton and Jane looked around to see what Garrus was talking about. A dark red hologram of a starship was floating ominously in front of the Prothean beacon.

"**You are not Saren,**" said Sovereign.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Yeah, sorry that this one took so long, but like I said, I took Christmas off of writing, gave myself a little vacation. But hey, this chapter actually has significant plot events so I think that it's a fair trade off. Oh yeah, by the way I finally got around to making a blog, you can find it here erttheking(dot)blogspot(dot)com/

I think I'll do one last rant on this one though and here is the last thing I want to say...Crap. I'm...I'm stuck people. I want to keep writing, but when I'm done with this story...I have no idea what to write about. It's not like Fighting for a Purpose, I had the idea for this story before I was done with that one, Hell I was already writing it before I was done. But the thing is...I can't come up with any new ideas...well that's not true I've got plenty of ideas, the thing is I can't come up with one that will WORK.

Here's a couple of my ideas, a crossover with Mass Effect and Fallout, the NCR uses technology salvaged from Mr. House to start looking for other planets to colonize and find the Prothean beacon on Mars. The resulting boom in technology results in the Coalition of Man, a unity of the most powerful Earth factions (The NCR, the Pitt, the Washington Confederacy, the Commonwealth, Ronto, etc) who tear across Earth with their new technology, which is half Fallout half Mass Effect, bringing most of it under their control before spreading across the stars. Centuries later, they encounter the Turians in the First Contact War I have plenty of ideas for this, such as the re terraforming of Earth which is already complete in North America, Europe and Asia, the Coalition of Man being comprised of Humans, Ghouls, Super Mutants and Intelligent Death Claws, the battle of Shanxi, Elysium and the counter attack, even some of Eden Prime.

But then I hit a road block...I have no idea what to do after Eden Prime, short of going through the same cycles as the Mass Effect games, and if the first version of this story taught me anything, that's a bad idea. The thing is, when you do Mass Effect you need to include the Reapers, and it gets kinda annoying when I want to explore the complex nature of inter-species relationships but I need to remember to insert those giant mechanical death machines at the end and the goose chase for Saren, it feels forced sometimes. Also it's not like Halo where I have the Jiralhanae and the Flood as enemies to make it feel like a crossover, if I was to do Fallout, I would have to use ME villains, because what the fuck am I supposed to use from Fallout? The Enclave? Caesar's Legion? You know it just be easier if I said "The Prothean team from Illos opened the Citadel and sent a nuke through and killed all the Reapers" just so I can focus on inter species relationships...and maybe a war. Be a Hell of a lot more interesting and less forced.

I also had an idea to do the same thing but with Crysis, Humanity forms the System Alliance half a century earlier because of the existence of the Ceph and push themselves to develop to a point where they can fight them. Once again, I hit a road block at Eden Prime, I would have no idea how to build a bridge between that and the Reapers without doing everything that the game is doing...yeah I'm in a tight spot. I think what I'll do is move on to lighter stuff, I had this idea where I write a series of one shots for this universe, exploring the lives of characters after the end of the story. Also I had this idea to write a series of Arby N the Chief one shots, try my hand at comedy (also get out my frustration at some of the Halo fanbase)

So in conclusion, if you have any ideas for crossovers that you would like me to write please pitch them at me, I'm wide open. (Kindly include a short explanation how you plan on integrating the Reapers if it's Mass Effect) Who knows, maybe I'll come up with some ideas after playing ME3 Thank you for your time, all future rants will be located on that address I gave you.

Happy New Year everyone


	81. Hidden Supporter

Chapter 81

Hidden Supporter

Author's Note: Somehow I really doubt that I will be able to finish this thing by the time ME3 comes out, but I suppose that I'll just have to do the best that I can, and hope that you will keep reading and that I can keeping writing after it comes out oh well. Well, I created my first post for my blog, check it out if you get the time, the blog is called Erttheking's thoughts. Also sorry for the long wait, let's just say longer work hours and Advanced Placement British Literature research paper and leave it at that. Ok let's go.

Kai Leng watched with a blank expression on his face as the ship that he was in slowly slid to a stop. There was a noticeable grinding noise as metal clamps secured the ship into position. The airlock in front of him hissed loudly before it slid open. "The Illusive Man wishes to speak with you," a cool female voice said as he stepped off of the ship.

"Yeah, yeah, no kidding," he grumbled, sounding annoyed as he continued to walk. The frigate had docked with a Cerberus space station far from any inhabited planet and where no one would ever think to look, orbiting a barren planet whose star was on the brink of death.

he star in reality had a long way to go and no one currently on the station would live to see it go, but it had reached the point where it was giving off such a large amount of radiation that constant shielding would be needed to keep anyone in the system from dying of radiation poisoning within days. No one in their right mind would establish a colony so far away from home in such hostile conditions, especially in one that was so far away from their home territory. As a hiding place for Cerberus though? It couldn't be more perfect. However the Illusive Man had certainly earned his name, and despite the low chance of anyone ever finding the station that he had called home for many years, only a few people had ever met him in person and ever fewer people knew the coordinates to the system that he resided in. Kai Lung was one of the few people to ever speak to him face to face.

The Cerberus assassin walked through a bright white hallway, the lights shinning off of the walls and the floor. He had always found it rather odd how Cerberus had always gone to such lengths to keep their facilities fully illuminated, but then again compared to the dim and rather mirky streets of Omega, this was somewhat preferable, especially considering that he doubted that he would ever have to take advantage of darkness in order to utilize the element of surprise. "Come to think of it," he muttered, glancing around, "maybe that's why he always lights the place up, kinda hard for people to sneak around this place without being noticed."

As he neared the end of the hallway, he saw a heavy blast door that was his destination. Stopping in front of it, he pressed the button beside it that was meant to open it. In response, a bright blue scanner lit up above the door and swept over Kai Leng. "Access denies, weapons detected," a deep mechanical voice said, "please leave all weapons in the designated bin, they will be returned to you as you leave."

"Old man's paranoid," he muttered, taking his combat knife and pistol and dropping them in a small slot attached to the wall before pressing the button again. The blue light swept over him and the voice spoke. "No weapons detected, facial patterns recognized, welcome Mr. Leng." He rolled his eyes as the door was unlocked and slowly opened.

Stepping through, Leng heard the door slam behind him, leaving him in a barren dark room. A second bright blue light shined over him, causing his eyed to wince slightly. "Secondary scan complete, you may proceed."

Another door opened, this one revealing a semi-illuminated room that was completely bare with the exception of a lone chair and a side table, facing a magnified image of the system's star that was covering the entire far wall. Leng slowly approaching the chair, which was playing host to a man in a sharply dressed suit with neatly combed gray hair, a cigarette in his hand and a glass of brandy on his side table.

"Kai Leng, where is Miranda Lawson?" the Illusive Man asked, not bothering to look at his subordinated. His voice was calm and level, catching Leng slightly off guard.

"Dead," he said simply, "she was on the receiving end of a brutal beatdown, no way she could have survived that."

"Odd," the Illusive Man said, a hand reaching out and tapping one of the many holographic screens that floated in front of him. "If she is dead, could you kindly explain why our agents have intercepted a report of a woman whose description matches Lawson's being confirmed as a POW. It also remarks how she boarded the Normandy along with a man that is described as looking terribly like you Leng, and said man was reported to have fled after Lawson was subdued."

"Sir, I was heavily outnumbered, I had sustained injuries that have yet to heal, there was nothing that I could do."

"Nothing?" the Illusive Man asked coldly, his chair rotating to look at Leng. "Somehow I doubt that, I recruited you because you showed potential, not many people could have killed a Krogan with nothing but a knife, but when I recruit someone who shows promising skill, I need them to continue to display that skill when I put them to work, or they compromise those around them."

"Sir, what would you have had me do?"

"Lawson is now a prisoner of the UNSC, no doubt the moment she is stable they will begin to interrogate her for information, I suspect that they will not hesitate to use torture, she held a non-combatant at gunpoint in an attempt to complete her mission, I doubt that many UNSC commanders will feel sympathy for her. But you see Kai Leng, this is a major breach of Cerberus' security, Lawson knows coordinates to private facilities, contact information, and sensitive information about some of our most vital projects. If that is extracted from here, the UNSC will be able to deliver a devastating blow."

His icy blue eyes made direct contact with Leng's, "And you allowed her to be captured. If you were unable to rescue her then you should have mercy killed her. A quick painless death would be preferable to what the UNSC plans on putting her through. She would agree with me, she knows what we stand for and would sooner die than let it fall apart, but she cannot do the deed herself. No doubt she will be given a medical examination and her cyanide pill will be removed, along with her hidden omni-tools, and in her current condition overpowering her captors is simply impossible."

Leng actually felt himself shaking slightly. While he was unarmed, so was the Illusive Man and he had the feeling that he could snap his neck with little trouble, but something about him was simply unnerving. He simply held himself with such confidence and detachment that even the hardened assassin felt a shrivel of fear, but then again there was also that if he did harm the Illusive Man he doubted that he would make it off of the station and if he did he wouldn't last long.

"So...what are we going to do?"

"We will have to attempt to either free or eliminate operative Lawson, which will be extremely difficult no matter how we got about it. For now-" the Illusive Man was cut off as another holographic panel appeared in front of him. He pulled it closer and began to read it. The only emotion that his face showed was a slight smirk. "Well Leng, it appears that fate has smiled on you today."

Leng blinked, "I beg your pardon?"

"One of our deep space listening outposts just picked up some very interesting and valuable communications. Just a moment." The Illusive Man pressed down on what appeared to be thin air and another tablet appeared in front of him. He scrolled down, paragraphs flying by as he did so. After a few seconds he came to what he was looking for.

"And that is?"

"Lawson's report on her expedition to a derelict starship, it contains relevant data as to what I plan to do." He looked at it, "It will put them on the right track, more than enough for a prisoner exchange."

"Whatever it is you're planning, shouldn't we use it to get Frost too?"

"That opportunity has come and gone," the Illusive Man said stiffly, "our top priority is preventing an information leak. Leng you will be making a trip very shortly, you are going to trade some very valuable information for Lawson."

"And you think that they'll just go for this?"

"Oh please, they're practically robbing us."

XXXXX

XXXXX

Rason ducked his head slightly to avoid a grenade fired at him before raising both of his arms and firing three shots from each of his wrist mounted launchers at a nearby Marauder who had been aiming his screecher, killing the rebel. There was a loud bang and the head of the Chemical Corps operative that was standing next to Rason exploded.

Rason swore under his breath as he grabbed a handful of frag grenades from his bandolier, slipping them into his launchers before aiming them again. He and his operatives were still a fair distance from the Marauders, put a good portion of their forces were pushing forward and the gap was closing rapidly, he had a feeling that soon enough things would become close and personal.

"Do not trust Metal Fist!" a voice crackled over the Battle-Net, causing Rason to jump. "They are making their move, they plan to-damn!" and the voice was cut off, being replaced with static.

"What the-" Rason said, before a massive blast of biotic energy blew past his head.

"Commander, what was that?" one of the operatives questioned, firing off two grenades as he spoke.

"I am not certain," he replied honestly, his eyes focusing on the approaching rebels, "but at the moment we have other things to deal with."

Aiming his grenade launchers again, Rason began to line up shots with the nearest rebel that he could see. It was then that out of the corner of his eye he spotted something, a faint shimmer. Realization striking him with the strength of a bolt of lighting, he quickly changed targets, instead aiming his launchers at the shimmer before opening fire. Six grenades exploded in mid air and forced a Metal Fist operative to decloak, the force of the grenades killing him.

"Commander!" the same operative called out, "what is- GAHHHHHHHHH!" Rason turned to see that the Chemical Corps operative had been set ablaze, a decloaked Metal Fist operative standing behind him. Seething with rage Rason aimed at the Jiralhanae terror inducer and fired the last of the grenades in in his weapons.

"The Hell?" Damon Winters muttered, looking up from the scope of his battle rifle as more Jiralhanae decloaked and attacked Rason and his men, "what's going on here?"

"Treachery," Ruthrforae replied, ejecting a spent clip from her railgun and loading a fresh one. "It appears that Sukron and Metal Fist are attempting to seize power from Tritus. This could easily go either way for us, making things easier or harder for us depending on-LOOK OUT!" she shouted, raising her rifle and firing. The .70 caliber slug tore through a cloaked Jiralhanae that had been sneaking up behind Damon, blasting off most of his torso in the process and kill him instantly.

It was at this point that more of the flamethrower wielding thugs appeared, this time surrounding the Marauders and UNSC squadron, tongues of fire leaping from their weapons. Several of the insurgents caught on fire, burning away at them until their lives were snuffed out. Hastily, weapons were turned and those who were being assaulted returned fire.

"Jacob, what the Hell is going on!" Rebecca shouted, firing a grenade at a Jiralhanae that had come to close to comfort, taking down his shields before Liara finished him off with three shots to the face.

"I don't know, but frankly it doesn't matter!" he bellowed firing his rifle until it overheated, managing to take down two of the attackers in the process, "shoot anything that points it's weapon at you, I don't care what kind of armor it's wearing anymore!" As he roared, a stream of bullets tore past his head and killed the Jiralhanae that had been lining up his scourcher at him. He glanced at the origin of the shots just in time to see Neriena flash him a quick salute before raising her rifle and firing again.

"COME ON MOTHERFUCKERS!" Jack bellowed, using a Charge to catapult herself at a Jiralhanae's head with both of her feet sticking out. The resulting impact caused however was watching to look away as she bounced back, landing neatly on the ground as the body of her opponent slamming face first on the soil. She then quickly formed a Warp, sending off at the next.

Meanwhile, Rason, his wrist mounted grenade launchers now empty, drew a spiker from his waist and pounded two dozen spikes into another nearby operative. "COMMANDER, BEHIND YOU!" a Chemical Corps operative shouted. Wheeling around, Rason saw three more Metal Fist grunts charging at him, their scorchers at the ready. Rason emptied the last of his spiker clip into the first one before charging at the second one, burying the blades of his weapon into his gut before his scorcher could be fired, pulling it out and stabbing again. The remaining operative was unnerved and raised his flamethrower, his fingers pressing down on the palm trigger when he inhaled sharply and an intense pain shot through his body.

Rason shoved the corpse that his spiker was imbedded in to the side and drew his Forerunner knife and faced his last assailant, only to see him already falling, blood gushing from his back. Rason then saw one last Jiralhanae standing behind the one that had just fallen, holding a bloody combat knife and looking at the corpse. And...was it Rason's imagination or was the knife shaking, as if the person that stood before him was unnerved at what he had just done.

Not hesitating at the Jiralhanae's distract, Rason grabbed three grenades and loaded them into his right launcher aiming it at his last target. "No!" the figure shouted, hastily dropping the knife and holding his hands up to his head, "I am not your enemy!"

"And exactly how can you prove that?" Rason growled.

"I just killed the warrior that was attempting to kill you, I was the one who sent that message I...do you not recognize my voice?" The Jiralhanae reached for his helmet, ripping it off and tossing it aside, revealing his face.

Rason gawked at the unmasked person that stood before him. "L-Lotan?" It couldn't be Lotan, it couldn't be the Jiralhanae that had helped Rason, Xeron and Tritus activate Divine Thunder. "What are you doing in Metal Fist?"

"The Emperor ordered me to infiltrate their ranks and to observe them for any acts of treason. I see know that my presence may have been pointless, I only learned of their plans moments ago, and even know I only know a fraction of what they plan."

"What is that?" Rason asked, vaguely registering the Marauders and Chemical Corps fending off the last of Metal Fist.

"Sukron gave the order to kill you, the Emperor and Commander Xeron, I attempted to warn you, but I was forced to end the communication before I could finish, they were beginning to suspect me. I heard Xeron demanding me to answer, but I have not heard anything from the Emperor."

There was a groan of pain and both Jiralhanae raised their knives, glancing downward at the operative in between them. "No word from your inept leader?" he groaned, smiling as he looked up a Lotan, his teeth stained with blood, "then you have lost traitor."

"I would not use that word if I were you," Rason said coldly, fiercely kicking the downed warrior in his stab wounds, earning a cry of pain in response. "Know then, I suggest that you-"

"Tell you whatever you want to know or you will make my life a living nightmare," the operative interrupted, "spare me, I was taught that technique in my first year. "Oh, but do not worry, I will tell you everything, since you surviving our first attempt you would figure it out soon or later, and either way you will not be able to do anything about it!"

"Do not test my patience," Rason growled, retrieving his spiker and loading a fresh clip into it.

"Sukron's age has begun," the Metal Fist warrior hissed, his eyes burning with a fiery spirit. "A fleet of those loyal to Sukron has just entered the system, they will wipe out the traitors that maintain orbit before killing everything on the surface. But there is more, no doubt our agents are making their moves all over the Empire, Ministers loyal to us are creating a media blackout while we dispatch those that are less than cooperative. Once they are all dead, along with you, Tritus and the brat, nothing will stand between Sukron and the throne. Saren may have assisted us, but-" the operative was cut off as a single spike buried itself between his eyes.

"Saren," Rason said, his hand tightening around his spiker as he lowered it, "doing what he did to Benezia was not enough?" he demanded, his voice thick with rage. "He had to side with SUKRON! That monster has crossed a line, no he crossed it long ago, I will personally hunt that fakon down, and RIP HIS HEART OUT WITH MY BARE HANDS!"

Lotan looked slightly unnerved, though he did not seem to be focusing on Rason, rather the body that lay in between them. Everyone else stared at the Supreme Commander, Empire, Marauder and UNSC alike, forgetting that moments before they had been attempting to kill each other.

"Tritus!" he bellowed into his ear piece "Tritus are you there! Respond!" There was no answer. "Very well, if that is how it must be. All Imperial forces! We have been betrayed by Sukron, Metal Fist and the rest of the Coalition! They are making moves to eliminate all loyalist forces on this world! It appears that the Emperor has been killed, therefore I will issue orders in his place. You are to abandon this planet en mass, we will regroup at an unspecified area later, but most importantly, you are NOT to fire on any Marauders, I repeat do not fire on the Marauders. At the moment...they are our best friend."'

Lowering his hand, he turned to look at Rutherforae who was standing not that far away, aiming her rifle at his head. For a moment, they looked at each other. "Adolas, please," Rason said softly. He was not asking, the tone of his voice was far to low. He was begging.

All of the fight went out of Rutherforae as she lowered her rifle, sighing softly. "All Marauder forces," she said, putting her hand to her COM unit, "cease firing on all Imperial forces with the exception of Metal Fist and those who aid them. We are to withdraw with loyalist forces at once, our mission here is done."

Rason continued to stare at her as she lowered her hand. "Thank you," he whispered.

"Wait, wait, wait," Jacob interjected, looking hopelessly confused, "what the Hell is going on?"

"Tritus Empire has fallen," Rason said quietly, "we have lost. For Jiralhanae there are only two sides to chose from now. Sukron's new Empire, or the Marauders." He looked at Rutherforae again, "I chose to side with you Rutherorae. You, Tesueg and Marton...you have beaten me."

The ghost of a smile graced Rutherforae's lips and suddenly she appeared to be much warmer. "It is good to be fighting on the same side again."

"Teaming up with the guy we were just trying to kill," Jack remarked, "and people say I'm crazy."

XXXXX

Jane, Garrus, Wrex and Marton all stared at the hologram in front of them. "And what's that?" Wrex asked, looking confused, "A Geth program?"

"**You are all foolish lesser beings, grasping blindly at what you cannot understand, squinting as it blinds you. I am Sovereign**."

"Saren's ship?" Garrus asked, looking at Jane, "It's an A.I."

"Spirits," Marton whispered, "a Geth told me that it was sentient, but I never imagined to this degree. Have the Geth flooded the ship with their programs in order to-"

"**You guesses are that which are expected from a race such as yours, compared to us, the Geth are little more than toys. We are a race that has existed long before any of your species harnessed the power of fire.**"

"So what are you exactly?" Garrus demanded.

"**The labels that you create are incapable of truly describing us, the Protheans attempted to do so with the title, Reaper."**

"Reaper," Jane whispered, remembering what she had heard in the Council chamber a year ago. How Saren was one step closer to releasing the Reapers and that they were machines that were capable of annihilating planets. "You're what Saren's been after all this time!" she exclaimed, "he's looking for more of you to win this war!"

"**The one that you call Saren is little more than a particularly useful pawn, I am not a servant to him, quite the opposite. When he learned of my true nature he abandoned his leaders to serve me. He serves my goal, continuing the cycle."**

"What are you talking about?" Garrus demanded, "and what do you mean the Protheans called you that? They've been dead for 50,000 years!"

"**You organics are so narrow minded, you believe that you are the masters of reality even though you have failed to explore even a fraction of this galaxy, and what little you have done has been merely for centuries and millennia. You bathe in pride over your petty accomplishments, even though those that have come before you have done far more in less time."**

Everyone stared at the hologram, hopelessly confused. "**Your expressions reveal just how little you understand. You believe that the Protheans built the Citadel and the Mass Relays. They did not. They found them just as you did, we were the ones that built them."**

"Why build such massive structures for others to find?" Marton questioned.

"**When a species finds a Mass Relay, it develops it's technology based off of it, they evolve around the path we chose for them. Organic life is nothing more than a genetic mutation, a fluke of fate, you exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it. Even before the Protheans found our creations, there were countless species that came before, they all met the same fate, as will you."**

"They're...they're raising entire species like livestock for the slaughter!" Garrus shouted.

"Bullshit," Jane swore, looking directly at Sovereign, "that's a load and you know it."

"**You deny the truth when it is handed to you? You limitations blind you from what stands directly in front of you.**"

"Oh really?" she asked, glaring at Sovereign with a challenging look. "100,000 years ago there was a race known as the Forerunners, a species with technology far beyond that of the Protheans, and we know how they died, and you had nothing to do with it!"

"**Didn't we?"** Sovereign questioned, "**They destroyed themselves after the parasite overwhelmed them, but we were the ones that set it upon them via indoctrination. After their demise their technology was added to us, and know we stand even greater."**

Another memory surfaced in Jane's memory, of how she had been told that Benezia was being controlled by Saren. Sovereign must have taken control, or as the machine put it, indoctrinated a Gravemind and then used to attack the Flood. It was then that the words of the Acolyte, the creature that she had encountered on Feros so long ago, rang in her ears. "_With the knowledge I am giving you, your kind will be more fit to fight the true threat that lurks in the dark. Know this Human, Saren's ship which he calls Sovereign...it is not what it seems. Be cautious Human, I only do this for the future of the Flood._"

"It knew," Jane whispered, "the son of a bitch knew." Jane's hands balled into fists as she glared at Sovereign, ready to screech at the top of her lungs...then a thought struck her. What she had heard...not all of it fit together. "Tell me something Sovereign, why did you use the Flood to defeat the Forerunners? I just got a great big speech about how superiror you are, so why did you let a parasite do all the work for you?"

"**Our minds are far beyond yours, you could not possibly understand why we preform our actions, we are each a nation, independent, flawless."**

"Oh, I don't think so, I think I know what happened. The Forerunners broke this cycle of yours, they didn't evolve around a Mass Relay, they had to develop their own technology, and it was far more advanced than that of every species that you had encountered before. Too advanced, if you had attacked them head on you would have lost. You were scared."

"**You dare!"** Sovereign growled, the machine's deep voice giving away a flicker of anger, **"You a creature of flawed design, dares to mock that which is the harbinger of your destruction**!"

"You bet your ass I'm mocking you!" Jane bellowed back, "because let me tell you something, I had a little chat with a Flood called the Acolyte not to long ago, it took me awhile but I think that I finally figured it out. The Flood know that you exist, but when the Halo rings were fired the Gravemind that you controlled was killed and the Flood broke free of your control. Now they're pissed off and they want revenge, that's why they gave me the Cipher. You can't rely on them now though, they won't be controlled again, and half of the galaxy has based it's technology on that of the Forerunners, we're more advanced than anything that you've ever faced before!" As she shouted, she glanced upwards and saw a small red light on the ceiling that was projecting the hologram in front of her.

"**It seems that your ignorance is matched only by your pride. You believe that you are mightier that the countless races that came before you? For millions of years we have existed and never have we suffered a defeat."**

"You know, I've heard a lot about people who think that they're invincible. The Covenant thought that they were unstoppable until Humanity triggered a Civil War. The Turians thought that they were the mightiest military force in the Galaxy until we marched on Citadel and forced them to negotiate at gunpoint. The Flood thought that we would be little more than food for them until we obliterated them. The Coalition thought that they could beat us down and a year later we've got them on the run. Time and time again, Humanity and our allies have risen to every challenge that we've faced and knocked it down, so come at us with everything that you've got, and bring your friends, because you're gonna need them!" Jane shouted and as she did, she drew her pistol and aimed it at the bulb on the ceiling, firing it. The bullet tore through it, and Soveirgn's hologram vanished into thin air.

"Spirits," Marton whispered, "this is bigger than I ever imagined possible."

"Without a doubt," Jane said, holstering her pistol, "now would you mind telling me who you are?"

"Certainly not," Marton said, but before he could continue, his COM unit beeped. Raising his hand he pressed his fingers to it. He was silent as he listened. "There has been a development in this battle," he said after a minute, looking at everyone around him, "those transmissions were from Rason and one of my commanders. We must leave this planet at once."

Author's Note: I tried to keep myself from plagiarizing with the Sovereign scene, trying to keep it original and not a copy paste of the scene in game, but that scene is just SO GOOD, that I had to steal a line or two. Also I've seen on the internet where Renegade Shep cuts off the Council and it's fairly funny, but I decided that I could top it, give Jane some credit, she just talked to a being that had taken part in hundreds of genocides...and she hung up on him. I'm particularly proud of that part.

Ok I thought of something and I want to jot it down real quick before I forget. I've more or less decided that when I'm done with this story I'm going to write a crossover between Fallout and Mass Effect, but I think I want to do a couple of smaller projects along the way. I was browsing through TV tropes when I stopped to look at that massive Final Fantasy crossover game, I kinda like the series, but I've only ever played I II IV and VI, the other's look a bit silly, the forced splitting up section at the end of VI was torturous, and would Kain decide who's side he's on already? I'm getting off topic, thinking of that and Super Smash Bros made me think of an idea for a story.

A massive crossover between a dozen games, maybe even more, in that style. A hero or two from a game along with a villain or two, get plucked from their home universe and used as pawns in a gigantic battle against each other, good vs evil. I think that I'll do it the way Marvel Vs. DC did it, two god like beings that hate each other's guts, but can't fight without destroying all of reality, so they have champions fight for them. This would be more of a side project, but it would be a fun one I think. The thing is, it would be all Xbox games, mainly because Nintendo already did this and I don't own a PS3 and I don't want to write about characters I don't know, even if throwing in Cole Mcgrath, Kratos and Nathan Drake would be awesome. Here are some possible candidates so far. I may add more later, but I want to do it with people I kinda know, if you REALLY want someone I could take a crack at it. BTW, no Solid Snake, he was in brawl, he's had his turn.

Master Chief

Commander Shepard

Ezio Auditore

The Lone Wanderer

The Courier

Subject Delta

Marcus Fenix

Issac Clarke

Alcatraz

Nico Belic

John Marston

The Dragonborn

A character from Boarderlands

Gordon Freemen

Soap

Alex Mercer (I'm on the fence with this guy, he's seriously OP)

Captain Titus

Maybe a random TF2 character

Alec Mason

Chell (Maybe, not exactly a heavyweight fighter)

Cole Phelps (Maybe, but I'm thinking no.)

If they're not on the list, then I didn't like them, thought that they would be out of place or just wasn't familiar with them. I'm still working on the villains and if they will have access to their armies of henchmen or not. So tell me, what do you think of this particular idea.

P.S. I do love how long that list is, don't you just love the variety we have in games?

P.S.S. HOLY CRAP 300,000 words! I never thought that I'd break this milestone...don't think I'll do it again anytime soon, I'd like my next work to take less than a year to finish. Well, things are nearing the end and I can't wait to write some of the scenes I have planned.


	82. The Harbinger

Chapter 82

The Harbinger

Author's Note: Well, more people like the idea of the super crossover than I thought that they would. Basically it would be a less serious story than this one but I would try to maintain a stable plot and some character development. The villains would be from various games and would have access to their henchmen, this would lead to some good moments such as Niko shooting a Hunter with an RPG and Ezio silting the throat of an Enclave trooper. There would be a lot of dimension hopping, probably through a mix of existing places in fiction and places that I create up. Basically the characters, heroes and villains, are being used as pawns by god like beings in a battle between them. Whoever eliminates the other's champions first wins. I'm looking forward to this and think that it'll be a lot of fun...though I'm going to have to ask you to kinda kill your sense of reality a little as I'm gonna make it so that John Marston and Ezio can take on much higher tech villains, but I will do my very best to make it realistic, making so that they outmaneuver them in believable ways, but I'm warning you now. Ok, let's get on with this story, I want to wrap this up before I move on to anything else, if I work on two projects at once something is going to get neglected.

XXXXX

Oriana found herself bitting her lip as she watched the two Shipmistresses in front of her duel. She had lost track of how long the two alien women had been attempting to take each other's lives, but it must have been quite some time again. Both Iasa and Ntell's movements were becoming slow and sluggish, the effects of weariness setting in from their battle. Nervously, the Ensign bit down even harder, causing a trickle of blood to spurt from her lip. She had no idea why the two were fighting, all that she knew was that she didn't want either of them to die. "They're...they're our allies!" she whispered, "why are we just letting them kill each other?"

Iasa grunted as she blocked an overhead swipe from Ntell. "I grow weary of toying with you," the Shipmistress hissed, swinging her sword at Iasa horizontally, only to have it deflected again. "Simply remain still and allow me to end your miserable life. Save yourself the suffering and retain what little dignity you have left."

"My decision was not one made without care," Iasa growled stepping forward and attempting to stab Iasa in the gut, only to have her opponent smack her sword against her's, driving it away. "I knew exactly what would happen as a result, and I was willing to take the chance that I was wrong. Had I been wrong I would have accepted my punishment without protest, but I was not wrong!" she bellowed, attempting to decapitate Ntell, only to have her duck the powerful swing.

"It does not matter if your decision proved to be beneficial or not!" Ntell retorted "you spit on the graves of every last person that fought on that planet, making their sacrifices all worthless. You endangered the entire Sangheili race and by extension the galaxy. These crimes cannot go unpunished!" As she screeched, she jabbed her sword at Iasa's side, aiming for her sword arm. The newly promoted Shipmistress roared in pain as the sword tore through her arm, causing her to drop her own sword. Looking to end the fight, Ntell brought her sword back, preparing for one last strike.

Without thinking, Iasa brought her foot up and kicked Ntell as hard as she could in the face, causing her to lose her balance and take a step back. The blow also knocked her helmet askew, obstructing her eyesight. As she attempted to rip off the headgear with her free hand, Iasa grabbed her by the wrist holding the energy sword and the opposite shoulder, and then violently pushed forward. Ntell attempted to break free, but was disoriented from the blow to her head, and as they neared the ring of energy swords that surrounded them, Iasa let out a roar and let go of Ntell with a violent throw, putting all of her remaining strength into it.

Ntell's feet left the ground as she fell back, landing right where Iasa had hoped she would. Right on top of one of the energy swords that surrounded them. The Shipmistress gawked at the concentrated plasma that was sticking out her chest as her weight caused her to slowly slide down and making sword burning through her. Her hand tightened around her sword and she attempted to get to her feet again before it went limp.

Emotionlessly, the Sangheili holding the sword that had killed Ntell withdrew it, Ntell's body falling to the floor. Silently, the other warriors that made up the ring sheathed their swords, two of them gently picking off Ntell's body, carrying it off.

Rtas exhaled ever so slightly, letting out a breath that he didn't even know that he had been holding in. It felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest. No doubt there would be further attacks on Iasa and Thel, but the waters had been tested and they had proved to be deeper then their foes had been expecting. They would be hesitant from this point on...perhaps it would be a good time to launch a counterattack.

Iasa panted as she grasped her sword, placing it on her hip. "Well done," Viluse complemented as she approached him, clutching the gash in her arm.

"I thank you," she said gravely.

"Shouldn't...shouldn't you get that looked at?" Oriana said nervously, looking at the wound.

"I will manage," Iasa said, letting her hand fall. With the wound unobstructed, the Sangheili's charred skin was revealed.

"Really?" Oriana said, looking at the arm with a flicker of pure terror in her eyes. "We're about to take part in a major offensive, you can't just walk around with a wound like that in your-"

"It is part of the duel," Rtas said, cutting the Ensign off, "even though she defeated her challenger, she must go about her daily activities with the wounds that she sustained. If she is unable to preform them then it is a sign that her opponent was able to wound her enough to stain her status as a warrior."

"But-"

"Oriana," Hall said, looking at the younger woman with sympathy, "enough. I know that you mean well, but this is their ship, their laws, their customs."

"Your concern is not unwelcome," Iasa said kindly, "Grand Fleetmaster, with all due respect, I must return to my vessel."

"I understand," Rtas said as Iasa walked away, heading for the air lock, Viluse right behind her, looking a cross between nervous and relived.

"Are you alright?" Hall asked, staring at Oriana who had turned a little pale.

"Yes," she whispered, nodding her head slightly, "it's just...I never thought I would see so many people just stand by and watch something like that happen...myself included." As if to prove her point, the crowd of Sangheili that had gathered were slowly dispersing, rather unfazed by the battle that they had just witnessed.

"I understand, you might want to sit down for a little before things heat up."

"Admiral," Rtas said, approaching Hall "I do believe that we were to discuss battle strategy. We cannot begin our offensive until your scout vessel returns, but until then we should weight our assets and come up with a base plan."

Hall nodded. "Well, I suppose that we should start by checking the exact numbers of our fleet."

XXXXX

"Gunships!" Taylor shouted as three more Phantoms approached, their main cannons firing. The combined firepower killed two Marauders that were not fast enough to avoid the blasts of plasma, their scorched bodies hitting the ground as more Metal Fist operatives jumped out.

"Where are all these bastards coming from!" Ashley screeched as two grenades impacted on her shields. Raising her SMG she fired a stream of rounds at the Jiralhanae wielding the launcher, killing him.

"Their target was the leader of the Blood Brothers, arguably the most powerful of the Supreme Commanders!" Tesueg replied, gunning down two approaching Metal Fist operatives with his machine gun, his massive bullets riddling their chests with massive holes. "They will have dedicated a massive amount of manpower to this mission, far more than they will have to Rason or Tritus!"

"We can't hold out forever!" Taylor bellowed, a Metal Fist warrior decloaking behind him, aiming his scorcher at the ODST. There was a load bang and his shields flickered. There was another bang shotgun pellets tore through the flesh of the alien, it's muscles growing limp as it fell.

"Watch out, they're hitting us from all sides!" Tali said, pumping her shotgun as she slid her back against Taylor's.

"This is bad," he whispered, "we're in the worst position that we could be in, out in the open, surrounded and our enemy has air support." It was true, the small group had closed the distance between each other, with multiple Phantoms coming in from all directions. There seemed to be no end to end to Metal Fist's reserves, for every drop ship that was destroyed and operative killed there were reinforcements ready to take the place of the fallen.

"Just hold out!" Ashley shouted, shooting another Jiralhanae in the head with her submachine gun. "Joker! This is Ashley, we need extraction now! We are taking heavy fire!"

"I'm on it!" the pilot hastily replied, his normal dry sense of humor completely absent. "I just got word from the Captain, Tritus is dead, we're bugging out!"

"Then haul your ass down here flyboy or you'll be scooping us up in an urn!" Ashley shouted. As she did, she spotted a Metal Fist operative charging at her from the side. Swearing, she wheeled on the spot and lined up her weapon with the with the Jiralhanae, pulling the trigger just as he fired his scorcher. Even as bullets were hammered out of the Major's weapon, draining the Jiralhanae's shields, fire leapt from the scorcher. Ashley's shields, having not yet recovered from the earlier grenades, flicked and died under the strain, leaving nothing standing between the flames and Ashley's face.

A cry of pure agony echoed across the battlefield, causing the heads the Normandy crew members to turn in it's direction. Ashley Williams stumbled backwards, one had clutching her face as fire burned away at the flesh, the other still holding down the trigger to her weapon, the bullets flying in random directions as her arm jerked. As she hit the ground, the Jiralhanae advanced, aiming his flamethrower at the wounded Marine, obviously intending to finish the what he had started.

As he made to fire his wrist mounted weapon again, a sniper round tore through his throat, the warrior's hands flying to his throat as a geyser of blood erupted from it, clutching it until a second round put him out of it's misery. Sarah and Crystal advanced to where Ashley lay writhing on the ground, the younger Winters grabbing the officer as he mother fired another round from her sniper rifle, adding another kill to her count.

"How bad?" Sarah questioned, looking with Ashley with a terrified look as she pulled her back.

"I...I can't see," Ashley whispered, pure fear dripping in her voice, "I can't see...JESUS CHRIST I CAN'T SEE!" Sarah, ripped off the older woman's helmet and stared at the damage. She had to force down the spasm of nausea that overtook her as she looked at the older woman's face. Her eyes were pitch black, completely destroyed by the fire, while second and third degree burns coated the rest of the upper half of her face, tendons and other muscles clearly visible.

"She's out for the count, no way she can't fight like this" Sarah muttered, "god damn it they're picking us off one by one." Crystal didn't reply as she lined up another shot with a Metal Fist warrior, firing it, unpleasant thoughts about her and the rest of her family being burned to a crisp creeping into her mind.

"Zalton," Xeron whispered into the Battle-Net, sending a Warp at a nearby drop ship at the same time that the Honor Guard fired an anti-tank blast at it, the combined assault destroying the vehicle. "It appears that we are out of options, we must use Serum 43."

"Understood," Zalton said, taking one hand off of his rifle and reaching for the vials strapped to his shoulder plate, Xeron reaching under his robes for his. Both of them drew out the vials of dark purple liquid, jamming the needles into their necks and pressing down on the plungers. "And now," Zalton growled, the muscles in his face growing tense as his biotic aura turned black, "these traitors pay for their crimes!"

"I agree!" Xeron bellowed, and both of them extended their hands, Warps shooting out of the palms of their hands, each of them hitting the same drop ship, reducing it to a ball of flames.

Both of them then faced the line of Metal Fist operatives that had been recently deployed, numbering at several dozen. Confident in their numbers, the Jiralhanae raised their weapons, spikers, grenade launchers, carbines, needle rifles, and fired them all, sending a wall of projectiles at the biotic super soldiers. The shots fired hit the barriers of Zalton and Xeron en mass, causing them to flicker but hold.

Unnerved, the two biotics returned fire, send short concentrated Warps at those that stood before them at an amazing pace. A series of the blast struck one of the warriors, tearing through his shields and killing him in seconds, the one that stood next to him suffering the same fate. The two picked of their opponents at an incredible rate, reducing them to half strength within minutes.

Seeing so many of their own fall without so much as scratching their targets, the Metal Fist warriors panicked, half of them breaking rank and retreating while those that remained were wiped out with little effort. The two warriors then turned their attention to those that were desperately attempting to flee. They lasted thirty seconds.

"More dropships," Zalton hissed, looking up at the aircraft that were decloaking alongside those that already hovered in the air, bringing their cannons to bear. However instead of dropping off infantry, the three new dropships dropped off two Revenants and a Wraith, all of which hastily fired their primary weapons at the Jiralhanae.

"The cowards know that they cannot hope to defeat us on foot, so they send their support vehicles to do their work for them," Xeron snorted, "pathetic." No sooner had he spoken then a blast from a Revenant stuck him full in the chest, causing him to stumble back, his barrier flickering violently.

"Perhaps you should act more and talk less," Zalton said scathingly, dodging a blast from the other Revenant and building up a heavy Warp before sending it at the gun carriage, following it up with an anti-tank blast from his ravager. The combined force of both attacks was enough to destroy the assault vehicle, killing the driver in the process.

"The student should not lecture the master," Xeron shot back, concentrating his own Warp, taking ten seconds to concentrate it before sending it at the remaining Revenant, causing it to experience the same fate as the other.

"The master should actually have something worth teaching!" Zalton shouted, turning his attention to the Wraith. He built up another Warp and sent it at the tank, hitting it head on and blasting a good portion of the armor off. Damaged but still functional, the Wraith fired its main cannon at Zalton, who jumped back in an attempt to avoid it. However, he began too late.

The blast hit him head on, completely shattered his barrier and forcing him to stumble back. The Wraith's gunner then opened fire at the unshielded Zalton, causing him to roar in pain as several of the bolts of plasma hit his torso, burning away at his flesh as he desperately used a Charge to escape the rain of fire.

Seething, Xeron sent his own Warp at the tank, finishing it off for good. Turning his head to look at Zalton clutching his chest, Xeron was instantly hit with a combined assault from the Phantoms, finishing off his own barriers. Jumping backwards out of the line of fire, he saw three more Phantoms decloaking, all of them dropping Wraiths. Landing firmly on his feet, he stumbled. Glancing at his arm, he saw something that made his stomach drop. His pitch black aura was thinning, the serum was already wearing off.

"Serum 43," he whispered, "it is not enough, we barely survived one Wraith, we cannot face three without serious injury...I have no other choice." Reaching into his robes again, he pulled out another syringe, filled not with the purple liquid of Serum 43, but the onyx dark mixture that was Serum 16. "Rason, forgive me," he said as he jammed the needle into his neck, injecting himself with the stimulant.

XXXXX

"I'm sorry you're what?" Garrus asked as the elevator door in front of him slid shut.

"Marton, leader of the Marauders, a group of rebels that split off from the main Empire military a little over a decade ago. We have been employing hit and run tactics even since then, attempting to overthrow the current government and replace it with our own, one with a less xenophobic policy. You see the reason what we defected in the first place was that we disagreed with Tritus' war hungry policies."

"And where do you fit into that?" Garrus asked, looking at Wrex.

"They've got limited numbers," the Krogan replied "they need all of the muscle that they can get, we've even got a couple of Humans working with us. Also, he's made me a couple of promises, not to mention I've got reason to believe the Krogan allying themselves with the Empire will end up biting us all in the ass."

"We'll have to get more familiar later," Jane said, putting her hand to her ear. "To all ground teams, the target has been terminated, I repeat, Tritus is dead. Joker, we need extraction!"

"Hold on!" Joker said, "I'm getting a red flag from Ashley's unit, she's under heavy fire."

"How long until you reach them?"

"Around ten minutes if I seriously push it."

"Ok, get them out of there and do it fast, if they're under heavy fire they won't last long. Get Jacob's team right after!" Lowering her hand, she turned to look at Marton again. "What was that transmission about? The one that you had downstairs."

"I trust that you are familiar with Sukron, the more savage of the Supreme Commanders?"

"A couple of my men had a bad run in with him, they've got the scars to prove it too."

"I feel sorry for them, but that is beside the point. Sukron, his men and the rest of the Coalition have betrayed the Empire, he is attempting to take charge of it, much like we were attempting to do, only I imagine that his goals are much less desirable. A fleet under his command has entered orbit over the planet and intends to wipe out all Loyalist forces on this rock. The transmission was from Rason, he seeks an alliance with us."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that he is abandoning the Empire, surrendering it to us. I know Rason very well, he would only do this if he believed that the galactic power that Tritus created was beyond saving. However we may benefit from this, millions of Jiralhanae warriors will listen to Rason's voice instead of Sukron's, they will support us and by extension the Galactic Alliance."

"And he won't stab us in the back?" Jane asked, sounding more hopeful than skeptical.

"He would have no reason to, Sukron is making moves elsewhere even as he speak. He is slaughtering those who supported Tritus and putting his own people in a position of power. By the end of the day he will have complete control of the Empire and all of it's forces, minus those that defect in order to follow Rason, but those will be a small percentage, 1% at the very most. With numbers that few, Rason stands to gain nothing by betraying the few allies that he has. He would be marooned in space, surrounded by enemies on all sides, and unlike the Marauders, he does not have the resources necessary to last without support, not just in terms of firepower, but in terms of growing food and manufacturing weapons."

"The Alliance has a massive fleet waiting not that far away," Jane remarked, "it's entire mission is pointless now, Sukron isn't going to stick around, Rason's trying to help us, and by extension I assume that we can count on Xeron siding with him?"

"Without a doubt, Xeron is a very interesting individual, he enjoys fighting but there is a difference between him and Sukron. Xeron enjoys the intensity of combat, but Sukron simply enjoys killing. Xeron actually regrets killing certain people, he would never side with Sukron, not that that fakon would ever offer his hand to him."

"Then we can call him an ally?" Jane asked. Marton nodded. "Good," she muttered, glancing at the elevator's control panel. "Why the Hell is this damn thing taking so long!" she swore.

Marton said nothing as he watched her. 'No doubt she is eager to leave this planet, now that her objective his complete, staying longer would be pointless and dangerous, especially with recent developments...but she is keeping her emotions in check for the most part. That is more than I can lay claim to.'

"Finally," Garrus said, the elevator sliding to a stop and the door opening.

"You got any way of getting out of here?" Jane asked as they exited, looking at Marton.

"I am afraid not, my ship was hard pressed to get close enough to drop us from high orbit, and with Sukron's fleet I imagine no dropships will be getting through."

"Well then, looks like we'll just have to sit tight and wait for the _Normandy_ to show up," she said as the four of them headed for the door. "Jun, it's Jane, we've taken care of Tritus, what's your status?"

"Busy!" the SPARTAN called abruptly, the bang of a sniper rifle echoing over the COM lines.

"Busy?" Jane questioned, heading for the exit and stepping outside. The dark clouds that were hovering overhead were even thicker now, it looked like it would start raining soon. "Busy with what?"

"Geth! Whole platoon!" and as if to clarify his point, a Geth grunt with a cracked optic landed at the base of cliff that they had landed on. Craning her neck, Jane stared at where she and Garrus had left Jun. On the top of the cliff, Jun angled his rifle and shot a geth that was aiming it's rocket launcher at him, destroying it. With his other hand, he drew Emile's Kukri and charged forward at a Juggernaught that was firing it's MG at him. Jumping upward, he thrust forward as hard as he could, burying the knife and even part of his arm in the synthetic before withdrawing it.

Saren snarled as he looked at the destroyed Geth that now dotted the ground around him, there being nearly two dozen now. "It appears that I will have to do this myself," he muttered, watching Sukron fire five grenades at Jun, only for the bald man to dodge them, shooting another Geth as he did. Raising his assault rifle, the Turian lined up a shot with Jun's head and opened fire. They impacted, causing Jun's shields to flicker. Snapping his head in Saren's direction, he began to fly across the battlefield towards him, the former Spectre standing his ground as he continued to fire his rifle.

Within seconds Jun was upon him, swinging his knife with enough force to decapitate Saren, who had thrown himself out of the way just in time. Jun turned to finish him off, but before he could a stream of silver rained down on him, tearing at his shields. As Jun jumped back, Saren looking up to see five insectoid creatures descending towards them, the Collectors. Four of them landed around Saren aiming their weapons at Jun and firing. The fifth, however, remained in midair, it's body glowing brightly as what appeared to be tares formed all over it. "**ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL**!"

XXXXX

Author's Note: Let's get this out of the way right now, no I don't hate Ashley, I actually like her very much. Some of you will no doubt ask why I took her eyes then to which I reply Tali is my absolute favorite Mass Effect character...you know, Ms. Broken ribs, cut off finger, partially crushed throat, has been tortured Tali? I can't bring myself to kill female characters, partially because I have trouble doing it but mostly because I have stories planed for them and contrary to what some people might say, characters aren't targets at a shooting range to be picked off at random, if you're going to kill a character it needs to serve some sort of purpose and not be completely out of the blue. Anyway, I can't kill these characters because I have stories planed for them...so I hurt them to portray how grim this war is, I took Ashley's eyes, had Tali tortured and nearly killed and Rebecca get mind raped and I genuinely like all of

these

characters...I just realized how fucked up that sounds. See, this is why I'm single.

Anyway in other news, new characters have been added to my super crossover

Thel 'Vadam

Eleanor Lamb

Roman Belic

Adam Jensen

Eliza Casan

John Price

Craig Boone

Fawkes

Tali'Zorah

Garrus Vakarian

Duke Nukem (MASSIVE MAYBE I DON'T KNOW THE CHARACTER AT ALL!)

The TF2 character will be RED Soldier (at the moment)

The Borderlands character will be Roland (again at the moment)

Maybe a Gear, I was thinking Dom, but with his death in GOW 3...I don't know if that would be appropriate.

Also, I decided to take Issac Clarke off of the list, mainly because I haven't played Dead Space but thought that I could get away with that on account of him being a silent protagonist. Then I remembered that he had a personality in the sequel and that plan got sunk.

Also, here is the villain list at the moment

The Prophet of Truth

Tartarus

Makarov

Dimitri Rascalov

BLU Scout

Bertram Roth

Commandant Steele

Queen Myrrah

Skorge

General RAAM

Legate Lanius

Vulpes Inculta

Caesar

Colonel Autumn

Saren

Warboss Grimskull

Nimeroth

Ceph General

William Taggert

Zhao Yun Ru

Aldiun

Robert Borgia

Dutch

The Gravemind

Dr. Wallace Breen

I'll write up more deatails about the story later, but know that this guys will have access to their henchmen if they have any, people like Taggert, Breen and Roth would be helpless without them. Once again, I have a blog titled Erttheking's thoughts, just google that and it should pop up. I would give you the url, but you know how this site is about that kind of stuff.

P.S. I know that the final battle between Ntell and Iasa was short, but after Marton and Tritus' fight, I was running out of ways to say person A and person B swing their swords at each other. The alternative was have them descend into an old fashioned brawl, which I didn't want to do because Iasa kicking and shoving Ntell was un-Sangheili enough, also I have something like that planned for the future and I don't want to dry it up.

P.S.S. FUCK SOPA!


	83. Poisoned Salvation

Chapter 83

Poisoned Salvation

Author's Note: Well, the demo for Mass Effect 3 has been announced for February 14th, creating a difficult situation for those of you that are committed considering that it's Valentine's day. As for me, I think that I'm going to avoid the campaign like the plague, mainly because I don't want any of the plot to be spoiled for me, I already know too much with the Thresher Maw and the Reaper. Defiantly giving the multiplayer a crack though, I actually think that that is a good idea. Sorry that it took so long, I had finals to deal with, but now that it's a brand new semester, my workload should be lighter. Well, here we go.

"How are you holding up?" Viluse asked as he and Iasa walked down a hallway, back for the hanger.

"I have suffered worse injuries, Noveria comes to mind." At the mentioning of the icy planet, Viluse stiffened slightly. He was not alone, even Iasa looked uncomfortable at the mentioning of it. "I apologize, we may have moved on from what I did there, but I understand that you would prefer that I did not-"

"It is not the Rachni," Viluse interrupted. "Demas...and Ramos. It is where they had their last battle. I never did ask you, how did he-"

Iasa shook her head. "It was disgraceful, sadistic, over the top. It...I do not wish to recall it."

"I understand, but then who?"

"I remember his face well," Iasa snarled, "I did not know his name at the time, but I know it know. Sukron, one of the Supreme Commanders of the Empire."

"I have heard of him," Viluse growled, "so he was the one that ended Demas' life? Well, I supposed that this is good news in a twisted way. He could very well be on the planet we intend to invade, and nothing would brighten my dad more than the knowledge that he died during an orbital strike."

"Not a duel? Not single combat? Not personal?"

"To drive my sword into the chest of that monster and watch as the light vanishes from his eyes," his mandibles tightened in a growl, "nothing would bring me greater joy. However...I must admit that at this time, strategy must come before our personal vengeance. Were the circumstances different, I would scour all of Virmire until I found him and sheer the flesh from his bones until he pleaded for his miserable life. Unfortunately this is a pleasure that is denied to us."

"You have changed," Iasa remarked, looking at her friend, "The Viluse that I knew before the Battle of Sangheilios would have thrown reason to the wind and charged ahead without any support or authorization to find him."

"A good friend opened my eyes," he replied. Iasa smiled.

"HOLD UP!" a voice cried from behind them. Turning around, both of them saw Oriana dashing towards them, her hand desperately trying to keep her naval cap from flying off of her head.

"I recall your face," Viluse remarked, looking at the Human woman who had just screeched to a halt in front of them, her chest heaving. "You were with Admiral Hall when she oversaw Iasa's duel, along with the Grand Fleetmaster." Oriana nodded, massaging her side slightly. "What is your name?"

"I'm Ensign Oriana Wells, navigator of the UNSC flagship Archangel," she said, necessary springing to attention as she did. Realizing her blunder, she lowered her hand to her side, blushing furiously as she did.

Iasa chuckled. 'She is young,' she thought to herself, 'this is only natural.' "How can we be of service?"

"I...I was wondering...I mean if it isn't too much trouble...why were you dueling that woman?"

"She challenged me?" Iasa said uncertainly, perplexed by the Human's odd question. "Why else would I be fighting her. Sport?"

"But, why did she challenge you in the first place?"

"I am afraid that the reasons for that are classified by the RSN, only specific members of the Alliance are even aware of it," Viluse answered.

It was true, the RSN had desperately been attempting to keep the intervention of the Rachni quite, as to not invoke the wraith of the Council when they were needed the most. This was proving to be far easier said than done, considering that hundreds of warships had detected the Rachni, meaning the hundreds of thousands of personal that had crewed them knew of the return of the thought deceased species. It was difficult to keep all of them silent, even if all of them could be successfully accounted for and sworn into silence, to trust that many to not leak intelligence was bordering on impossible.

There was also the fifty Coalition ships that had managed to successfully retreat back into friendly territory. The commanders of those vessels would have told the leaders of the Coalition about the Rachni coming to the aid of their enemies without a doubt. While it was uncertain if the Coalition withheld this information in order to prevent a panic or issued it to every last outpost to put them on their guard, it was now a very real possibility that the Council would intercept an enemy transmission that would detail the Rachni's involvement and Sangheilios.

To be truthful, merely days ago Rtas had told Iasa that both he and Thel believed that the Council already knew the truth and had merely not confronted them about it yet. This was another front that they had to keep a weary eye on in addition to those among the RSN that wished Iasa and Thel and ill fate for her dodging what they believed to be righteous justice. Thel was deeply concerned that the Council might take staggering measures in an attempt to get to Iasa the same way that Ntell just had. Until then though, all they could do was wait and watch.

"I cannot tell you much," Iasa said, "know this, on a mission I lead a team of Spec Ops warriors into an enemy stronghold and several of them were killed. I found myself in a position where I had to make a call of judgement and either obey my orders or commit what could be considered insubordination in order to preform an action that may have saved many lives. I chose to take that risk and to my extreme relief it payed off. Ntell, however, disagreed. You see, her brother was under my command and he was one of those who died in combat. She viewed what I had done as insulting to his memory and chose to seek revenge. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

"I...yeah for the most part," Oriana said, looking a little overwhelmed. "Just one more question, that thing that you weren't supposed to do but did anyway, did it save a lot of lives?"

"Yes," Iasa said softly. "A word of advice young one. There is a reason that nearly all races practice a strict chain of command. Battle is a place of chaos and turmoil, the faulty actions of a single person can result in the deaths of dozens of allies, that is why warriors are issued orders by a trained officer and are not to act without them."

"This system, though widely accepted, is not without flaw. Officers are high value targets, and very commonly they are killed or cut off from their men. Another problem is that even though officers are trained to better strategize and formulate plans, they are still mortal creatures. They are capable of blunders, panicking, and of simply being wrong or misinformed."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Do not take what I say lightly," Iasa warned, "On a standard basis, you should always follow the orders of your superiors, but simply because they are tasked with directing your movements does not mean that you should cease to think for yourself. If you beleive that disobeying orders will save more lives than following them, then disobey."

"Just...just like that?"

"Not exactly. Bear in mind that there is a chance that your judgement may be flawed as well. Should that be the case, make sure that you are willing the face the consequences before you act."

"Thanks...I think," Oriana said, feeling slightly overwhelmed.

"It has been pleasant speaking with you Human, but now I must return to my ship. Perhaps we will meet again one day."

XXXXX

"Here come more of them!" Damon shouted as another stealth Phantom decloaked overhead, dropping off half a dozen Metal Fist warriors. Aiming his rifle, he fired four bursts at the nearest one, the last three of the bullets piercing the alien's skull. "How many of these damn things are there!"

"Sukron does not care how many of his own men he needs to sacrifice, he will be more than willing to send wave after wave at us until we are dead!" Rason replied, firing a grenade that bounced twice before landing in the middle of a group of four Jiralhanae, leaking out an orderless colorless gas. Within seconds, all of them had fallen to the ground, foaming at the mouths while their bodies spasmed wildly.

"So let me get this straight!" Jack shouted, blasting a warrior with a Warp, "these guys want to overthrow your current government in favor of a guy who they flat out know thinks of them as expendable? Are they fucking retarded?"

"Do not underestimate how overwhelming fanaticism can be!" Rutherforae shouted, firing all five of the .70 caliber slugs in her railgun at the right engine of one of the Phantoms. Spewing sparks, the dropship spiraled downward before crashing into the ground.

"Really?" Jacob asked, looking at Damon as he gunned down another Jiralhanae. "They're having this talk now?" Damon shurgged as both he and Jacob killed another Jiralhanae each.

"Detecting additional dropships approaching," Legion reported, turning to face three bright purple Phantoms that were indeed approaching their position.

"Oh come on!" Rebecca shouted, raising her grenade launcher and aiming it at the incoming vessels.

"Wait!" Liara shouted, grabbing the launcher and forcing it down, "something's different. All of the Phantoms that have been attacking us so far have been equipped with cloaks, why aren't these?" As if answering her question, all three Phantoms opened fire with their main cannons, hitting their target with overwhelming force and completely annihilating it. Rebecca gaped as one of the Metal Fist Phantoms exploded in mid air.

"Loyalist forces?" Neriena shouted, looking up from her assault rifle.

"Looks that way," Rebecca replied. The Loyalist Phantoms continued to fire on the remaining two Metal Fist gunships until they had been reduced to piles of scrap. They then began to descend, the side doors on two of them opening. Inside each one, around half a dozen Jiralhanae in dark blue armor stood, holding rifles in their hand. All of them began to open fire, shooting superheated spikes at the remaining Metal Fist operatives.

"Shocktroops," Rason muttered as the last of the Separatist forces fell. The friendly vessels descended to the ground, the doors on the third one opening as it did, revealing it's bay to be empty.

"Commander!" one of the shocktroops said, stepping off of the Phantom that he had arrived in, "we received your message and traced it to this location. We must get you off world immediately."

"Very well," Rason said, glancing at his Chemical Corps operatives, the Marauders and the UNSC forces. "All of these people are allies, will we be able to fit them all on?"

The shocktroop looked as the gathered forces before him. "We may have to overstuff the dropships but we should be able to manage. What will our destination be? We have not managed to contact any ship that we will be able to reach without traveling through range of several hostile heavy warships."

"Hold on," Jacob said, taking one hand off of his rifle and pressing it to his ear. "Joker, it's Jacob, we've managed to secure a couple of dropships for transport. I need you to transmit your coordinates to them."

"Fine, just punch your COM link into their computers," the pilot replied. "I've got orders to pick up the Major's team first, but I'm almost there. You guys are next."

"Got it," Jacob said, lowering his hands. "I need to get at-"

"Do whatever you must," the shocktroop said, gesturing to the middle Phantom. Jacob nodded as he entered it, heading for the cockpit. "We are working with the Humans?" he asked, looking at Rason, "and the rebels?"

"Tritus' vision has failed."

"Are...are you certain?" the shocktroop asked, disbelief covering his face. "He united our entire race."

"Metal Fist is striking all over the Empire," Lotan said, looking at the shocktroop, "the Emperor asked me to infiltrate their ranks solely for this reason. Not that it changed much." Lotan looked oddly stiff as he spoke, as if he was uncomfortable.

"But...why would Sukron betray us? What does he stand to gain? He must know that he will not win the coming war."

"You give Sukron too much credit," Rason snarled, "you assume that he is capable of forming more intelligent thoughts than eat, sleep, and kill. Tritus never should have trusted him!"

"Commander?" Lotan said, looking startled at Rason's anger.

"He embodies the very worse our species have to offer!" the elder Jiralhanae snapped. "Everything that the galaxy fears about us can be accurately summarized with him! I saw countless murdering madmen in the Tribal Wars, and none of them can hold a candle to him! Tritus wanted to move forward, we all wanted to move forward, to become a race that was about more than genocide, even if it was unsuccessful, but he has been a weight that was dragging us down this whole time! He redefines the term sociopath, the sheer glee he has in his eyes when he causes pain or harm, it's disgusting! Had it not been for the sheer scarcity of allies in the Civil War, I would have peppered his skull with spikes long ago! And to think I actually put that fakon back together, I SHOULD HAVE LET HIM DIE!"

The elder Jiralhanae fumed, his eyes filled with anger. "I do not know which one I hate more, Saren or Sukron. Sukron's sheer strength is tearing our kind apart, but I would be willing to bet all of my 350 years that he is the mind to his madness." He shook his head. "Voicing my anger will not solve our problems. We must go." The shocktroop nodded as he headed back into his dropship, the others starting to climb into them.

Rason himself took a step forward before realizing that Lotan was not following him. Turning around, he saw that he was looking at the Jiralhanae that he had stabbed not too long ago. His face was pure white. "Lotan, are you alright?"

Lotan jumped as if he had been shocked. "What, I- yes Commander, I am fine." He began to walk forward, entering the Phantom without making eye contact. His hands were shaking.

XXXXX

Xeron growled as he felt Serum 16 coursing through his veins, his aura thickening around him. Looking at the Wraiths that had been deployed, he saw them firing their plasma mortars at him. Using a Charge, he managed to propel himself to the side, easily avoiding all three of them. Drawing biotic energy around his palms, Xeron let out a roar as he sent a heavy Warp at one of the Wraiths, destroying it in a single blast.

The Wraiths fired again, Xeron using another Charge to get away from them. The first one he narrowly avoided, but the second blast hit him head on, heading him flying back. He hit the ground a loud smack, a cloud of dust rising up around him. Growling, the biotic got to his feet, glaring with intense hatred at the Wraith that had just hit him. "You dare to strike me!" he shrieked, hurling another Warp at the vehicle, reducing it to scrap metal.

He faced the last Wraith and was preparing to annihilate it when an intense pain shot through his chest. He began to cough violently, so intensely that he buckled over. He gave a particularly violent hack and a gob of blood splattered the ground. Attempting to recover from his episode, Xeron glanced up and saw a plasma mortar descending towards his position.

Clumsily, he preformed another Charge, barely clearing the blast and stumbling as he landed, causing him to fall over and land on his face. "The Hell is going on?" Ashley demanded, her head turning wildly in accordance to the explosions and grunts that she heard.

"Xeron used his combat stims," Sarah said hastily, resting the Major against one of the Marauder's drop pods. "He took out a couple of Wraiths, but something's wrong with him, he's coughing up blood."

"It must be the side effects of the drug," Crystal muttered, lining up a shot with a gunner of one of the many Phantoms that circled overhead and firing. The shot scattered bits of gray matter all over the inside of the Phantom and caused the dead gunner to fall out of the dropship, heading straight for the earth below him. "We heard about it from those reports we got from Galnu remember?"

"Well then we have to help him don't we?" Ashley said, attempting to get to her feet, only to have both Winters women push her back.

"Not with your eyes," Crystal said, "besides, we can't really do anything. They're attacking him purely with armor and air craft now, and we don't have the firepower to take those things out. They're not even paying attention to use anymore, they're focusing all of their attention on him."

Xeron scrambled to his feet, panting heavily and sending a Warp at the remaining Wraith, causing it to suffer the same fate as the others. He barely had time to catch his breath when a barrage of plasma blasts from the Phantoms rained down on him, viciously eating away at his barriers. Staggering, he glanced up at the aircraft and grit his teeth, his biotic aura gathering around him. Preforming another Charge, he launched himself upward, landing heavily on the top of one of the Phantoms.

He raised his hand and was about to act when another spasm of coughs overtook him, the hull below him becoming stained with blood as he expelled it from his mouth. Trying to shake him off, the Phantom swerved to the side, making Xeron lose his balance. Charging biotic energy around his hand, he punched the top of the dropship, burying his hand in it and giving him a hold as the vehicle continued to sway. Regaining his sense of place as the dropship rightened out, Xeron withdrew his hand and concentrated more energy around it before sending a Warp his target. The Phantom exploded in a ball of purple fire, Xeron using a Charge to jump to another as it did.

His landing was clumsy. He had intended to land flat on his feet but ended up slipping and catching himself with one hand as he fell. Looking up he saw another Phantom rising above him, firing it's main cannon at him. Six shots hit him, his barriers actually giving out from all of the abuse that they had suffered as a seventh blast hit him in the chest. He could smell his robes and fur burning as he extended his palms and sent a Warp at the Phantom, hitting it head on and causing it to spiral out of control, heading for the ground.

Hastily, he seized a handful of his robes and pulled, causing them to tear off. He cast the smoldering cloth to the side, leaving himself in nothing from the waste up, his light brown fur blowing in the wind and across his soft face. "It is still not enough," he whispered, "I...need more!" Without hesitation, he pulled another vial of Serum 16 from the strap on his shoulder and jammed it into his neck, injecting himself with another dose.

Roaring like a savage animal, he extended both palms at the dropship below him, biotic energy flying from his hands. The aircraft exploded as Xeron jumped off of it, his replenished barrier protecting him from the flames. He hit the ground, his feet burying themselves slightly from the force of the impact, but as he did a pang of nausea surged through his stomach. Within seconds, Xeron had dropped to all fours, his mouth open wide as he retched, emptying the contents of his stomach onto the ground in front of him. Heaving, he looked at the sick in front of him and saw that it was bright crimson, stained with blood. "I do not have long, I must act now!"

Forcing himself to his feet, Xeron saw three more Phantoms in formation heading directly towards him, primary cannons and side turrets at the ready. Reaching out with both of his hands, Xeron formed fists with both of them. Black biotic auras appeared around the Phantoms to the left in the right, both of which came to abrupt halts in midair. His teeth clenched tightly, Xeron swung both of his fists so that the slammed together. Both Phantoms immediately mirrored his fists, swerving towards each other, the third one caught in the middle. The biotic Jiralhanae closed his eyes as they collided, the flash barely making it's way through his eyelids.

"This is unreal," Taylor whispered, gaping at Xeron as wreckage rained down in front of him. "They can't touch him. It's as if-oh SON OF A BITCH!" As he swore, he looked behind Xeron, his face painted with pure terror. The others had seen it as well and were making similar faces. Xeron turned to see what had caused such a commotion, just in time to see it slamming into the ground behind him. It was a Scarab.

Xeron barely had time to look at the ultra heavy assault platform before it fired it's main canon, aiming directly at the biotic. Throwing his arms in front of him, Xeron siphoned all of his biotic energy into his barriers just as the massive beam of bright green plasma hit him. Xeron felt as if all of the muscles in his body were on fire as he attempted to maintain the barrier, the black shield rapidly decaying. With a panicked realization, Xeron realized that the barrier was about to collapse. And it did just that.

The Scarab's beam was on the brink of overheating but it had done enough to shatter the defense of it's target. In the fleeting seconds in between the barrier being destroyed and the cannon shutting off to cool, white hot plasma ate away at Xeron's flesh, not enough to kill him but enough to put him in unbearable agony, blasting him onto his. "It is no use," he muttered, gingerly getting to his feet, "I hoped that it could be avoided, but I have no chose. This fate...is the one that I chose, not they." As he spoke, he took the last two vials of Serum 16, one in each hand. "If this is to be my last battle, then I will ensure that my foes will not live to boast!" he roared, jamming both needles into his neck.

As the last of the serum flowed through his body, the already intense pain spiked even higher, every last one of Xeron's nerves was shrieking in agony. Blood began to freely trickle out of both his mouth and his eye sockets as he threw his head back and let out a roar that was not unlike that of a savage animal. His biotic aura, now so dark and thick that it was nearly impossible to see him, flared as he executed one last Charge.

He landed on top of the Scarab, heavily denting the armor. Extending both of his palms, he blasted a hole through the dent that he had created, jumping through it. Everyone watched from the outside as the Scarab came to a halt, standing stock still. If you listened closley, you could hear the sound of screaming and of metal being torn. As they continued to watch, the Scarab began to sag, sparks flying out from it's legs and it's body smoking. Xeron emerged from the hole that he had created, preforming a charge to propel himself away from the platform as it exploded behind him.

Landing on the ground, Xeron's biotic aura slowly started to revert from black to purple, the combined doses of Serum 16 having burned each other out at an accelerated rate. "Commander!" Zalton shouted, running out to meet Xeron. He looked awful, his entire body was stained with blood, his eyes were still bleeding, and at that moment he doubled over again to cough up another glob of blood.

"Hey!" a voice shouted over the COM lines, "everyone get your asses in gear, I don't want to be on the ground for more than thirty seconds. I heard that I'm picking up extra passengers so make sure that they're ready to go now!" Glancing up, the UNSC forces and the Marauders saw the Normandy descending towards their position.

"Is that your ship?" Elizabeth asked, glancing at Taylor.

"Yeah," he said, as he and Tali grabbed Ashley by her arms and helped her to her feet. "Everyone, get ready for extraction!"

"I can still walk Winters!" Ashley snapped at him, as he and Tali led her to the ship as it touched down "I'm not a child!"

"Commander, we must go," Zalton said looking at the Normandy.

"I...I am afraid not," Xeron whispered, blood sliding out of his mouth and down his bare chest.

"What do you mean? More of the traitors are no doubt on their way, we must-"

"I...I used too much of the serum, I can feel my organs writhing, I doubt that I have much longer to live. Tell Rason," he stopped mid sentence, hacking violently again, "tell him that I chose this death, I chose it when I injected myself with that poison, I chose it when I volunteered to become the first Blood Brother."

"Commander!" Zalton shouted, grabbing Xeron by both of his shoulders, "we can get you to him, he can treat you, but we need to go now!"

"Not this time...I am sorry Zalton. You are now in command of the Blood Brothers." A smile spread across Xeron's face. A happy content smile. "It...it has been an honor." Without another word, Xeron fell forward, landing face first on the ground. He was dead.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Yeah, I've been planning that death for some time now, and I'm kinda proud of how it turned out.

Please ignore the stupid childish rant that used to be here.


	84. Life Defining Act

Chapter 84

Life Defining Act

Author's Note: Well, since I live in the United States the superbowl is coming up in a couple of days. Personally I'm not a huge fan of sports, I can see how people can have fun playing them, but major league sports just make me scratch my head. Aside from baseball, all sports, football (or as we call it in America, soccer) American football, tennis, basketball, they're really all just variations of get the ball to one side of the field. That being said, I live in Massacusets and our team has made it there so I'll be watching it. It's not like my family buys a metric ton of delicious junk food just for the occasion and I'll be chowing down...ok that's PART of it, but still I'll watch the game. I'll try to get as much as I can done before that.

"How...how is this possible?" Zalton whispered. He was standing in the cargo bay of the Normandy, Xeron's body lying before him. His stomach lurched as he looked at the body. It was completely drenched in blood, not in the blood of traitors, but in his own blood.

"May I ask you something?" Zalton turned his head to see Tesueg standing behind him, holding his machine gun.

"What?" he asked numbly, feeling as if the movements of his body were detached somehow.

"Why did you bring his body with us?"

Zalton blinked as he looked back at Xeron, recalling how he had dragged the biotic's corpse onto the ship. "Are you familiar with what Metal Fist does to the bodies of those that they kill?"

"Sadly, I am. It is a practice that I sadly took part in during the Tribal Wars," Tesueg admitted with shame.

"He sacrificed himself," Zalton said, "none of us would have survived if he had not overdosed himself on Serum 16. The very least I can do is make sure that he receives a proper funeral pyre. I would sooner kill myself then let what is left of him fall prey to...that."

"A respectable choice, not one that anyone could make."

"Thank you," Zalton muttered. The two Jiralhanae stood still for a moment, as if waiting for the other to start the conversation again.

"Easy Major," a voice said. Both of them turned around, glad to have something else besides Xeron's body to occupy their attention. Taylor and Tali were both supporting Ashley as they headed for the exit to the cargo bay. "Chakwas will have you up and about in no time," Taylor reassured her. "A couple of weeks in the med bay and you'll be as good as new."

"A couple weeks in a bed," she asked dryly, "just give me a pistol now."

"Aw come on it's not that bad," Tali said comfortingly. "If the two of us can handle it then it shouldn't even phase you, you've been enlisted twice as long as us."

"She's right you know, if anyone can do this it's you out of-"

"You know you don't need to go all soft on me Winters, just because I can't see doesn't mean I have the emotional security of a three year old. I know it's going to be tough, but I can take it."

"Well if you insist than-"

"LISTEN UP!" Joker's voice roared over the Battle-Net, "We've got three dropships loaded with friendlies that are about to land! I'm gonna have to open up the cargo bay to let them in! Emergency forcefields will keep everyone and everything from falling out but there's still going to be one Hell of a jolt!"

No sooner had he spoken than the entire cargo bay shuddered violently, the bottom descending downward. Forcefields sprung up around the entire extended by, keeping it all pressurized with the exception of a small pocket near the far edge. Three bright purple Phantoms speed towards that pocket, hastily touching down. Immediately, the bay floor began to retract, sliding back into place as fast as it had descended.

"Is everyone ok?" Jacob asked as the Phantom doors opened and he jumped out, "any casualties?"

"Ashley's hurt, she took a flamethrower to the face but she'll live," Crystal reported. "Your end?"

"No injuries or fatalities thankfully," Jacob replied, "I swear some sort of angel must be watching over this ship.

Crystal nodded as her husband disembarked. Upon seeing one another, they crossed the room and met in the middle, wrapping their arms around one another. "I'm glad you're ok," Damon whispered.

"Same here," his wife replied.

"What happened?" he asked, pulling away, "last I heard you were under some pretty heavy fire, how did you get out of that?"

"I..." Crystal said hesitantly "we...you see..."

"Zalton," Rason said as he and Lotan exited the dropship, the rest of the Jiralhanae and the UNSC forces that had played passenger to them doing the same. "I am glad to see that you are well. Where is-" his words died in this throat as he saw the blood stained corpse lying on the floor.

Silently, he crossed the room to where Xeron lay, stopping in front of him. He gapped open mouthed at the sight before him. He wanted more than ever to lie to himself, to say that what he was seeing wasn't what he thought it was, Sadly, his trained medical eye betrayed him, he saw the lack of vital signs, the completely still chest and the stains of blood that had clearly originated from him mouth and eyes. Rason didn't want to believe it, but he already knew the truth. Xeron being alive was simply impossible.

"How?" he croaked, looking at Zalton, as if for guidance. "What...how?"

"There were so many of them, they had enough firepower to tear through our barriers, even when we were using Serum 43. Xeron...he used Serum 16 but...but it was not enough. He used it again and again and again until...until" Zalton's voice became more and more torn with every word and it sounded as if speaking was a demanding and painful task.

Rason held up a hand, nonverbally asking for silence, something that Zalton was more than happy to grant. "I...understand," he said, his voice so quiet that Zalton barely heard him. "Thank you for telling me."

"Commander-"

Rason did not listen as he began to walk away, not consciously directing where his feet took him. 'Xeron...dead?' he thought numbly, his mind still not accepting it. 'Dead...by the drug that I made...the chemical that made his life so short and painful.' His thoughts flew back to mere hours ago, to the vial of bright blue liquid that he had so eagerly been running tests on. 'I thought that I could save him, right the wrongs that I did...and now he is dead...because of me.'

Something snapped inside of Rason. Letting out a roar of rage, he balling his hand into a fist and punched at whatever was in front of him with all of the strength that he had, which just to happened to be one of the Phantoms. Everyone jumped in surprise and turned to look as Rason drew his hand back and struck again. "He was just a child!" he roared, punching again, "no more than a few years of age when we put those implants in him! He never had a childhood! He never knew what it was to be anything but a tool of the Empire! We merely dismissed it off, the way we dismissed EVERYTHING! Everything was just a means to an end, the imperialism, the child soldiers, the conscripts, Metal Fist, the genocide, we all said that it was needed to accomplish our goal. What was our goal? We did not know then, we do not know now, WE NEVER KNEW!" he bellowed, punching the dropship with all of this strength, There was a sickening crack that echoed throughout the cargo bay as his fist collided with the hard metal.

His hand shaking, Rason slowly withdrew his arm from the dent that he had made in the artifact. Look at the back of his hand, even as it continued to quiver, he saw that multiple gashes had been torn open and that blood was trickling down the back of his hand. He also realized that whenever he flexed one of his fingers and intense pain shot through him. He had clearly broken several of his knuckles.

"What was it all for?" he asked silently, "what was any of it all for?"

Rutherforae, Tesueg and Lotan all stared at him, at a loss for words. "Commander," Zalton said, approaching the older Jiralhanae, "Xeron wanted me to tell you something. He said 'I chose this death, I chose it when I became the first Blood Brother...I...I have no regrets'...he...he wanted me to tell you that."

Rason slowly turned to look at Zalton. "That...that stupid, stupid fakon!" he shouted. "Of course he doesn't not have any regrets throwing his life away, he never believed that it ever had any meaning besides serving the Empire! He never had a childhood, this was all that he was given and it was all he knew!"

"I think that we should get out of here," Taylor whispered, looking at Tali, "this doesn't seem like the kind of thing that we should be listening in-Major?" Ashley had pushed off of the two people that were carrying here, putting her weight back on her own two feet. Clumsily, she began to cross the room, heading in the direction of Rason's voice.

"He never thought his actions through! In so many ways he had the mindset of a child, following irrational impulses!" the Jiralhanae continued. Ashley accidentally bumped into Liara as she continued to walk, courtesy of her lack of eyesight. Muttering a quick apology, she continued to follow the ranting of the Jiralhanae. "What was I thinking? How could I have let him keep those vials? I should have known that he would have thrown his life away without a second-" Rason was cut off as Ashley stopped in front of him. Balling her hand into a fist, she did something that caused the jaw of everyone in the room to drop. She punched Rason as hard as she could in the gut.

Considering the massive gap between Human strength and Jiralhanae sturdiness, it was not surprising that Rason barely felt any pain from the blow. However, his muscles had been slackened, and the unexpected forced caused him to stumble backward, slamming into the Phantom behind him.

Ashley panted heavily, glaring at where she thought that Rason was. "You're upset that someone that you cared about died, I can understand that," she said, "you're upset that you couldn't do anything to help him, I understand that too. I understand a lot of where you're coming from, but you're out of your god damn mind if you think I'm just gonna stand around and let you talk about that guy like he was a brain dead moron!"

She pointed her finger at where she assumed Xeron's body was, in reality pointing several feet too far to the left. "Even if I couldn't see him die I heard the way he talked. He knew exactly what he was getting himself into, and he did it so that his buddy and everyone else down there would have a chance to live, so SHUT IT!"

Rason stared at the Major, disbelief filling his eyes. "What is your name?" he asked softly.

"Ashley Williams," she replied stiffly, "UNSC Major."

"And a woman in dire need of immediate medical attention," Taylor said hastily, both he and Tali grabbing her by the arms again.

"He's right," Tali said, sounding rather annoyed, "you're not doing anyone any favors by putting this off."

"Fine," she grumbled, still sounding angry, "let's get this over with." Both Taylor and Tali then began to steer her towards the exit again.

"Pardon me," Rason said, his voice awfully quiet, "I need to be alone with my thoughts." Without another word, he began to walk away from Zalton, not actively thinking about where his legs took him.

"Wait," Liara said to herself, something dawning in her eyes, "wasn't he on Galnu? Wasn't he there when my mother..." her eyes darted to look at Rebecca. "I'm sorry but I need to run for a second, I think that he might-"

"What are you waiting for?" the Russian asked, "go!"

Needing no further encouragement, the Asari began to chase after Rason. "I gotta say, she's a cute one," Elizabeth mentioned, approaching Rebecca, "is she your girl?"

Smiling slightly under her helmet, Rebecca nodded...a smile that quickly slid off of her face. "I know that voice," she muttered, turning to face Elizabeth, "Wait, have we-" her voice was caught in a gasp as she took in the blonde woman's face. "E-E-Elizabeth?" she shouted. Neriena's head snapped in their direction, her eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

As if on cue Elizabeth's eyes widened. Her hands darting forward, she grabbed the other woman's helmet and yanked it off. "Rebecca?"

"I...how...but you...I saw you die!" the Russian woman blurted out. "On Elysium...those things...and the MAC rounds...but...HOW!"

Glancing at the Asari running at the Jiralhanae, Elizabeth sighed, a deep sinking feeling in her stomach. She had been afraid of this. "I guess I owe you an explanation," she said, her voice thick.

XXXXX

"Incoming forward fire!" a Jiralhanae on the bridge of the Marauder flagship, the Eternal Salvation, roared. A barrage of plasma torpedoes slammed against the forward shields, causing the bridge to rock. "Report!" he shouted, looking at one of the Helmsmen.

"Shields holding steady at 45%," he responded "the Separatists are forming a line between us and the Loyalists and are raining fire down on both of us.

"Fire all forward batteries! Focus on the center! We need to break through!." As he roared, a massive storm of plasma torpedoes flew from the Eternal Salvation, smashing into the line of Separatist ships, sending several of them up in flames. Countless other Marauder ships opened fired as well, destroying dozens of other ships. The line, however, held steady, the enemy ships returning fire.

"This is not good," the Jiralhanae said as the Salvation shuddered, "we walked into a trap. This fleet was lying in wait for us. We need a plan.

"Sir! I am picking up multiple slipspace ruptures! Right above the Separatist fleet!"

"Oh Spirits help all of us," the Jiralhanae swore, "enemy reinforcements?"

"I...I am not certain," the navigator said, looking at the console in front of him. "They are not transmitting any IFF signatures...as a matter of fact I am not picking up any signatures normally associated with any known starships. Unless...unless I am mistaken...this ships are organic!"

"Organic?" the Jiralhanae exclaimed in pure shock, "but...what are they than?"

"_Pathetic_," a voice said, speaking not through their communications or into their ears, but into their minds. "_We trusted you to deal with this situation on your own, but you walk into the most obvious of traps. You sacrifice an entire army for obvious bait...one that we observed ourselves. We planned to watch from affair, but then it became clear that you would destroy yourselves if we did not interfere. Know that we interfere only to further our own goals._"

Two hundred beings of various sizes but all of them kilometer longs exited through the slipspace ruptures, heading directly for the Separatists. Their mouths and wings opened wide and a wave of high speed slugs and green needles shot at the enemy fleet. The combined strain was enough to wipe out at least a hundred of the ships that made up the line. A massive gap in the blockade, the organic ships sped through it, heading for the planet's surface. As they did, blobs of organic matter split off of the creatures, heading for the planet's surface.

"_Hear me now Coalition! Hear me now Saren! Hear me now Sovereign! I am the Acolyte of the Gravemind and of all of the Flood! In your arrogance you viewed us as a lesser species, an error that you will pay for!"_

"Sir..."

"Contact all of our ground forces!" the Jiralhanae roared, "tell them to make haste and evacuate at once! Also" he said, turning to the rest of the bridge, "there is an opening in the enemies' forces. PUSH FORWARD!"

XXXXX

Saren ducked as Jun swung his kukri again, taking another step back and continuing to fire his rifle at the Human. More of the bullets smashed against the bald man's shields, but before he could react, a yellow ball of energy flew at him, the SPARTAN barely dodging. "Your body is fragile, it cannot withstand us," Harbinger taunted.

In response, Jun aimed his sniper rifle with his other hand, firing three shots at the glowing Collector. The first two tore away at the barriers that surrounded the creature while the third took it's head clean off, causing the creature's body to disintegrate in a flash.

Turning back to face Saren, Jun attempted to aim his rifle at the Turian, only to spot a Geth Juggernaut firing a rocket at him. Gritting his teeth, Jun swung his rifle around, aiming it at the Geth. Using reflexes that no other Human could possibly accomplish, he fired his rifle, hitting the rocket in mid air, causing it to explode.

Noticing the flashing red light that indicated that his rifle had overheated, Jun took the only option available to him. Charging forward, he reached the Juggernaut in a matter of seconds. Seeing the synthetic aiming it's weapon at him again, Jun lifted up his leg and kicked the gun that the machine was holding. The Juggernaut jerked forward as it's weapon was forced out of it's hand. Following up, Jun raised his other leg and hit the Geth with a crescent kick, forcing it to stumble to the side. With the machine now off balance and unharmed, Jun ran forward and slashed at the throat of the Geth as hard as he could. He hit it was such force that the entire head was taken off, the now lifeless body of metal and wires falling to the ground.

Jun attempted to turn to face Saren again, only to have another burst from the Turian hit his shields, weakening them even further. 'This isn't good, I'm being hit from too many sides,' Jun thought. As if to prove his point, the Geth Colossus fired a massive blob of plasma at the Human. Fortunately the machine had been designed for anti-tank missions and as a result it's projectile was slow, having been designed for slow moving vehicles and not infantry. Jun was easily able to evade it, but he knew that if the tank destroyer managed to hit him so much as once than he would be a goner. He couldn't simply trust in his ability to doge forever, especially with all the fire that he was taking.

A swarm of bullets flying at him and a handful actually hitting him as he sprinted across the battlefield, aiming for the Colossus. The titanic Geth lowered it's main cannon, firing it at the approaching hostile. Jun dropped to his back, sliding under the blast. As he continued to move, he raised his rifle and fired it at the Geth's optic. The bullet tore through the glass, causing it to shatter into pieces, blinding the Geth.

Knowing that the threat was far from over, Jun quickly flipped back onto his feet underneath the Colossus. He jammed his kukri into the edge of the anti-tank machine before pulling on it, using it to hoist himself up to the top of the mechanical beast. Raising his rifle, he slammed it into the neck back of the Colossus, firing his rifle four times in a row, causing it to overheat. Sparks flew from the holes that he had created, causing sparks to spew out as the Colossus collapsed, too heavily damaged to continue.

"**Assuming direct control**." Upon hearing the same heavy voice that he had heard earlier, Jun turned to face it, only to have a yellow orb of energy slam into his chest, forcing him onto his back and sapping the last of his shields. Hastily scrambling to his feet, he saw another Collector with glowing eyes with what appeared to be tears all over it's body, aiming it's rifle at Jun. Before he could react, the insectoid had opened fire and several shots tore through Jun's armor, piercing his gut.

Fighting through the pain, Jun charging at the alien, firing two shots from his now cooled rifle, taking down it's barriers. Nearing it, he thrust his elbow outward and as the distance faded into nonexistence, it slammed into the creature's throat. The sheer force of a SPARTAN in MJOLNIR was so great that Harbinger's throat simply collapsed, his puppet body disintegrating as life faded from it.

Glancing at the remaining Collectors and doing a quick headcount, he realized that one of them had become whatever that thing had been. Raising his rifle, he fired three more shots, each of the first two tearing through a Collector's skull and the third hitting one in the gut and taking down it's shields before his rifle overheated again. Throwing his kukri in the air and catching it by the blade, Jun flicked his wrist and sent the knife flying just as the last Collector's eyes began to glow. The blade embed itself in the Collector's throat, causing it's eyes to flicker and die as a sickly brown fluid leaked from the knife wound.

Panting heavily as blood poured from his wounds, he hastily ran towards the dead Collector and pulling the kukri out. More bullets tore through his sides, opening fresh wounds. Wheeling around, he saw Saren aimming his rifle at him, firing it. His face tightening into a growl, he charged as he had done so many times before today. Saren continued to fire, the number of holes in Jun's stomach quickly climbing into the dozens, which did nothing to slow his advance. A look of fear crossed Saren's face as his implacable foe continued to approach him, despite his wounds. It was then that Saren's rifle overheated, his eyes darting to his weapon with panic in them. And then Jun was upon him.

A hand with the strength of a metal clamp closed around his throat, Jun having dropped his sniper rifle. Even as Saren grabbed the arm, attempting to rip it away, Jun raised his kukri. Saren gasp as Jun stabbed down, the kukri tearing through his flesh. Jun drew his knife out and stabbed again and again, slashing massive gashes in Saren's chest, even as his own stomach bled.

Six Geth drones raised their weapons and opened fire, bullets tearing through Jun's body even as he continued to stab, his blows having less and less energy with which one. Eventually Jun's hand slipped and fell away from Saren's throat. Both of them fell to the ground, bleeding heavily, as the Geth charged forward, grabbing Saren by both of his arms. Glancing at one another, they communicated at the speed of light, transmitting one thing. Saren needed medical treatment.

"Hm, interesting," Sukron said slimily, looking at Saren's body being dragged to the descending Geth frigate, "not the warrior he claimed to be if he let himself be wounded like that." The Jiralhanae seemed to be blissfully unaware of his implants. "Very well, we will have to get him medical treatment I supposed we do not-"

"Six-" a throaty gasp said. Sukron and several of the Geth turned to see Jun sliding his kukri into his sheath. With a massive grunt, he used the last of his strength to throw it over the edge of the cliff. "I think...I think that belongs to you."

"Jun!" Jane shouted over the COM lines, "hold on! Evac will be here in-"

"That's not going to happen," Jun whispered as four Geth approached him, "I bit off more than I could chew, there were too many of them. I'm...I'm sorry too have done this to you. I know that Reach really hurt you, sorry that I'm putting you through this again."

"Jun," Jane said, her voice so small it was practically a squeak.

"Six...no...Jane. You're Noble Team now. Emile's kukri is yours. Give em Hell." All four of the Geth raised their rifles opened fire.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Sorry about my explosion last chapter, I just get angry when people treat me like a mindless barbarian. Seriously, these people criticize us for being intolerant, even though they're being intolerant of about 90% of the world's population and-ok I'll stop.

Anyway there's something that I want to talk about. Frankly I really like what I've done with this story but there are defiantly some problems. My cast of characters is simply huge, and while I do believe that I am much better at developing them than I was in Fighting for a Purpose, I think my next story should focus on a smaller cast, just to change things up. I think I'll go back to a traditional Mass Effect crew centered story. The thing is, all these characters in this story worked because there was a massive war and there were many fronts to capture, but this new one is going back to the traditional chasing down Saren story. For the record, I am talking about my Fallout Mass Effect crossover and for the record, there will not be any Reapers this time around.

Saren will still be the villain he MAY have found Sovereign. (who may be the last Reaper) but he's planning something different. I may or may not include the First Contact War, I may or may not cut out Feros, Noveria and Virmire...oh who am I kidding of course I'm cutting out Feros and Virmire, I'm not going to restrain myself and following the plot of Mass Effect like it's a ball and chain. Not so sure about Noveria though, I'm a little hesitant to cut the Rachni out completely...eh, I'll find a way to include them.

Where was I going with this, oh yeah that's right. The point is, this story is going to be about exploring, the crew isn't going to be exploring, but we are. I am going to unleash my imagination while writing this story, we will go everywhere from an Asari outer colony to a Turian military asteroid to a planet that has been completely developed and industrialized by a Humanity that originates from Fallout's Earth. And maybe, just maybe, we go to Earth and we find a vault...one that the Coalition missed. And, I'll be blunt, I'd love to have some epic one on one space battles.

But why should I have all of the fun? So I ask of you this, if you have any ideas of worlds that should be visited in this story, characters that should be encountered and conflicts that should occur, either PM me or put them in your review, they will be listened to. Once again, this will be Shepard's and Shepard's crew's story as they track Saren across the galaxy

Also like I said, the super crossover will be a side project while I work on this.

Also, the upcoming Fallout story now has a name. From the Ashes. Thank you for your time.

P.S. Yes the second section was short but I really couldn't find any way to bloat it out, really I just needed to say "the flood pop up"


	85. Anguished Withdrawal

Chapter 85

Anguished Withdrawal

Author's Note: Well, there's not much left to do on Virmire, I've killed three major characters here (to be frank they were all doomed from the very second they were introduced) and now it's time to wrap up loose ends. Let's go.

"Um, pardon me." Rason turned from where he sat cross legged in the cargo bay of the Normandy to see Liara standing behind him, holding her arm nervously. "Rason, it's Rason right?" The Supreme Commander nodded. "I'm Dr. Liara T'Soni."

"I am familiar with your name," Rason said as Liara sat down in front of him. "May I ask why you are speaking with me? I am a high ranking officer of the Empire, which made up the core of the Coalition, the enemy that has been attempting to wipe out your race and the race of your friends."

"Friends..." Liara muttered, glancing behind her and catching glimpses of Jacob, Taylor, Tali, Ashley, Rebecca, Damon and Crystal. "They are...they are my friends aren't they?" she said to herself, a warm smile playing across her face.

"Ms. T'Soni?"

"Sorry," Liara said, shaking her head, "my mind just wandered a bit. What was it you asked again?"

"I have fought against you, I have been part of a power that has taken part in countless genocides."

"But," Liara said, looking at him with curiosity, "did you...did you ever take a direct part in the glassing of a planet? Or in the massacre of civilians?"

"I..." Rason racked his memory, searching for cases that matched the ones that Liara had described. "I...suppose not," he answered honestly, "Ultimas was always Tritus' front line general, he is the one that directed all major assaults, I managed the Empire's research and defense more than anything else. All of the battles that I took part in were ones where the Alliance attacked us."

"Then why would I be frightened of you?" Liara asked, "from what I know of you, you have no war crimes, and if you have they pale in comparison to that of your comrades."

"That is where you are wrong," Rason countered, "I have taken part in very dangerous research, the kind that would case the Council and possibly even the UNSC and RSN to demand my execution." The countless hours he had spend analyzing the Rachni Queen flew through his mind, "I am far from innocent."

"But isn't it true that you have given the order to millions of Jiralhanae to abandon the Empire and join forces with...these rebels?"

"What about it?"

"Such an order is not an easy one to give, it was a very brave one. I have a hard time believing that whoever was to give it is not beyond redemption."

"You are far too kind," Rason grumbled, "my soul is stained with many sins, when my time comes I will no doubt be barred from joining with the Spirits. You of all people should understand what I have done and why I should be despised for it."

"Do you...do you mean my mother?" she asked nervously.

"Benezia?...yes. This conflict required that we often work alongside each other. I knew her well...at least I thought that I did."

"Did...you know?"

"I did not, I swear by the Spirits and on the souls of every last warrior that I ever fought beside I did not even imagine that such a fate had befallen her. I truly and honestly believed that everything that she ever did in my presence she did of her own free will, not because of that FAKON!" he roared, punching the ground with his wounded hand, causing himself to wince.

"You should not harm yourself like that," Liara said, looking worried. "It cannot be healthy."

"I am a master of medicine, I know exactly what damage has been caused. I have broken two of my knuckles and cracked the other. It is nothing major, it will hardly even limit my ability to fight."

"Please do not, it accomplishes nothing and it won't bring her back." The Asari's words struck something deep within Rason, something that immediately made him regret his actions. "I...I believe you," the young archeologist said, "I believe that you had no hand in what happened to my mother."

"I...I thank you." A moment passed in which neither of the two spoke. "Forgive me for my selfishness, but I must ask a favor of you."

"Hm?" Liara said, cocking her head slightly.

"May I ask what you mother was truly like? We were close and I thought that there was a bond of some kind between us. But now I am not certain if the Matriarch that I knew was the same woman that raised you or if it was just a veil surrounding her."

"Goddess," Liara said, glancing up at the ceiling, "it's been so long since I've spoke with here before all of this...fifty years more or less."

"Strange," Rason muttered, prompting Liara to look at him with confusion covering her face. "Fifty years is practically an eternity to a Jiralhanae, even one of my age. Fifty years ago the Empire had just been formed, we were still rebuilding from the Jiralhanae Civil War, Xeron had not even been born yet, the five of us were still...I am sorry, I keep interrupting you."

"It is alright. I still have plenty of memories of my mother long before I left to become an archeologist. From what I remember of her, she was powerful and wise, she carried herself in a way that demanded respect. She spoke in a way that humbled those that listen and shook those that argued with her. But...she had a softer side, I side that I thought that she only showed to me when she tucked me in at night. But one day, I saw her arguing with another Matriarch, and to my great surprise, she was actually holding her own against my mother, something that I had not thought possible."

"What was the argument about?"

"I think that it was about Mass Relays, her opponent believed that the Asari should look into the secrets of them so that we could build our own relays, selectively colonize certain portions of the galaxy. My mother believed it to be too costly and risky and stood against her. What was truly odd was that all of the other Matriarchs and even the audience believed that my mother's opponent was a complete fool and laughed at her. But she stood her ground, not acknowledging anyone except the woman that was acting as her opponent. She withstood insults that I had seen bring others to their knees without blinking, retaliating with a counterargument and an insult."

"It was rather odd later on they ate together, and even though the debate was over they continued to volley insults back and forth at each other. And then they...then they both started to laugh."

A smile spread across Rason's face as he got to his feet. "I thank you for that Ms. T'Soni, you have done more that I could have ever asked for."

"I-what?" Liara said, looking confused, "but I barely did anything."

"Odd is it not?" Rason said, "You merely spoke honest words, but now things seem to much clearer to me. Now is not the time to wallow in my own self pity, I have two good hands and a brilliant mind, I will put both of them to work. May I ask where is your medical bay?" Blinking in confusion, Liara told him the twists and turns that he would have to take to reach it. "I see, I thank you once again Ms. T'Soni. Now if you will excuse me, I have much work to do." Without another word, he began to walk, heading for the cargo bay's exit.

Liara watched as he went, feeling utterly confused. Turning her head, she began to walk back towards Rebecca. While doing so, she could not help but wonder who the blonde woman that she was talking to was. And why did Neriena look so worried?

XXXXX

Jane's insides felt stone cold as gunshots echoed in her COM unit. "Jun?" she said silently, her voice no more than a squeak. "Jun, respond. Jun!" There was a whistle and a small thud as something fell from the sky, embedding itself in the ground. Slowly walking forward, Jane reached down and picked up the object. It was a kukri. "Jun...why?"

"We can't stay here," Garrus said, approaching Jane from behind and putting his hand on her shoulder. "Shepard, there's a platoon of Geth on the top of that cliff and they've got support from a frigate. If we stay here we're dead."

"Right," Jane replied, her voice sounding eerily dead. "Joker, how far out are you?" she asked, putting her hand to her COM unit, not even bothering to look at Garrus.

"Ten minutes out still, I just picked up Jacob's team. I've got Ashley's squad too, no fatalities but I think I heard that some of them might have been hurt."

"Good to hear," Jane muttered, lowering her hand and slapping the kukri onto her armor, just above her breast plate.

"Are you alright Shepard?"

"I'm fine," she said, her voice emotionless.

"Perhaps it would be for the best if we were to return inside the facility," Marton suggested, "out here we are too exposed to enemy fire."

"COMMANDER MARTON!" a voice roared over the Marauder Battle-Net. "Another fleet just entered the system!"

Marton swore under his breath. "Separatist reinforcements?"

"Negative! Commander, it's the Flood!"

Marton felt as it his insides had vanished. "Confirm that, did you say that the Flood is here? And with a fleet?" Garrus' and Wrex's heads snapped in Marton's direction, looks of horror on their faces. Jane ignored him, continuing to stare blankly ahead at nothing.

"Yes sir, estimates put the Flood's fleet at around two hundred. Their ships seem to be made purely out of biomass, but posses weapons that were powerful enough to destroy Empire vessels. They smashed through the Separatist's fleet and they're heading towards the surface now, in your direction to be precise."

"Did you sustain any casualties from them?"

"No Commander...now that I think about it, that was rather odd. They only focused on the Coalition fleet, ignoring all Marauder and Loyalist forces. What is more the Flood spoke to us, and unless I am mistaken, they are here to help us."

"The Flood? Help us? Do not be ridiculous, why would the Flood ever help us?"

"They said something about their actions furthering their goals, I am not certain though, they were very cryptic."

"Very well, what is the status of the rest of the evacuation?"

"We had barely deployed any of our forces when you gave the order to recall all of our ground personal, almost all of the Marauders are ready to leave the system. It has been taking some time for the Loyalists to reach ships that they could escape on though, but they are nearly done. I estimate fifteen to twenty minutes."

"Good, the very second they are finished make a random slipspace jump."

"Commander, what about you, Rutherforae and Tesueg?"

"We have secured transport, do not worry about us, make the jump and we will regroup later."

"Very well Commander," the other Jiralhanae said as the line was cut.

"What was that all about?" Garrus asked, both he and Wrex looking worried.

"We have a situation, a fleet of Flood has entered the system, they are approaching the planet as we speak."

"Those parasite things that you told me about? Oh perfect," Wrex said dryly. "How long till they get here?"

"I cannot be long, I hope that your ship arrives soon," Marton said, looking at Garrus.

Back on the top of the cliff, Sukron watched with boredom as two Geth sprayed some sort of blue liquid over Saren's wounds. Whatever it was it clearly wasn't healing him, simply holding him together. Several more Collectors landed on the cliff top, one of them approaching one of the Geth and staring silently at it.

Assuming that they were attempting to communicate somehow, Sukron turned away and pressed his mechanical arm to his ear. "All forces report in, what is the status of Xeron and Rason?"

"Sir, unfortunately Rason was able to escape on Loyalist drop ships, we suspect that he is heading for orbit as we speak."

"What is your name?"

"Kornen sir...why do you ask?"

"I am merely curious I put you in command of dealing with Rason and let him get away, I will have to speak with you later."

"Commander, there was a traitor among our ranks, and I swear I did everything in my power-" Kornen was cut off mid sentence as Sukron disconnected. "Now then, what is the status of Xeron?"

"Sir, we have confirmed Xeron's death, while attempting to fight us off he fatally overdosed on Serum 16. Zalton escaped however."

"That does not matter, members of the Imperial Guard hold no political sway, he is no threat to me. However, I must ask how he did escape."

"A Human starship landed and provided transport for him. What is more, there was a handful of Marauders and UNSC forces fighting alongside Xeron and Zalton. It was a rather odd mixture, there was even a Quarian there and one of the Humans was biotic as well." Sukron's muscles as shock flooded his face. A Quarian and a biotic Human...was it possible?

"Tell me something, did the Quarian have armor that was a dark shade of purple and was the Human an ODST?"

"I do beleive so sir...why do you ask?"

"What was the name of the Human starship?"

"Commander what relevance does that-"

"GIVE ME A NAME!" Sukron roared.

"Y-y-yes Commander!" the other Jiralhanae stuttered, "one of my warriors learned a little bit on how to read Human languages and the ship's name was right on the side. He believes that the designation of the ship was the Normandy...Commander?"

"Goodbye," Sukron snarled, taking his hand away from his hear. The cybernetic Jiralhanae bared his teeth in rage. Ever since Feros, he had gone through all of the data that the Empire had managed to intercept from the UNSC, hours upon hours of painstaking research, but finally he had found two faces that he recognized, as well as the ship they served on. "Tali'Zorah, Taylor Winters," he snarled, "I have hunted them for a year, doing everything I can to find them, and they were here! I LET THEM SLIP THROUGH MY FINGERS!" Rage flowed through him, the only two who had ever escaped his captivity had been on this planet, and now they were gone. "When I finally find them, I will make every last torment I ever inflicted on a living being seem tame by comparison."

As Sukron continued to growl in anger, the Geth frigate began to slowly descend, intending to pick up Saren so that he could receive proper medical treatment. Before it was even close to the ground though, a storm of bright green spikes rained from the sky, aiming at the frigate. Hundreds of them shattered against the kinetic barriers of the Geth ship before they collapsed and the remaining projectiles tore through the hull. Starting to spin wildly, the frigate veered off to the side, far away from the cliff and the facility it overlooked, where it crashed and exploded.

Looking up, Sukron saw three Flood Destroyer Class Ship Forms hovering overhead, raining down flood dispersal pods on the cliff. Sukron involuntary flinched as several of the pods landed nearby, emitting a sickly yellow gas as they impacted. "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!" Sukron noticed one of the Collectors being lifted off of it's feet and yellow cracks spreading across it's body.

"It appears that you continue to use puppets to fight for you," a voice said, speaking not into the ears of those who heard it, but their minds. "Such reliance will lead to your downfall." The gas began to clear around one of the pods, revealing the Acolyte, it's bladed arms crossed over its chest.

"Meaningless words from a race that survived extinction through sheer chance, a blessing that will not be bestowed twice." Harbinger retorted, it's puppet raising it's rifle, along with all of the Geth and Collectors present.

Sukron also raised his grenade launcher muttering under his breath "good, I need to kill something," as he did.

"To believe that we can be defeated by the likes of you, when you required our aid to defeat the Forerunners, is the height of arrogance. That is the truth about your kind, without others to fight for you, you are pathetic and weak. And now your reign ends!" The Acolyte pushed off of the ground, it's mouth opening wide and letting out a noise that was halfway between a screech and a wail, other Flood forms charging out of the pods as their opponents opened fire.

XXXXX

"How did this happen?" Rebecca said, looking at Elizabeth in disbelief, "how the hell did this happen?"

"It's...it's complicated," the blonde woman said, looking uncomfortable.

"Goddess." Elizabeth and Rebecca turned to see Neriena approaching Elizabeth. "Sweetie, it's really you isn't it?"

"Hi Neriena," Elizabeth said, smiling weakly, "It's been awhile hasn't it. We'll have to...never mind," she said, turning back to Rebecca.

"How did this happen?" the silver haired woman asked.

"Do you remember Elysium? Do you remember the creatures that we fought on Elysium? Do you remember the Flood?"

"I will never forget," she said, shuddering as she gently stroked her silver hair.

"Cerberus wanted to study them, they wanted to turn it into a weapon. But they wanted to create a vaccine for it, they didn't want it to backfire on Humanity."

"How does that have anything to do with you?"

"Do you remember on Elysium when one of those things tried to jump on my face but I was able to pull it off? Even though everyone else that had had the same thing happen to them had all been infected?"

Rebecca screwed up her face, pulling up memories from that terrible day. "I...I think so."

"Apparently I have an immunity to the flood, some sort of genetic mutation that affects my nervous system. I have no idea if I was born with it or it was the result of some accident that happened when I received genetic therapy when I was younger."

"Yeah," Rebecca said, smiling slightly, "you had Asthma didn't you? You couldn't play sports in middle school, so I-"

"So you filled in two spots for me, saying that you wanted your points divided between the two of us," Elizabeth finished, smiling before shaking her head. "Anyway," she said, desperately trying to get back on topic, "Cerberus recovered my body, thinking that if they sunk enough credits, augments, implants and other experimental technology into me they would be able to bring me back to life. Apparently they were right, I still don't know everything about how my body is different now."

"Why not just make a flash clone of you? Or take a sample from your body?"

"From what I overheard, they wanted a full body to test on, probably because the Flood works by taking complete control over your entire nervous system. As for a flash clone, they either didn't want to risk my unique condition being altered even slightly or they wouldn't be able to get it from a single cell. I honestly don't know, I'm a soldier not a scientist, for all I know I'm completely wrong."

"So, how did you end up with these Jiralhanae?" Neriena asked. "What are they called again?"

"Marauders," Elizabeth replied. "An army of Jiralhanae rebel guerrillas, they've been waging war against the Empire for the last decade. They haven't come before the UNSC or any other power that is at war with the Empire out of fear that they would be seen as spies or something similar."

"Not the worst reasoning in the world," Neriena muttered, "so how did you end up with them?"

"Apparently they thought that they could gain Humanity's trust by sending some of their forces to attack Cerberus. They managed to discover the station that I was being held on and boarded it. The security there was caught of guard and they weren't prepared for how well equipped the Marauders were, they went down without a fight. They also found something else on the station...more of them."

"Cerberus had Flood on the station!" Rebecca shouted.

"Rebecca, keep your voice down!" Neriena scolded, "I know that all of us have been deeply hurt by these creatures, but their existence is still classified information, you can't just go around shouting about them."

"Sorry," her stepdaughter hastily muttered, "they had them on the station? Were...were they going to test them on me?"

"No idea, we weren't able to find very much data on the computers there. Rutherforae thinks that they were programmed to automatically delete everything in their databanks the second an alarm gets tripped. Say what you will about Cerberus, they're damn good at preventing intelligence leaks."

"So the Marauders took you in?"

"Yeah, they were pretty friendly for the most part, though there were a couple of weird additions that you would never expect from a Jiralhanae ship."

"I know the feeling, we've got a Quarian engineer, an Asari archeologist and a Turian Spectre on our ship."

"Oh that's nothing, we've got a Krogan Battlemaster, a Geth, and even a Human convict with enough biotics to rival one of the Blood Brothers."

"I think I met her," Rebecca said, remembering the scantily clad and fowled mouthed woman that she had met on the surface. "Uses swears as often as we say 'the'?"

"That's Jack."

"Jack...really?"

"Really." The two of them continued to look at each other before began to laugh softly. "So yeah, we heard that the Coalition was gathering here and we decided to hurt them where it hurts...so...here we are."

"Yeah," Rebecca said, an uncomfortable look covering her face. "Listen, Lizzy there's something that we need to talk about?"

Blinking for a second at the use of her pet name, Elizabeth responded, "What is it? Is it your hair? I like what you've done with it."

"No, not that. About...us."

"Oh," Elizabeth replied, her stomach sinking. She had thought about this, she had a feeling that Rebecca might have moved on, but she had hoped that things could have gone back to normal between them. "Is...there someone else?"

"Rebecca?" All three of them turned to see Liara approaching them, looking a little drained. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Rason was a bit more talkative than I was expecting." She looked at Elizabeth. "I don't believe that you are a member of the Normandy's crew, who are you?"

"Elizabeth Corner," Rebecca said quietly. "Elizabeth, this is Dr. Liara T'Soni."

"Elizabeth?" Liara repeated, her eyes widening. "But...but...I thought that you said that she was dead!"

"I was," Elizabeth said sadly, "it's a long story, I promise when I feel up to it I'll tell you too, but right now I don't feel like reliving it for a second time." She studied Rebecca closely, watching her as she glanced at the young Asari. There was a certain shimmer in her eyes, one that Elizabeth remembered from long ago. 'She...she really does love that girl doesn't she?'

'What do I do!' Rebecca shrieked mentally. 'I still have some feelings for Elizabeth, but I'm with Liara now and I honestly love her too! I don't want to hurt either of them but I can't be with both! What do I do! WHAT THE HELL DO I DO!'

"It's ok," Elizabeth whispered, looking at Rebecca.

"Wha-" Rebecca stared at the blond haired woman.

"It's alright," the blonde woman said, smiling widely. "I understand. It's been two years since I...you know. I didn't expect you to become chaste for the rest of your life, of course you would've moved on. She's a cute one by the way."

"Are you certain?" Liara asked, looking uncertain.

"Yeah," she said, "we had some good times, but they're in the past now. It's not fair to either of you to just barge in and demand that you've drop everything that you've formed together. Liara right? Bit of advice...she's bad at holding her liquor. If she's not in the mood when you want to show your love, just poor her a glass and she'll melt in your hands."

"You little wi-" Rebecca began before catching herself, "wait...so where does that leave us? You and me I mean?"

"I think that I'll stick with the Marauders until this war is over, but after like...I'd still like to be friends. You ok with that?" Unbeknownst to anyone besides her, Elizabeth began to shake slightly.

"Friends...I...yeah...that's sounds..." Rebecca's knees buckled under her as she began to fall, a faint smile on her face. Liara darted forward and caught the silver haired woman in her arms.

"She fainted," the archeologist reported, feeling Rebecca's pulse.

"Not surprising, we've all been under a lot of stress today what with being caught in the middle of a battle royale, and now she gets hit with this bombshell," Neriena said.

"I'm going to get her to her room," Liara said, gently pulling Rebecca towards the exit to the cargo bay, "it was nice to meet you Elizabeth."

"I'm glad that the two of you are still on good terms," Neriena said warmly, looking at Elizabeth, "that could have turned out real ugly if you hadn't-what's wrong?" Elizabeth's hands were shaking viciously and she was staring at the floor.

"Tell me something Neriena," she said, her voice shaking, "does Liara truly and honestly love her? With all of her heart?"

"She does, Rebecca's been through a lot in this conflict, she's been really shaken up by it. Liara was behind her every step of the way, comforting her, supporting her...she's loves my little girl just as much as you do."

"That much huh?" Elizabeth asked, looking at Neriena, causing Neriena to blink in surprise. Tears were streaming down Elizabeth's face.

"What's wrong?"

"It...it hurts Neriena," she whispered, her tears now sliding down her cheek. "She's alive and healthy...and she gave her heart to someone else. After Elysium...I was going to...I was going to ask her to...I even had the ring, it's probably melted now. I just...I just-" Silently, the Asari Commando reached forward and wrapped her arms around Elizabeth, who in turn buried her face into the older woman's shoulder and began to sob softly.

"There, there," she whispered, gently patting Elizabeth's back.

"I just- I just want her to be happy."

"I know, that was a very mature choice you made, you should be proud of yourself."

From a distance, Jack watched the event play out before her. She looked rather confused and, unless it was a trick of the eye, a little...concerned?

Author's Note: I think I might have pinned down the reason why I'm having trouble getting around to writing as of late, an app I downloading for my iPod a little while back called Battlenations which is kind of like an MMORPG meets the sims, made appealing by being completely free. Long story short, I need to stop checking up on it every thirty minutes and now that half of my army is dead and it'll take a couple of days to get the resources to heal them...at least I did at on point, I lost my patience with it and quit, now I have an excuse to write. Sorry about that.

Also managed to get early access to the ME3 singleplayer demo...this game is going to rock. Still waiting on the multiplayer though.


	86. Ancient Enemies

Chapter 86

Ancient Enemies

Author's Note: Well, now that Valentine's day has come and gone, I've been able to play the full demo and frankly I can't wait until ME3 comes out. The multiplayer is damn fun, but also pretty hard, I still can't get that far. Ah well, less talk more story.

"Major, I am going to have to ask that you remain here for at least a month, it will take until then for me to be able to replace your eyes." Dr. Chakwas said, holding a datapad as she stoop in front of a bed in the infirmary.

Ashley, who had been stripped down to her tank top and boxers, let out a load groan. She was sitting up in her bed, the blankets covering everything below her torso and a series of white bandages covering her burned eyes. "I don't suppose that there's any way that you can speed up the process? Knock off a week or two?"

"Only if you want me to accelerate the flash clone process. It will only take two weeks, but side affects include you going blind again within days and developing multiple forms of cancer. So unless you wish for that to happen, I suggest you lay back and enjoy some well deserved time off."

"God damn it," she muttered, letting her head fall back onto a soft pillow. "Taylor, Tali, you've been in this situation before, any advice?"

Taylor, who was sitting with Tali beside the Major's bed, looked up. "I did a little bit of reading while I was stuck in here," Taylor replied you obviously can't-".

"Thanks for reminding me jackass," Ashley said dryly.

Taylor chuckled before continuing, "you can't but I could probably pull some audio books off of the extranet."

"Maybe," Ashley muttered, "might keep me from shoving your future wife's shotgun between my teeth for a couple of days."

"Ok, now you're just being a drama queen...how about this, we could contact your family and you could chat with your family."

"That would be nice," Ashley admitted.

"There you go, Tali could probably set that up for you, she knows more about establishing long range video communications than I do."

"Speaking of which, what's she doing? I can hear her omni-tool going a mile a second." It was true, the young Quarian's omni-tool was active, her fingers scurrying across it like spiders.

"Sorry Ashley," she apologized but there's something that I wanted to get on ever since Cerberus attacked us, but I've been to busy with repairing the damage that they did."

"What is it?" Talyor asked curiously, leaning to look at the omni-tool.

"This omni-tool isn't mine, I took this off of one of the commandos that attacked your father and I in engineering."

"You're out of luck if you think you're going to find any information on Cerberus on it," Ashley said, "they're damn paranoid about anyone-"

"Not that," Tali interrupted, "the commando flicked her wrist and some sort of blade came out, and from the way she was swinging it, it was solid and not just a hologram. I can only assume that it works the same way that tech armor does, but I can't seem to get it to work, this thing is very heavily encrypted. Hold, maybe if I try this," her fingers continued to dance across the omni-tool until, with a computer generated shing, a blade was projected out.

"What happened?" Ashley asked, looking at the general area where Tali was sitting, not seeing the blade extending outward above her wrist.

"Long story short, the world of concealable weaponry just got turned on it's head," Taylor replied as Tali gave the blade an experimental swing through the air.

"Amazing," she whispered, "I've never seen anything like this before, but I need to test it on something."

"Here," Taylor said, pulling out the rag he normally used to clean his rifle and handing it to Tali, "don't cut it up too much." Taking the rag in her free hand, Tali let the cloth dangle in front of her as she raised the omni-tool blade. With a quick swing, she swiped at the cloth, causing most of it to fall to the ground. Looking at the tiny fragment that was still in her hand, Tali saw that the cut that the blade had made.

"There's no burns, that means whatever it is isn't plasma, then again the RSN and the Empire are the only factions that actually use plasma weapons with the exception of our grenades," Tali remarked. "It is just like tech armor, Cerberus must have taken that design and reconverted it for offensive capabilities. It's simple now that I think about it, a combination of kinetic barriers shaped at just the right angle would be able to generate just enough force that it would be able to pierce skin with pure kinetic force, probably done by-" Tali paused when she noticed that Taylor was staring at her, his eyes blank and his mouth slightly ajar. "You have no idea what I'm saying do you?"

"Not a clue." There was a brief pause that was broken when Ashley began to laugh softly.

"Nice one Winters," she chuckled, Taylor smiling slightly. "Anyway Tali, what else can you find out about that thing?"

"Hold on, there's some data on it in here," the Quarian replied, pressing a button and causing the blade to retract before beginning to type into the omni-tool again. "Apparently this weapon is called an omni-tool blade, and it was developed rather recently, Cerberus only approved it for usage in the field a week ago. It looks like it was intended for usage as either an emergency weapon when your primary was unavailable or damaged, and for assassination usage."

"So in other words, we've got one of Cerberus' most advanced weapons right in front of us," Taylor said.

"More or less, yes."

"Well that was awfully kind of them, saving us the trouble of pouring millions if not billions into coming up with our own model. So, do you think you can do anything with this one?"

"I can probably duplicate the software and make it so that everyone on the ship has one of these," Tali remarked, continuing to type, "but there's still multiple layers of encryption that I'll need to go through before I can do that, and that'll take a couple of days."

Taylor opened his mouth to reply, but before he could all four of them heard a heavy thump just outside of the infirmary. "What?" a voice exclaimed. "You cannot be serious. How would that even be-no you would not lie to me but Marton you must realize how absurd that sounds...I suppose you have a point, I would not have believed you if you told me what we would find under the ice caps, very well. We will talk when this vessel retrieves you, but for the moment there is something I must attend to."

The door slid open and Rason entered, albeit with some difficulty. "By the Spirits, how can anyone fit through doorways this small without hunching over?" he muttered to himself.

"Um, how can I help you...Rason? It's Rason right?" Chakwas asked.

"Correct," the elder Jiralhanae said, "I wished to speak with the one that spoke to me earlier." As he spoke, he turned to look at Ashley, whose head had turned in his direction.

"Yeah?" Ashley said, uncertainly.

"Marton, the leader of the revolutionary group known as the Marauders and an old accomplice of mine has just contacted me with some rather disturbing news. Both he and your Captain have uncovered a groundbreaking truth, apparently there is a threat to all organic life in the Milky Way Galaxy that is on the brink of making itself known."

"The Hell are you talking about?" Taylor asked, "what threat?"

"I am not certain, Marton was very brief, no doubt he will describe it in more detail when he and your Captain are here in person. He mentioned something else however, there is a Flood infection on Virmire."

"WHAT?" Ashley screeched, sitting bolt up right in her bed, "the Flood? When did this happen?"

"The what?" Tali asked, looking confused, "what are the Flood?"

"I suspect that your government kept their existence classified, an understandable move," Rason replied, "but I doubt that they will remain a secret much longer. The Flood is a parasitic race that multiplies at a staggering rate. They infect and take control of the nervous system of other species within seconds, assuming command of the body and seizing all of the creature's knowledge. When this is combined with it's multiplication, the Flood can overrun entire planets within months or even weeks, and when they can, they spread outward. That is the enemy that the Humans and the Sangheili faced at the end of the Human-Covenant War, and even then they only defeated the Flood by destroying it while it was in it's lavarl stage."

"I...I...God damn," Taylor swore. "That's on the planet?" Rason nodded.

"How...how deadly are they?" Tali asked, sounding as if she wasn't sure that she wanted to hear the anwser.

"They are the reason the Forerunners no longer exist," Rason replied.

"Oh Keelah," Tali whispered, nervously running her fingers through her hair. "They learned how to use their technology didn't they?"

"That is what makes the Flood so terrifying," Rason remarked grimly, "no matter how many or strong their opponent is, they can rise to meet them. They are mimickers, they have no technology of their own, so they steal it."

"So why are you here?" Ashley asked, "Jane would have told us when she got back here if they were loose."

"It is because if the Flood posses inter-stellar travel, we must assume that they have found refuge on another planet, one that will most likely have had it's bio-sphere consumed by the parasite. If this is true, than another attack, perhaps even multiple attacks by them will occur within days, weeks at the latest. Your eyes will not heal that fast, and I can tell by the way that you conduct yourself that you would sooner suffer a fate worse than death than sit helplessly in a bed while your comrades fight those abominations."

Ashley's hand's tightened into fists, the blankets that covered her legs wadding up as she did. "And you're reminding me of this why?"

"Because I can make it so that you will be able to see again within 24 hours."

Ashley hesitated before replying. "How?"

"Cybernetics," Rason answered, "Us Jiralhanae do not posses the ability to clone organs or limbs, so we had to make do with mechanical substitutes. I could implant replacements for your eyes within ours in a painless process."

"I get the feeling that there's a catch," Ashley muttered, "if this stuff was so great the UNSC would be using it."

"Inserting cybernetics is one thing, removing them is another. Once they are intertwined into your nervous system, it is hard to remove them without causing serious damage. In your case it will be even worse, considering that your eyes send so much information to your mind and having such a direct connection to it. Removing them could cause permeant brain damage or worse."

"I take it that cybernetic eyes are easy to tell apart from normal eyes right?"

"They are obviously metal and have a tendency to glow, yes."

"Great," Ashley whispered. She paused, thinking things over. "There's no danger involved with the proceeder?"

"None, it has been perfected."

"And I'll be able to see just as well as I could before?"

"Even better than you could before."

Ashley paused again before quietly muttering to herself. "For I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing...just a little something that I...never mind."

"So, have you made a choice about this, or should I come back later?"

"...Do it."

XXXXX

The Acolyte ignored a missile that skimmed past it, having been fired from a Geth Prime, instead focusing on the puppet that Harbinger was controlling. Said puppet sent an orb of eerie yellow energy at the Acolyte, who lifted up one of it's bladed arms to block the attack. The projectile hit it, scorching it and causing it to give off the smell of burning flesh, but the Acolyte did not feel any pain and continued on.

As it neared the puppet, the Acolyte's wings folded behind it's back and it landed on the ground, skidding across the grass to the Collector. The alien raised it's weapon and attempted to fire, but before it could, the Acolyte had reached it and swung it's right arm at the Collector's torso. As the Flood passed it, the Collector's upper body began to fall away from it's lower body for a fraction of a second before all of it's remains disintegrate.

"**Pathetic, wasted energy**," Harbinger taunted as another Collector was overwritten by him, "**You actions are juvenile, using the head of your kind and all of your strength to attack what are little more than pawns to us."**

"_You seem to forget that we are not like the other organic species that you have faced before, though I suppose that in your overconfidence you assumed that they were all the same,_" the Acolyte countered dashing to the side and swinging it's arm to rip off the head of a Geth Prime had had been aiming it's weapon at him. "_Ten million casualties are nothing to us, but the death of merely one of your kind is a massive victory. We can recover from our losses in days, you take hundreds of thousands of years if you lose so much as a dozen of your kin._"

"**Your numbers hold no sway, they are little more than masses, clumsily directed in the general direction of their target with vain hopes that they will be victorious. This is a strategy that you practice with zeal, and it is also a strategy that is as easy to counter as it is predictable. You can only replenish your numbers if your strongholds remain unfound and unharmed. Locating and depopulated planets is a maneuver that we specialize at, we have had much practice. What is more you require biomass to reproduce, something that we are more than happy to exterminate, and something that you will never acquire from us."**

"_You cannot wipe out all organic life in the galaxy, it would take millennia of constant attacks and bombardment, more than you can handle," _the Acolyte said as Harbinger's puppet fired it's rifle at it, raising it's arms up to block the shots. "_But even if you had the capabilities to carry out that task, you would not. As much as you despise it, you need organic life as much as we do."_

"**Your incompetence knows no limit**, **destroying all organic life will not be necessary, you will be exterminated long before that... And should you be able to spread by some miracle, there are measures that we will take."** As he spoke, the Acolyte unfolded it's wings and took flight, ascending and heading in the Collector's direction.

"_You think far too highly of yourselves, if you truly possessed such capabilities, you would have no need for the Mass Relays or the Citadel"_ it said, before dive bombing Harbinger, narrowly avoiding another missile from a Geth Prime that had just fired it before a Juggernaut Form grabbed it with both tentacles and ripped it in half.

"**There are ways of accomplishing your extinction that were not built by us, there are weapons that can exterminate all of you. They have already been used on you."** The Acolyte slammed into the ground, Harbinger jumping back to avoid it, firing it's rifle at point blank range. The Acolyte was not fast enough to raise it's arms and several shots slammed into it's face, causing a sickly yellow liquid to pour out of the wounds, but the Flood was not deterred.

"_Still relying on the tools of the Forerunners I see_," it taunted, slashing at the Collector and ripping it's arm off in the process. _"Unable to fight on your own? What's more your threat to use Halo is empty, two of the instillations and the Ark have been destroyed, there are gaps in the array that we will be able to survive in._"

Harbinger used it's remaining arm to fire another orb of yellow energy at the Acolyte, only to have it be blocked by the winged creature's arms again, another burn sprouting up. "**Holes in the array that we will be able to predict, we will be able to flush you into those areas and strike you down"**

"_If you leave so much as a single cell alive, we will be able to rise again, even more powerful than we were before!"_ the Acolyte roared, lunging forward and burying both of it's arms in the Collector, the creature turning to dust within seconds. The Acolyte was about to turn to look to see which Collector Harbinger had controlled this time, when a massive roar filled the air and a wave of force hit the Acolyte in the chest so hard it almost lost it's balance.

Glancing at the source of the disturbance, the Acolyte saw the Normandy speeding by, hastily touching down at the base of the cliff. Curiosity gripping it, the Acolyte flapped it's wings and shot out beyond the cliff, scanning the area below it. With it's keen eyesight, it was able to spot a Human, a Turian, a Krogan and a Jiralhanae climbing into the lowered cargo bay before the ship sped off upward. It had barely been climbing for thirty seconds when a bright portal opened up in front of it, the ship disappearing into the portal.

Knowing what was coming, the Acolyte curled up into a ball as the slipspace rift closed and, as it was atmosphere, let out a massive EMP. The force of the shockwave sent the Acolyte flying back, slamming into the top of the cliff. Getting to it's feet, the Acolyte saw that the Geth were still functional. Apparently the Normandy had been far away enough so that the EMP would not be strong enough to fry their circuits.

"_I have grown tired of this,_" the Acolyte said _"we have covered their retreat, bombard this planet_." It looked up at the sky and at the three Flood Destroyers that were repositioning themselves, their mouths opening wide. However, just as they were about to fire, a bright red beam tore through the lead destroyer, the beast letting out a roar of pain as it's body was torn in half. Two more beams shot out, tearing through the destroyers, causing them to fall to the ground, their bodies falling apart.

Looking up, the Acolyte saw Sovereign descending towards the top of the cliff, landing behind all of them, it's thanix cannon recharging. "_Sovereign!_" the Acolyte screeched, flying straight upward, it's face fixed on Sovereign. "_Harbinger! You have lost! The Humans now posses the knowledge they require to undo your plans! They know of Illos and of the Conduit!" _It's mouth opened and something resembling a cackle escaped it as it continued to rise, Sovereign's thanix cannon almost fully recharged "_So slaughter us! Slaughter us with all of the passion that you wish! You have been sent down the path to extinction, and even with all of your power you can do nothing to turn it back!"_

And as the Acolyte roared the last word, Sovereign fired it's thanix cannon. The superheated metal tore through the air, consuming the Acolyte. It's body was vaporized in a nanosecond, completely erased from reality. Sovereign's cannon slowly powered down. The puppet that Harbinger was possessing looked up at Sovereign, and the two communicated nonverbally.

"**Nazara, did it speak the truth?"**

"**Saren did find another one of the Prothean relics on this planet. It did contain the location of the Conduit."**

"**Then we can hesitate no longer, we must make our return now, before they can either close the relay or organize their defenses, enough damage has been done."**

"**Very well."**

"**Also Nazara, your puppet no longer requires the ability to act on his own," **Harbinger paused to look at two Geth that were carrying the Turian onto Sovereign. "**Implant him."**

XXXXX

Liara smiled softly as she closed the door to Rebecca's room, the silver haired woman lying on top of her bed, still fully clothed. "She's heavier than she looks, though I suppose that that could be the victory armor." With that, she began to walk back towards the cargo bay, assuming that everyone was still there.

"Liara?" The Asari archeologist turned to see Taylor and Tali walking down the hallway behind her.

"Oh, hello you two," she said politely, falling in step with them, "Is miss Williams well? When will she be able to see again?"

"As of now...tomorrow," Tali said slowly.

"Really? That is wonderful news!" Liara said happily. "I did not know that your kind could clone organs so quickly."

"We...can't," Taylor said hesitantly, "that Jiralhanae guy called Rason is giving her cybernetic implants. He said that they'll be rather noticeable. In fact he's preforming the surgery right now, he shooed us out of the infirmary."

"Oh..." Liara said, sounding surprised. "So...you are saying that I should be supportive of her when her operation I should be supportive of her?"

"That would be helpful yes," Tali replied, "just don't overdo it, you know how Ashley's like when she thinks people are babying her."

Liara chuckled nervously, "Yes I suppose that I do."

"So, where's Rebecca?"

"It's...kind of a long story, but she's lying down right now, she had a rather stunning piece of information told to her by one of the Marauders."

"All right! Everyone's on board, let's get the Hell out of here!" Joker's voice roared over the COM lines. As he did, a strange vibration coursed throughout the Normandy, a telltale sign of having jumped to slipspace.

"They're all back?" Taylor said, glancing at Tali as the three of them neared the cargo bay.

"It sounds like it," she replied as they entered the bay, which was still packed to the brim with the standard crew and their Marauder and Loyalist passengers. Jane, Garrus, Wrex and Marton were all standing in the center, everyone else staring at them. Upon spotting Liara, Jane stiffly and rather awkwardly strode towards her, her face oddly blank.

"Liara," she said, her voice emotionless, "there was another one of the Prothean relics on the surface, it did something to my vision, I need you to take one last look at it."

"Uh, ok," Liara said, sounding a little taken aback. "I just need you to...wait...where's Jun?" Taylor and Tali looked around the cargo bay, as did several other members of the Normandy crew, including Jacob, Damon, Crystal, Neriena and Sarah. The tall bald man was nowhere to be seen.

"He...didn't make it," Jane said, her voice thickening. Liara's eyes widened, as did the eyes of all of the crew members who heard it, with the exception of Garrus, who looked at the ground sadly. Truth be told, none of them had known Jun particularly well, but all of them knew what he was capable of. No one had been expecting him of all people to die. "Liara please, I need you to look at that vision," Jane begged.

"Right now?" Liara asked, looking shocked. Jane shook her head vigorously. "All...all right then," she said uncertainly, reaching forward and touching Jane's temple. "Embrace Eternity."

Jane felt a gasp well up in her throat as she was swept up in a wave of thought, overflowing and consuming her. She saw countless images fly past, some of them hers, some of them Liara's. 'Focus,' she thought to herself, 'you need to think about the vision right now. Don't...don't...don't go there now, mourn him later.'

Jane strained in concentration, and within seconds, a familiar swarm of images played out in front of her. The familiar scenes of death and destruction flew past until she saw a planet orbiting around two stars flying towards her. "I know that planet!' Liara's voice echoed in Jane's mind, "That's Illos! Whatever Saren must be looking for is there. I...something's wrong" the Asari said, sounding confused "...I can't see anything else. But that doesn't make any sense, if you can understand the vision I should be able to as well."

Jane paid no heed to Liara's words, the planet was still speeding towards her. It came closer and closer, and just when she thought that she was going to hit it, a massive tear opened up in the planet and a blinding golden light shot out.

Jane let out a gasp as the vision faded away to be replaced by the stream of though that she had been caught in seconds ago. "Shepard something's wrong, the vision must have been corrupted or is still incomplete," Liara's voice echoed.

"What are you talking about, I saw it just fine," Jane said.

"How is that possible? If you can see it then I should be able to see it as well, this doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know...maybe...maybe," Jane said, her mind wandering as the truth that she had tried to push to the back of her mind floated unwelcome back to the front. It was then that she felt a specific set of memories came to the front of her mind, linking together with the most recent one. "NO! Not now!" she shrieked but it was too late, and the memories flashed before both her and Liara.

A massive man in gold and red armor holding her in the depths of a Covenant corvette. "Tell them to make it count."

A group sprinting across a room towards an elevator, a city burning around them. "Where does he get off calling demolition on priority one-"

A burning gunship flying through the air towards a Scarab. "Carter out."

A shipyard under siege, a dropship flying overhead. "I'M READY! HOW BOUT YOU!"

The grassy plains of Virmire, "Six...no...Jane. You're Noble Team now. Emile's kukri is yours. Give em Hell."

A barren wasteland, Sangheili advancing on all sides, her hand flies up and rips her damages helmet off. She still fired her gun even as plasma tears at her side, pain like she had never felt before filling her as a planet dies all around her.

With a sensation similar to pulling your head out of water, Jane stepped back, breaking the connection between her and Liara. Looking at the Asari's face, she could tell without asking that she had seen everything. Slowly, Jane began to walk forward, passing Liara and exiting the cargo bay without saying a word.

Author's Note: Good news for all of you, I've decided to take a break from the forum I usually frequent, therefore I now have even more time to work on this story...provided I don't act like I have ADD (Which I'm half convinced I do) I promise to keep this short, basically the Guinness book of world records gave COD Black Ops the title of best game ending ever, nerd rage ensued. I've just come to realize that even though COD kind of bores me, I get really angry when I see people who like it getting bashed. Apparently some people are so insecure that Half Life or whatever isn't as popular as COD that they need to attack people to protect their fragile views. I really don't get why how popular a game you don't like is would affect you at all, please practice tolerance. That is all.

P.S. Yeah I was talking out of my rear when I had Tali descend into technobabble about the omni-blade, don't take that too seriously.

P.S.S. My mom squees for Robert Frost, hence why I wiggled that in.


	87. Unveiled Truth

Chapter 87

Unveiled Truth

Author's Note: So Virmire is pretty much done, the end of this story is drawing closer and closer but there's still ways to go. So let's get going.

Liara rubbed her temples as she went over the rush of thoughts that she had seen in Jane's mind. Not a bit of it many any sense whatsoever. The memories had clearly been that of a war, but they hadn't been of this one, she had accompanied Jane and the rest of the Normandy crew through the entire conflict and nothing she had seen in her adventures matched up with Jane's memories. They couldn't be from the Second Contact War or Humanity's spat with the Batarians either, the designs of the vehicles and weapons that she had seen were of either RSN or Empire design.

It was then that Liara came to what made the least amount of sense. Jane had been fighting Sangheili, the UNSC's closest ally. "Liara?" The Asari looked up to see Sarah looking at her, curiosity on her face. All of the Normandy crew, that had been deployed to Virmire's surface, with the exception of the sleeping Rebecca and the in surgery Ashley, were sitting in the mess hall, all of them staring at Liara intently. They had been joined by Ken, Gabby, Gardner, Chakwas and Kelly, the last of whom had a bandage around her wounded arm. Spare tables that had been taken from the cargo bay to replace the destroyed ones. The Marauders and Loyalist forces had remained in the cargo bay.

"Sorry," Liara muttered, "everything went by so fast, I can hardly remember it."

"Try and relax, if you focus too hard it will actually make it harder," Kelly said helpfully. Liara had told them about them about what she had seen while joining minds with Jane. Needless to say, their curiosity about the post of their already strange Captain had been sparked.

"Everything I saw took place on what looked like the same planet, there was another planet in the sky that seemed to stay the same throughout all of the memories. Shepard was watching other people...die. I didn't recognize most of them, but for some reason she also saw Jun dying near the end, as if he was connected to the rest of them. Then...then I saw her fighting off waves of Sangheili...she was badly wounded too."

"What did they look like? The people that she saw die?" Jacob asked.

"I am not very good as describing Humans and I didn't even see one of them," Liara admitted, "but one was very large and spoke with a thick accent of some kind. Another was a woman who wore blue armor and had a cybernetic arm. A third man wore gray armor with a skull carved into the visor...now that I think about it, that man had the same knife that Jun had."

"Doesn't sound like these people used standard issue UNSC," Crystal remarked.

"Yes, but something that also bother's me is...when did these memories take place?" Liara asked. "Your kind has not done battle with the Sangheili for nearly a century, why would she be fighting them?"

"She's got a point," Damon remarked, "Jane would have had to fought in the Human-Covenant War to have taken part in any large scale battle with Sangheili, but that would make her older than Liara. That doesn't fit at all, she's in her forties at the most, the only other way she could have lasted so long is if she was a SPAR-" it could not have been clearer that the patriarch of the Winters family had intended for his sentence to be a joke. However he had made a connection in his mind that everyone else had made, one that opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Everyone in the mess hall knew about the legendary super soldiers, even the non-humans, but to think that they had known one for so long...

"No way," Ken said, disbelief coating his face, "is that even possible?"

"Uh," Taylor said, looking as if he was trying remember something he had seen a long time ago. "I'm just throwing this out there, but back on Haven, a Jiralhanae Chieftain tried to punch Jun, with a gravity fist of all things, but he just grabbed the fist and held it there with one hand. This was before the Victory armor was standard issue, and even if it wasn't these suits don't have enough strength to take on something as strong as a Jiralhanae head on. What's more, Ashley even flat out asked the guy if he was a SPARTAN. He just smiled."

"Damn," Neriena muttered, "sounds like the guy was the real deal, and he and Jane always talked like they were close friends. The evidence defiantly seems to point in that direction but we can't jump to conclusions, for all we know she only met him recently."

"Hold on," Tali said, her omni-tool active and her fingers flying furiously over it, "I downloaded a couple of files some time back on Human history, and the Human-Covenant War was a hot topic. Let me see if I can find anything that can...oh Keelah." She stared in shock at her omni-tool before pressing a button. A holographic image shot out and hovered over the table that she was sitting at, which took the form of six heavily armored Humans. "That's defiantly Jun," Tali whispered, pointing to one of the Humans, "Liara do you recognize any of the others."

The Asari archeologist squinted at the hologram before her eyes widened. "Yes, it's an exact match," she said, pointing at three of them, "they look exactly the same as they did in Jane's mind. Who are they?"

"Noble Team," Tali said, reading off of her omni-tool, "a commando unit comprised of five SPARTAN IIIs and one SPARTAN II that served during the late days of the Human-Covenant War, and in particular the Battle of Reach. The thing is, after that battle they were all labeled as Missing in Action.

"Except ONI was rumored to lie about that," Chakwas pointed out, "I've looked through a lot of military records in my time and not a single SPARTAN was ever listed as Killed in Action, but practically all of them are labeled as missing. The popular theory is that even those who were confirmed dead were put as MIA to keep morale up, soldiers would panic if they knew that the enemy that they were facing could bring down SPARTANs."

"Is there anything else there Tali?" Gabby asked.

"Not much," the Quarian admitted, "most of the information regarding them is possibly classified. The only other thing that is says besides the battles that they took part in is that they were all given numbered designations, that one was one, that one two, three, four, five and six," she said, pointing to a SPARTAN with each number."

"Six?" Garrus said, standing up and looking at the hologram. "Are you sure that that one was number six?" he asked, pointing at the SPARTAN in gray armor.

Tali glanced back at her omni-tool, "yes, why do you ask?"

"Jun...Jun never called Shepard by her last name, first name, M'am or Captain, he always called her...six." Every eye in the room spun to look at Garrus, shock and awe in all of them.

"I...I did not see Noble Six in any of Jane's memories," Liara said, causing all of the attention in the room to switch to her. I did not see one of them but the voice was defiantly male." She studied the hologram of Noble Six again, "that one is clearly female, just like Jane."

"Everything fits," Gardner said, slumping back into his chair. "SPARTANS aren't like normal Humans, they'll live God knows how much longer we will."

"So Shepard really is one of them," Garrus said dumbly, his voice soft. "She's a SPARTAN." For a moment, there was silence

"God. How could I be so stupid?" Taylor said.

"What?" Sarah said, looking at her half brother.

"On Sanctuary, during the blitz three years back, she killed a couple hundred Batarians by herself and shrugged it off like it was nothing. I watched her do it and it never occurred to me that she could be one of the only people who could do something like that? I should have figured it out right away."

"None of us figured it out when all of the clues were shoved right into our face," Jacob said, "she had us all fooled."

"Why would she keep something like this from us?" Liara asked, looking honestly confused, "did she believe that we would think less of her for it? She didn't think that we would be afraid of her did she?"

"Oh dear," said a voice that sounded like it was coming out of an old radio. Everyone glanced around the room for the origin of the voice. "Over here." Eyes fixed themselves on the center of the table, where Richard's avatar was standing.

"Richard," Tali said, deactivating the hologram of Noble Team, "what is it?"

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," the Smart A.I. said, "And...well...I have something that you might want to hear. I really shouldn't be sharing this with you, but screw it, you've put most of the pieces together"

The pure white avatar waved his hand and a recording began to play two voices. Jane Shepard and David Anderson.

"I think you know the real reason why you were selected for this mission." "You want Jun and I to take out Tritus don't you?"

"You are the most qualified individuals for the job. You have the most up to date model of MJOLINR and combat experience that puts everyone else in the UNSC to shame."

"And I'm still not allowed to tell my crew?"

"I'm afraid not, ONI has been all over us about that. Section 3 would have our heads if we spilt their secrets. The SPARTAN project only went public in the Human-Covenant War because the brass was trying to pull morale out of the gutters, at the moment there aren't enough of you to pull that off. Nowadays there are barely any SPARTANs left, ONI tried to get funding to rebirth the project, but they kept running into so many obstacles, political and financial, that all they could do was construct your armor."

"Also, as much as I hate to admit it, we would have trouble starting another program. Not to be insulting Jane, but SPARTAN IIIs were designed to be cheap expendable soldiers whose purpose were to buy time. Only those that made it a couple years into the war truly had SPARTAN level capabilities. With the disappearance of Dr. Halsey and the destruction of Reach, we lost too much data on the SPARTAN IIs to try again with them without starting from scratch."

"What about Michael Rivers? The man who found the cure for the Quarian's immune system, why didn't you go to him before he died?"

"He was an old man whose memory would have faded over the years and was denied from keeping any records of the project. What is more the augmentations that he designed killed or crippled over half of the applicants, not something that we can afford."

"I see what you mean."

"Why the long face?"

"Nothing, it's just that...sooner or later there aren't going to be any SPARTANs left...it's...it's...it's...depressing to...you know...be part of a dying race. Truth be told I was kind of hoping that another generation would crop up, because when you're a SPARTAN you're...different. You can't really connect to normal people, only other SPARTANs, that's why I'm glad to see Jun again, but to walk around my crew while they lead normal lives...I feel...I feel like I can't connect with them."

"I can only imagine what that feels like," Anderson said grimly, "I'm sorry Jane, but the information concerning your status is still classified. You are not to reveal it to any of your subordinates. I'm sending you the coordinates to Virmire now, along with all of the data we managed to intercept. Good luck."

Everyone looked at Richard in disbelief as the recording ended. "I...I had no idea," Tali said softly.

"None of us did," Kelly said softly, "I've been trained to pick up the tiniest hints of a person's body language and I didn't catch a thing from her. She must have been trained...trained to hide her pain and put her duty before herself."

Everyone sat there, completely absorbed in their thoughts. So absorbed none of them noticed when Garrus silently stood up and began to walk towards the elevator.

XXXXX

The Gravemind silently stood on it's multiple tendrils that were connected to the Dreadnaught Ship Form that it was on. It was gazing through the transparent membrane that formed a massive dome on the back of the ship form, one of many that served as cargo space for Flood forms and captured equipment. The dreadnaught was one of three hundred ship forms that were floating in a section of space with a red tinge to it, the wreckage of countless ships surrounding them. Most of them were millions of years old but around a hundred of them were fresh and still burning from when they had been destroyed.

A rustling noise prompted the Gravemind to look to its right. A stalk the size of the hive mind was growing out of the back of the dreadnaught, several man sized pods hanging off of it like fruit. One of the pods was shaking, as if something inside of it was thrashing around. With a particularly violent lung, the stem holding the pod to the vine snapped and it fell to the ground, landing with a rather wet squish.

There was a tearing noise and a bladed arm tore through the pod from the inside. It sliced downward, reducing the pod to shreds and freeing the occupant. The Acolyte stepped out of the remains of the pod that surrounded it, a fowl smelling fluid still coating its new body. "You were pointlessly reckless," the Gravemind scolded, "victory is acquired through the strength of mind, not muscles. Once you completely your objective, you should have withdrawn at once. Already we can feel that all of those that we sent of Virmire have been vanquished. Wasted."

"But our goal was accomplished nonetheless, the fleet that opposed the Reapers' puppets escaped with its numbers intact and the Reapers now of our reemergence. Now they will have no choice but to return to the galaxy now, while the younger races still have numbers and ships to fight them with. What is more, a Human possess the full vision left by those that came before them. They will be more than prepared to fight them, they will have the key to defeating them."

"That may be true, but you remained on Virmire longer than needed and caused the destruction of hundreds of our ship forms, forces that we could have used."

"They were little more than expendable pawns."

"Pawns may be expendable but they are not too be thrown away without a second thought."

"Their destruction was not entirely without purpose, during their prolonged stay over a hundred of the ships loyal to the Reapers were destroyed. Nazara will do doubt march towards the Citadel in an attempt to open the gate and it will bring all of the forces that it can muster to do so. The young races will no doubt guard the Citadel and even if they manage to keep it closed they will suffer heavy loses. With a hundred less ships attacking them, their losses will be lighter and they will have more forces to focus on the Reapers while we recuperate and build up our forces. That is the plan is it not? Let the young races fight the Reapers and make our job easier, as well as buy us time?"

"Yes, but a hundred ships will make very little difference in the end, the Reapers are far more powerful than they were when they discovered the Forerunners. Since their death they used what knowledge that they managed to gain from us to reverse engineer the Forerunners technology, but like the young races, they only tapped into a fraction of what they were capable of. The locks the Forerunners put on their creations was truly a wise, even though the Reapers are far beyond the young races they are still no match for Forerunner ships, a single Forerunner vessel would be able to destroy five Reapers before falling."

"That is true, however we must take into consideration that the Reapers may be willing delay the destruction of the younger races in order to destroy us, even if it means that they will suffer loses. What is more the younger races now know of our existence, they could very easily consider us to be equal to the Reapers in terms of the threat they pose. They may dispatch entire fleets to destroy us. That is why we cannot afford to squander what little resources that we have, it will take time for us to return to full strength, and until then we are vulnerable."

"But that is why we made this particular move, is it not?" As it spoke, the Acolyte turned and looked at a massive structure floating in the distance. It had the rough shape of a cylinder but looked particularly crude with large metal spikes jutting out of it among other things. Twenty of the Flood ship forms were launching Flood dispersal pods at it as well as destroyed the structure's anti-ship weaponry. "That is why while I attacked Sovereign at Virmire you waited outside the Omega 4 Relay is it not?"

"Do not tell me our own plan," the Gravemind replied "yes, we waited outside of the relay for the Collectors to come through to support those that had been hiding elsewhere in the galaxy. We destroyed them and then used their technology to traverse the relay. We are fortunate that none of the ships on this side of the relay were deployed in the last few months, apparently those that have been operating in this conflict were deployed a year ago."

"Why would they do that?"

"Omega was heavily populated and Aria had a well known hatred of the Collectors. Most likely they did not want to risk Aria contacting the rest of the young races and then attempting to destroy them. They may have tried to launch an all out assault on the station but it would be unlikely that they would have been able to stop at least a single ship escaping. We had an element of surprise that we did not. They did not know what we were capable of when we landed, and by the time they had realized their fate we had sealed of all forms of escape."

"However, we will soon control the Collector's base, we will be safe from the young races and hopefully the Reapers will be too occupied with them to divide their forces. All that we can do now," the Gravemind concluded, watching it's forces taking over the Collector base "Is wait and multiply."

XXXXX

Jane sat at the desk in her quarters, her mind a blur. Her thoughts where an undefinable whirlwind of confusion and turmoil, but through the chaos, two things made themselves very clear. Jun was dead, and Liara had seen everything. Blinking she looked at the desk in front of her and the two objects in front of her. Emile's kukri lay on the desk within it's sheath, next to a crystal white bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy.

Jane blankly starred at the bottle in front of her. She had bought it back on Earth and had been planning to give it to her as a surprise present but now she had other plans for it. Less innocent plans. She continued to look at the bottle, reminding herself that she was a professional soldier and the Captian of a vessel, she had to be above these kind of things. She continued to think...and then she gave in to temptation.

Grabbing the bottle by the neck, she ripping the cork out before pressing the spout to her mouth. Her lips opened and the brandy poured into her mouth, the SPARTAN gulping it down. The bottom of the bottle pointed up to face the ceiling as Jane chugged the brandy, quickly draining it. Within a minute, Jane had drained the bottle without pausing for a second. Silently taking the now empty bottle away from her mouth, she gently placed it on the desk before sitting back.

Patiently she began to wait. The minutes began to tick by, painfully slow. As they did, Jane realized that she felt completely unaffected by the brandy. Lowering her head, she opened one of her hands and dumbly stared at her palm. A full bottle of brandy like that would have made a standard Human pass out, it might have been enough to even kill a smaller one, but she didn't even feel a thing. Then again, she wasn't a normal Human.

Stiffly, she raised her hand again. She had fought for years against alien hordes that had wanted nothing more than to wipe Humanity from the galactic map, she had been denied a normal childhood, she had been denied to right to live a normal life, she had seen nearly everyone that had care about her die, and she was even denied to right to take the edge off of her pain. At that very moment, years of hardship and suffering built up within Jane Shepard and she did something she had never thought that she would do. She snapped.

Violently grasping the empty bottle of brandy, she hurled it across there room where it smashed against the wall, instantly shattering into hundreds of pieces. Her anger not sated, she got to her fit and gripped the chair that she had been sitting on. Hoisting it over her head, she brought the chair crashing down on the desk in front of her. Despite that both of them were made of metal, the legs on both the chair and the desk bent slightly from the force of the impact. Jane swung the chair again, causing the desk to sag downward even further and then swung again.

The legs of the desk actually splintered under the final impact, the body falling to the ground and the rest of the table collapsing. Swinging the chair around, she let go of the chair and sent it flying directly at the fish tank that made up a fair portion of the far way. Thousands of pieces of glass fell to the ground as the chair slammed through the aquarium, dozens of gallons of water pouring out right after.

Grabbing a one of the chair legs to the now destroyed table, Jane raised it over her head, intending to throw it at the display case of model starships in front of her, her teeth gritted and her face torn with anger. "SHEPARD!" Jane stumbled mid throw, taking a couple of clumsy steps forward before looking up. Garrus was standing in front of her doorway, looking in shock at the destroyed aquarium.

"What do you want!" Jane snapped, not considering how aggressive and rude her comment was.

"I wanted to check up on you," Garrus said, restraining himself from saying "And I'm glad I did," as he cautiously stepped forward. "I was worried about you, I know that you and Jun were close but-"

"Know? Know! You don't know anything!" Jane roared, "You have no idea about the bullshit I've had to put up with my entire life!" she shrieked. "Name the worst thing that ever happened to you, and I can guarantee you that I can come up with something that makes it look like a picnic."

"I know I can't compare to you," Garrus said hastily, desperately attempting to calm Jane down, noticing that she was still holding the desk leg, "I understand what you've been through?"

"You know what I've been through? Don't make me fucking laugh Vakarian, you don't know jack fucking shit!"

"Don't I Shepard?" Garrus said, his voice noticeably sad, "or would prefer that I call you Nobel Six?"

"I...what?" Jane said, her anger vanishing in a flash. "How...how did you-" she had known that Liara had seen her thoughts, but she had never imagined that they would have been able to put together exactly who she was.

"Liara told us what we saw, we managed to fit everything else together," Garrus explained, "we even got a little bit of help from Richard, he played a recording between you and Anderson...Shep- I mean Jane, I swear if I had known what you had gone through-"

"No-" Jane whispered, the leg slipping out of her now slack hands and hitting the ground with a clang. "It's not that...just...it..." she gazed around the room, taking in the damage that she had done to it. "I...I just," she said, her voice so silent that Garrus could barely hear her. "At Reach...Jorge...why did you throw me out? I'm a III, you were a II. I...I was more expendable than you." She looked up at Garrus, tears sparkling in her eyes. "The sniper could have hit me and not Kat, I should have tried to get past that Scarab on my own, I should have been the one to stay and man the cannon, not Emile. It...it should have been me and not- not them," she said, choking on her words. "And now Jun...he was under my command and I...I got him killed."

"No, no you didn't," Garrus said, taking a step forward. "Sometimes things in a battle happen that you can't control, if that wasn't the case then people would never die in war. None of us could have known that an entire platoon would attack Jun's position, it was simply unpredictable. And please don't say that you should have died."

"I should have," Jane whispered, "I wasn't even part of their team, I was just a replacement for their real squad-mate."

"Then why was Jun so glad to see you after all these years, and why did Jorge chose to die instead of you?" Garrus asked. "Most importantly, ask yourself something Jane, do you think that the rest of your team would have wanted you to go on living wishing that you had died?"

"I...I...I..." Jane stuttered, "n...no...I just...I just,"

"I know," Garrus said softly, reaching forward and pulling Jane into a gentle hug. The SPARTAN hesitated before stretching her shaking arms around the Turian, returning the hug. Silent tears began to stream down her face.

Author's Note: My God I the internet sometimes, in the past couple of days it has freaking exploded. In case you don't know what I'm mad about this day of the week, just google Jennifer Hepler and get ready to face palm, for once I don't feel like talking about this. Oh yeah, and the from ashes DLC I can't say much because of spoilers but you'll probably hear about it...I gotta say I'm more annoyed about the fact that it makes the title for my upcoming Fallout fic look unoriginal than anything else. Yeah yeah, day one DLC and everything, but you know what? If you don't want it, don't buy it, simple. Personally, I'm buying the N7 collector's edition, I'm getting it, it doesn't bug me that much. The character will probably have little impact on the story, you know like Kasumi or Zaeed. If he is an important character, I heard rumors that he will be in the story anyway, just not as a squad mate. No spoilers for those who aren't in the know please

In other news I picked up Dark Souls a couple of days ago and before you ask, yes my butt is very sore. On a side note I like this chapter, I was always better at writing emotionally dialogue then intense action scenes for some reason.


	88. A Shaky Alliance

Chapter 88

A Shaky Alliance

Author's Note: Well ME3 is only a week away (Jesus this thing snuck up on me) and for the record when I buy it I'm probably going to go dark for a couple of days, I'm sure that you understand because most of you will probably do the same thing. There's a bit of controversy surrounding that day one DLC, (Seriously google it, the internet is at freaking war) but as I'm preordering CE I'm getting it anyway and frankly I don't think it's that big of a deal anyway. People are way too dramatic over freaking video games and this whole thing will probably be forgotten soon. Anyway, less boring stuff and more New Origins.

XXXXX

Admiral Hall nervously rapped her knuckles on the arm of her command chair on the Archangel, as she looked at the view screen in front of her. The Normandy had been due to arrive half an hour ago but they had yet to hear a peep from them. She wasn't quite sure what to make of this, the Normandy had been ordered to maintain COM silence on the off chance that their transmission could be intercepted, so she had no way of knowing their status.

'They might have been discovered,' Hall thought, 'if that's the case then the Coalition might know that we're coming, Tritus could have been evacuated already. Hell, they might even be sending forces here to deal with us.' It was then that Hall made a decision. 'If we don't hear anything from them soon we may have to call the attack off. I may half to talk with Rtas about this but-' her train of thought was interrupted as a white blip appeared on the view screen.

"Ma'am," Oriana reported from her station, "I'm picking up a slipspace rupture and a single UNSC ship. The IFF signal confirms that it is the Normandy."

Hall let out a sigh of relief, apparently they had only encountered a slight delay, for a moment she had thought that the entire mission had been compromised. "That's good to hear, establish a connection with them. Sarah, be prepared to receive the intelligence that they-"

"Admiral, I am receiving a direct transmission from the Normandy, Captain Shepard says that she wishes to speak with you," Sarah reported, her avatar materializing on Hall's armrest.

The elderly woman blinked before nodding and saying, "very well put her through." Hall put her finger to her ear as the avatar established communications. "Captain Shepard, I am glad to see that you and you crew are-"

"Admiral I need you to listen very closely to me," Jane said quickly. "Whatever happens, I need you to order that none of the Alliance ships under your command can open fire."

"Who would we open fire on?"

"Something happened at Virmire that I didn't even think was possible, long story short, we've got some new allies in this fight. They'll be here shortly but they need to be sure that they won't come under fire before I give them the all clear."

"Captain, it sounds like we would have reason to believe that these new allies that you are promising us would wish us harm, can they be trusted?"

"Yes, they have every reason to hate Saren and the rest of the Coalition, but I need you to order the rest of the fleet to stand down?"

Hall paused before answering, "You have a record that indicates that your word can be trusted Captain. Very well, I will give that order. Sarah, transmit to all other UNSC ships that they are not to open fire no matter what. Contact Grand Fleetmaster Rtas and request that he do the same."

"I heard everything Admiral," Rtas said over the COM lines, "it will be done. I have had experiences with fighting alongside many who I would kill the day before, I understand how such situations can occur. Though Captain, I feel complied to who these allies are."

"You're about to find out Fleetmaster, they're coming through now."

"Admiral, I'm picking up multiple slipspace ruptures hundreds of them!" Oriana reported. "Those allies the Captain talked about are coming through and- oh god! They're giving off Jiralhanae Empire IFFs!"

"What!" Hall shouted, looking at the viewscreen. Hundreds of purple starships were emerging from milky white portals, completely surrounding and dwarfing the Normandy. What captured Hall's attention was the truly massive ship that was easily twice the size of a super-carrier. "What the Hell happened at Virmire?" she whispered.

"Damn it!" a voice shouted over the COM lines "the Coalition found us! Spin up the MAC cannon!"

"Bring all forward batteries online target the nearest ship!" another voice roared.

"Belay those orders!" Hall roared, "do not fire unless fired upon first!"

"Cease and desist! These vessels are not hostile!"

"But they...understood Admiral."

"Fleetmaster...as you wish."

"Good," Hall whispered, "Captain could you kindly explain what the royal Hell is going on?"

"I believe I may be suited for explaining that," a deep voice said over the COM lines, "My name is Marton Admiral, I am the leader of the Jiralhanae rebel army known as the Marauders."

"Rebel army? There's a revolution in the Empire?" Hall asked.

"Yes, not all of us agreed with Tritus' anti-alien views, we were tired of his warlike tendencies and wished to live in peace with the rest of the galaxy. Because of this we waged a guerrilla war against the Empire for a decade. We lasted as long as we did by stealing the prototype starship the Eternal Salvation, the massive vessel that you see before you."

"Hold on," Hall interjected, "my navigator picked up Empire IFF signatures, how did rebels pick those up?"

"Only half of the Jiralhanae ships here are Marauder, the rest are Loyalist."

"Loyalist?"

"Hours ago, the Empire Supreme Commander named Sukron forcibly seized control of the Empire. The Emperor Tritus was killed by a joint attack by my forces and Captain Shepard and an assassination attempt resulted in the death of Xeron. Rason is currently the leader of the Loyalists, and while the hundreds of ships here have sworn to fight the new Empire and Sukron's regime, we cannot rely on any other Imperial forces coming to our aid. Most likely they have even been deceived by the veil of deceit that Sukron has cast over the Empire, or they were assisting him all along."

"Right," Hall said, her head spinning. "Where are you at the moment? And where is Rason?"

"We are both passengers on the starship Normandy, we were forced to leave in haste, Captain Shepard had to provide transport. I am certain that she is more than willing to provide a dropship to take me to your flagship. Rason is currently tending to wounded but once he is done I am certain that he will be able to follow after-"

"No," Hall said, "I'll come to the Normandy. I'll want to speak to Captain Shepard anyway and it'll be more convient being able to talk to you and Rason at the same time."

"Very well," Marton replied, "I look forward to meeting you Admiral Hall, any officer capable of destroying a vessel that dwarfs their own by ten is no doubt an impressive commander." There was a brief burst of static as the line was disconnected.

"I really wish people would stop bringing that up," Hall grumbled, "I've been in the UNSC Navy for over twenty years and I have to say that's my only moment of glory in all of that time. I don't know why people act like I'm the next Jacob Keyes."

"People like to cling to moments like that that are supposed to be impossible, it inspires them and gives them hope," Jane said. "I'll see you in a moment Admiral." There was another burst of static as Jane disconnected herself from the COM lines.

Hall sighed as she leaned back into her chair. "Never a dull day in the life of an Admiral," she muttered before getting to her feet. "Ensign Wells, I want you to accompany me on this one," she said, looking at Oriana, who nodded and got to her feet. "You too Sarah," the Admiral continued, reaching her hand out to the avatar of the Roman Empress. The A.I. Smiled and gently touched the hand, disappearing into Hall's neural implant. "Hanger, this is Hall, I need a dropship ready to go in, we're taking a trip to the Normandy." As Hall and Oriana began to walk towards the exit to the bridge, Hall added "and have a cup of coffee waiting for me, black."

"Admiral?" Oriana asked, looking at the older woman.

She shrugged, "Just want to make sure I'm not sleepy while negotiating."

XXXXX

Sukron let out a rather bored sigh as he twisted his knife. The bare chested Jiralhanae in front of him that was manacled to a vertically placed operating table let out a cry of agony. "It simply is not the same," the cyborg remarked sadly, pulling out his knife and causing blood to poor from his victim's wound. "Jiralhanae skin is too tough and durable, the fur also provides and extra layer of protection. The pain of being stabbed is not as great as other species."

"Emperor, please!" the Jiralhanae begged, "I deeply apologize for failing to kill Rason! You know that I have served you with unquestioning loyalty. If you give me a second chance I will bring you his corpse, no better yet, I will drag him before you alive and-" the Jiralhanae was cut off as Sukron stabbed him in the chest again, producing another cry of agony.

"Yes, yes, you will single handily defeat him in combat, the armies of the alliance will fall before you and you will bring me a harem of captured Asari to serve my every desire," Sukron said, sounding as if he was on the verge of falling asleep. "I have heard it all...Spirits this is dull. You do not fight back, you do not wish ill will towards me, you only beg for my forgiveness as if you were some sort of child being punished by his father. Pathetic."

Sighing, Sukron turned around and scanned the room that he was standing in. He was on board his personal super-carrier, the Relentless Predator, within a very special room that he had set aside for himself. It was full of bodies. Glancing at a skinny brown Salarian shackled to the wall whose chest had been torn open, Sukron groaned in boredom again. That had been the Salarian that had provided the information on how to cure the genophage. Like the coward that now lay behind him, he had done nothing but beg for his life and cry in agony.

Eyes glancing to the right he spotted the remains of a Human woman, a slave that he had purchased from some Batarians to amuse himself with. Her hair was black and shriveling and most of her face had been cut off. It had also proven to be rather boring, the woman having only screamed and begged.

Glancing up, he saw an Asari hanging limply, rusty metal hooks buried in her legs as he arms hanged downward. His lips curled into a twisted smile. That one had actually been some fun, she had been an Asari commando, one of Benezia's followers that had refused to fall in line with the Coalition. She and five others had launched a suicide mission, attempting to kill their former leader. While they had managed to kill dozens of Batarians, Krogan and Jiralhanae, in the end most of them had been killed and this last one had been captured.

She had swore every other second, constantly thrashing about in her bonds, even though it caused the hooks to dig into her, and had threatened to kill Sukron countless times. Sukron fondly remembered how he had gone to the trouble of heating up metal spikes for this particular guest, and how the partially repressed shrieks had all been worth it. But even then that had been a rather brief joy that had come and gone like a spark.

"What is wrong with me?" Sukron asked, "I cannot feel pleasure anymore. I used to be satisfied with any victim, be they weak or strong. What has happened to me?" It was then that the answers came to him.

A Human and a Quarian on an operating able before him, neither of them making a sound even as he cut off a finger and they silently writhed. They had escaped though...escaped...they had DARED to escape, to defy his will HIS will. He had hunted them down, he had felt satisfaction as he Quarian's ribs splintered under the force of his fist and as he had wrapped his powerful hands around her fragile throat.

But then she had drawn a knife...Sukron growled as he reached up with his organic arm, touching his cybernetic eye. She had wounded him, wounded him permanently. Such a rage had filled him that he knew that he would have literally ripped her in half but it was then that the Human had struck and shot his scorcher tank. Sukron growled again as he looked at his metal arm. Both of those two had escaped and continued to fight, every second that they drew breath while not in agony was an insult to him. And their starship had slipped right through his fingers!

"Emperor, please I beg of-" the Jiralhanae was cut off as Sukron spun around, his eyes full of rage, aiming his scorcher at the Jiralhanae. The prisoner roared in pure agony as fire engulfed them, thrashing uselessly against his bonds until he went limp.

"Taylor Winters, Tali'Zorah," he whispered, his fists clenched and his teeth bared. For over a year he had done his best to either hunt them down or make their lives a living Hell. He had thought he had accomplished this goal when he took Tali's father from her, but later research had revealed that Rael'Zorah had been a workaholic who regularly neglected his daughter. His victory had been hallow all along.

"After this insult, simply intentionally keeping you two alive for years and years while I amuse myself with you will no longer be adequate," he growled. As he did, a wonderful, twisted idea entered his mind. Sukron smiled a smile that one would expect from a predator that has just cornered his prey. "I suppose that the rest of your comrades on the Normandy will simply have to share your fate. Yes that will do, I will show you the fate I had planned for you on Feros by preforming it on them...and I will force you to watch."

"Sukron," a voice said over the Empire Battle-Net.

"Ah Saren, I see that life has not yet left your pathetic body," Sukron replied insultingly.

"You would be wise to be silent. I was able to help you reach your new position as Emperor, it is not out of my reach to do the same with a warlord who wishes for your demise."

"What do you want?" Sukron demanded, ignoring Saren's threats.

"We need to organize every ship that we can muster. Geth, Collector, Jiralhanae, Blood Pack, it does not matter. Pull them from defense fleets if you must, I need whatever is left of the Coalition's military might for an attack."

"My, my, it appears that you were given a spine while you were being operated on," Sukron said, sounding vaguely impressed. "What is the target?"

"The Citadel," Saren said, "I want to cut off the head of the Council and scatter the lesser races under their command. After that we can focus on the UNSC and RSN," he explained, lying through his teeth. He had his own reasons for going to the Citadel, his time had run out.

"Good, I will give the order to move out now."

"NO!" Saren shouted, "we need to gather our forces first, and that will take time. A day, maybe two."

"I take it back, you still lack a spine," Sukron sighed. "Very well, I will wait for you to reinforce your insecure position." Lowering his hand, Sukron raised his other hand, which still held his knife. "Soon, very soon, I will make you remember how it feels to have this part your skin."

XXXXX

"I'll see you in a moment Admiral," Jane said, before lowering her hand to her side.

"Are you holding up Jane?" Garrus asked as the two of them stood in the elevator, which was slowly descending towards the lower levels.

"I...I think so," she muttered, gently rubbing her eyes. "Listen, we'll talk about this later, and not just you and me, I'll talk about this with everyone. We should have a day or two free after this, I'll explain myself over a round of drinks, like I promised you guys."

"I thought that that was for if we all-" Garrus began, but Jane cut him off.

"I know, I know, still everyone has earned me buying them a little treat," the SPARTAN said as the elevator slid to a stop. The doors slid open to reveal Taylor, Tali and Liara and Rason on the other side.

"I appreciate the guards," Rason said, glancing down at the Human Quarian and Asari that surrounded him, "but you did not need to ask them to escort me to meet the Admiral. I am more than capable of handling myself."

"Just wanted to be sure," Jane said, "not everyone is going to instantly believe that you don't mean any harm, Alliance escorts gets it across that you're on our side. Besides it's common courtesy if you have guests on your ship."

"Very well then," the Jiralhanae said, "I was able to finish the operation on your Major Williams. She will merely have to rest now, when she wakes up she should be fine and her new cybernetics should be operational."

"Really?" Jane asked, staring past Rason, "and how long do you think that it'll take her to wake up?"

"A few hours I imagine, she should be exhausted. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Good to see you up and about Ashley."

Rason, Taylor, Liara and Tali and wheeled around to see Ashley stumbling down the hallway, feeling the walls to guide herself. She had fresh bandages covering her eyes, but she was wearing all of her combat gear. "How did you get your armor on?" Taylor asked curiously.

"You know the saying, I've done that so much I can do it with my eyes closed?" Ashley asked, smirking slightly, "I actually can."

"Should you be up Major?" Liara asked, "didn't you just get out of surgery?"

"I'm not going to be sitting on my rear for the rest of the day. Besides I just wanted to ask Rason when my new eyes are going to kick in and when I can take my bandages off."

"Actually they should be active now," Rason said, "I was merely waiting until you were awake to remove your bandages. You may do so now if you wish."

Ashley's mouth opened slightly in surprise. Slowly, she reached to the back of her head and pulled at the bandages constricting her eyes. They were undone and the pure white rags fell to the floor, landing gently. Ashley blinked as she looked at the people crowed in front of her, her vision more crystal clear than it had ever been. "Uh...I don't exactly have a mirror here, how do they look?"

Rason's guard stared at Ashley, the momentary shock at seeing her implants having past. Her new eyes were silvery, the metal shinning slightly with the exception of the pupil, which faintly glowed blue. "You look fine," Liara said.

"Yeah," Taylor said jokingly, "In fact if I weren't committed I-"

"Taylor, you might want to stop right there if you don't want to keep yourself warm at night," Tali said, smirking slightly.

"Yes Ma'am," he replied, a smile spreading across his face.

"Ok," Ashley said, her body slackening slightly, "so where are we going?" she asked as all of them squeezed into the elevator.

"Admiral Hall will be boarding the ship in a few minutes to establish relationships with the Marauders and the Loyalists," Jane explained as the elevator began to descend.

"I can only hope that she is open to cooperation," Rason said, "we do not have many allies at the moment or any home territory to return to. I am not certain that the Eternal Salvation has enough processing capability to provide food and equipment for both the Marauders and the Loyalists either."

"I doubt that you'll run into much trouble, Admiral Hall is one of the more reasonable commanders that I've met," Jane reassured. "Trust me when I say you're lucky you're making first contact with her, you could only be better off if you got Admiral Anderson."

"I pray that you are right," Rason said as the elevator stopped and opened again. Everyone stepped out to find both Marton, Lotan and Wrex standing outside. "I trust that you are ready?" Rason asked.

"I have been ready to do this for a long time," Marton replied as he, Lotan and Wrex fell into step with the rest of them, heading for the hanger.

"Oh by the way Jane," Taylor started, "we were all talking and we were wondering-" the biotic ODST caught Garrus looking at him sternly out of the corner of his eye, shaking his head. "Uh-never mind."

Jane did not respond as they entered the hanger, just in time to see Admiral Hall's Pelican docking. The rear bay door opened and she stepped out, Oriana right behind her. "I trust that you are Marton?" she asked politely, looking at the cybernetic Jiralhanae.

"I am," he replied, "it is wonderful to meet you Admiral."

"The pleasure is all mine," Hall replied, "the same goes to you Rason. Now if you don't mind, could you kindly explain this situation? You were very brief over the COMs."

"There has been a schism among the Jiralhanae Empire," Lotan explained, "Sukron, Metal Fist and an unknown number of Ministers, our civilian government, have turned on the rest of us. They deployed assassins to kill Rason, Xeron and the Emperor, and then attempted to glass the planet to hide their true intentions. Rason is the only one of their targets that survived."

"So, the mentally unstable pyromaniac is now in command of the Empire?" Hall asked, "well that's a bit of a mixed blessing. On one hand he's probably a complete moron when it comes to battlefield strategy, on the other hand he's more aggressive and unstable. He'll order his men to continue pushing even in fights they've clearly lost. I don't doubt that we'll win a war against a power led by him...but loses will be heavy."

"That's just the tip of the iceberg," Jane said, "the Flood showed up."

"I-WHAT!" Hall roared. "The Flood! I-Jane we need to discuss this in private, your crew can't have access to such vital-"

"We already know," Tali said, looking at Jane "Rason told us about them before he operated on Ashley, he said that everyone would know that they exist before long. I don't know if Liara knows though."

"I learned about them a long time ago," the Asari reaffirmed.

"When did-"

"They were on Feros," she said sadly, "Jacob, Rebecca and Garrus saw them too. They...they were what happened to Rebecca, not a vat of chemicals."

"I...I...Jesus," Taylor whispered.

"Well, that gets that out of the way," Hall muttered, "and I suppose that you have a point that everyone is going to know about them soon. How many of them were there?"

"Around two hundred massive creatures that served as ships," Marton replied, "each one several kilometers in length."

"They came from somewhere though, they dropped out of slipsapce in the middle of the fight," Jane remarked. "The forces that we saw back there will have been completely wiped out by now, but they must be holed up somewhere remote, the Flood isn't suicidal."

"And they could be anywhere," Hall remarked.

"It get's worse," Jane continued.

"I'm not sure I can take anymore bad news Captain."

"I'm sorry Admiral but you need to hear this. Saren's flagship? It's sentient, it's part of a race of starship sized machines called Reapers that wipe out all organic life in the galaxy every 50,000 years, they're the ones that wiped out the Protheans."

"I...WHAT!" Hall roared again. "All life in the galaxy? Shepard, are you certain of this?"

"It spoke to us directly," Marton said, "Sovereign. It boasted how it's race had built the Mass Relays and the Citadel. It said that species find the Relays and then develop their technology around it. After time passes, they return and exterminate all spacefaring civilizations. It said...that it had been done countless times before."

"Son of bitch," Oriana swore.

"So let me get this straight, every 50,000 years? What about the Forerunners?"

"Apparently the Reapers have the ability to take control over the minds of organics if they're close enough. That's what happened to Matriarch Benezia, and the also used it to control the Flood 100,000 years ago and make them fight the Flood."

"Oh come on!" Hall shouted, "these things are controlling the Flood?"

"Not anymore," Rason remarked, "they attacked Coalition ships at Virmire and did not fire on us. If they were once controlled, they are not anymore. If anything, they seem to want revenge on their former captives."

"Oh great, a free for all, that's just what we need," Hall muttered.

"Well, I'm scrapping this mission. We need to head to the Citadel, it's only a couple of hours away. We need to regroup and prepare for this. Just one more question, Captain are you certain about this? Are you sure that this isn't a trick to get us to focus our attention elsewhere?"

"Admiral, I know that you read my file. People like me know when we're being lied to, and we don't lie to our superiors."

"No...no you don't. That's what scares the shit out of me." The Admiral put her hand to her hear "Hall to Archangel, the mission has been aborted, Tritus is dead but there have been complications. We must return to friendly territory at once. Prepare-"

"Admiral! Another ship has entered the area, a single frigate. It's...it's Cerberus!"

"Lock onto it! Open fire!" Hall ordered.

"Now, now," a sly and confident voice said, cutting into the conversation. "How rude of you. My name is Kai Leng, we are not here to fight, but to make a prisoner exchange. The Normandy is holding one of our more valuable operatives. We have some very valuable information that we wish to trade for her?"

"What kind of information?" Hall demanded.

"Oh it's nothing too important, we were just planning on telling you where the Flood's HQ is."

Author's Note: Did I ever tell you that I consider Taylor to be a replacement for Kaiden? Let me get something out of the way, I don't hate Kaiden, it's just that outside of being a love interest for a female Shepard, I really can't think of anything for him to do. Maybe that'll change when ME3 comes out, but for the moment I'm drawing a blank with his character. In a way, that's how Taylor Winters was born a character who filled Kaiden's role as a biotic LT (minus the tech powers) but had a different personality and backstory. Also I could do things with Taylor that might seem a bit out there for Kaiden, such as frequent swearing and having a seen family that was also part of the military. Sorry that this is note taking so long but I'm finding it refreshing to talk about something that makes me happy for once, let me just get this last bit out of the way.

Some of you may or may not be familiar with the term Author Avatar, basically it's a character that mirrors the author's viewpoints and sometimes personality. In reality, I have two in this story. Taylor is the more obvious one, in a way representing my normal personality, nice for the most part with some rough edges, and is also in a relationship with my favorite LI. Taylor also kind of represents my hopes and dreams, being a strong person who deeply cares for his family who found a nice loving and strong woman,

I also have a much darker author avatar, can you guess who it is? Surprisingly enough it's Marton of all people. If Taylor represents my hopes and dreams, Marton represents my anger and frustration. Marton tries to be a good person, but he has serious anger issues that make him lose all control over himself, something that sadly happens to me every once in awhile. He hates his only sibling with a burning passion, even though they had a healthy relationship in the pass. He tries to better himself though and he is slowly making progress.

The funny thing is I didn't even do this consciously, I just looked at my story one day and noticed the pattern. It's funny how subconscious stuff can find it's way into your work huh? Seriously I have this perfect Yin Yang thing going. I just felt like sharing a piece of my mind on my writing with you, I hope that it didn't bore you too much.

P.S. Did I mention that Sukron is batshit insane?


	89. Unusual Trade

Chapter 89

Unusual Trade

Author's Note: This is probably going to be the last chapter that I'm going to manage to get out before ME3 comes out and like I said, you might hear from me a week after that. Even though pretty much everything that I have planned in this story will probably be jossed by the release of that game, and the ending of this story will probably be happier than the game and therefore feel forced and contrived, I'm sticking to my guns. I've planned this story out for some time now, I think that it'll be good and I hope that you enjoy it too. Let's go.

"So we're going through with this?" Ashley asked, looking at Jane as she and everyone else stood rooted to where they stood in the hanger of the Normandy. "We're going to trust Cerberus?"

"Trust Cerberus? Not for a second," Jane replied. "Kai Leng said that he was coming alone, if he has anyone else with him I'm not screwing around, I'm using the Cain. If he doesn't upon hostilities, I want you, Taylor, Liara, Tali and Garrus to all have your weapons pointing at him. If he so much as twitches in a way that makes you think he's going to attack someone, blow his head off."

"Wrex, I would highly appreciate it if you were to keep an eye on him as well," Marton said, looking at the Krogan.

"I'm surprised that you even had to ask," the Battlemaster replied, grinning. "These people would love nothing more that to use Krogan as puppets or research experiments, I'm not going to hesitate if one of them gives me a reason to rip his spine out.

"I'm praying that we can avoid an incident like that...but unfortunately I agree with Captain Shepard," Hall said, "Cerberus has a reputation for doing whatever they consider necessary to accomplish their goals. They may say that that they only want to make an exchange for their agent but be on your toes, they may try and pull something.

"Here they come," Oriana said nervously, seeing a Pelican approaching through the energy shield that was pressurizing the hanger. Passing through the shield, the Pelican gently landed and the rear bay door opened. Kai Leng stepped out, still wearing his gray combat armor, to find a DMR, an SMG, a pistol, a shotgun, an assault rifle and a sniper rifle being pointed at him.

"I thought that we were here to made an exchange," he said, mocking a hurt voice.

"Earlier today you attacked my ship and tried to take one of my crew prisoner," Jane snarled, "Forgive me if I don't think that you're being completely honest with me. Tali, make sure he doesn't have any concealed weapons."

Nodding, the Quarian took one hand off of her shotgun and activated her omni-tool. Pressing a couple of keys, she caused a faint blue light to shoot out, which ran over Kai Leng twice. As the light disappeared, a hologram of a man appeared over the omni-tool. "I'm not picking up any firearms," she reported, looking at Jane, "but he is carrying what looks like a projector."

"That I am," Leng said, reaching down to his thigh and grabbing what looked like a metal pole, Tali putting both hands back on her shotgun as he did. Pressing a button at the top, the bottom of the base of the pole snapped outward in three different directions, forming a tri-pod. "I was told that I was not accomplished enough to be a good negotiator," he said dryly, "so I'm just here to make sure everything goes according to plan."

"So who are we going to be talking to?" Hall asked sternly.

"Do me a favor and be patient sweet cheeks, ok?" he said, flashing a dirty smile at Hall, causing the Admiral's face to contort into a grimace. As he did, he spotted Oriana standing next to her. "Well, well, I see you've already got her ready for me. So if you could just hand her over."

"Wh-what?" Oriana spluttered, looking positively terrified.

"Wrong person," Jane growled, the six individuals that were aiming their weapons at the assassin tightening their grips. "Your girl is up in the infirmary. She's going to have to be in the hospital for a couple of weeks just so that you know."

"Then who...ah, you must be Oriana."

"How do you know my name?" the Ensign questioned, looking scared.

"That's a good question," Jane growled, "how DO you know her name."

"She didn't leave a note? Damn, I knew that she was a cold hearted bitch but even I'm surprised that she didn't even let her own sister know about her."

"My...my WHAT!"

"You ever wonder why you're so perfect? Ever wonder why you've got sexy long legs, lovely black hair, perfect skin, biotics, great intelligence, above average reflexes and a double D rack? You were genetically engineered when you were a child, and from what I heard it was damn expensive, to be perfect."

"But a certain other child that had been engineered about, oh, twenty years before you didn't want her dear little sister being little more than a political toy, so she grabbed you and took you to Cerberus. She made a deal, she works for them, they protect her from daddy and send you off to live with a nice foster family." He chuckled darkly, "kind of pointless considering how you ended up joining with the UNSC, odds are I might get the order to kill you one day."

"I...but...how, why would she do that?" Oriana asked, hopelessly confused.

"Apparently old pop wasn't the best of Dads, cared more about his little girls being like him in every way possible than their happiness. Also something that I thought about, your sister looks just like you, but she has a little thing that you don't have. Apparently daddy decided to make her sterile. Now ask yourself, why would an older man create someone who has massive tits, a fine ass, long silky hair and a flawless face, and then make it so that she can't get pregnant?" A toothy grin crossed Kai Leng's face. "Miranda says that he wanted a dynasty, I think that he wanted something else."

"You had a point to make?" Jane hissed. "If so make it before I decide that you'll more cooperative when you're jammed into an airlock."

"Fine, fine," Leng said, placing the pole on the ground and pressing a button on the side. The device came to life, a white light glowing on the top of the pole which then began to emit a hologram of a person, which slowly formed from the feet up. Fifteen seconds later, a hologram of the Illusive Man appearing, sitting in a chair with his legs crossed and a cigarette wedged in-between his figures.

"Ah, Captain Shepard," he said politely, taking a puff from his cigarette. "I finally have the pleasure of speaking to you."

"Any particular reason you sent this one here instead of coming yourself?" Jane asked.

"I hope that you can understand that a man in my position has to take precautions. I'm one of the most wanted people in the galaxy, and no matter how valuable the intelligence that I have is, there is a chance that you would be willing to sacrifice it to kill me."

"And this intelligence?"

"You are not aware of this, but the Flood has made a return to-"

"Actually we do know, we just had a little run in with them at Virmire, couple hundred ships."

"Really? Then you know how valuable what I'm offering is. One of my listening outposts managed to intercept a transmission. Said transmission informed me of a Flood attack on a specific location, a location that would be next to impossible to reach without certain information and resources that barely anyone has, making it a perfect place to set up a base of operations. So I propose that you return my operative to me alive, unharmed and unbugged, and I will not only tell you where the Flood is hiding, but how to get there."

"I have a question," Liara said, prompting the Illusive Man to look at her. "Two actually. First of all, you sent your men earlier to kidnap Rebecca Frost. Why? Second of all, why are you getting friendly with us all of a sudden?"

"Both of those questions are fair," the Illusive Man replied. "We wanted Frost as leverage, we were actually after her former lover, Elizabeth Conner, and we were certain that Conner would be willing to give herself up if Frost's life was threatened."

"Why did you want her?"

"That information is something I cannot tell you," the Illusive Man replied. As he did, he spotted Marton out of the corner of his eye. "Ah, I see that you have made contact with that renegade Jiralhanae faction. Talk to him later, no doubt he will be able to provide you with an answer. As for why we are willing to part with this information, the Flood are a threat to everyone, including all of Humanity. If they spread too far and become too powerful, they will consume us all. But Cerberus does not have the power to stop them, they are too many and we are too few. So I am giving this information to the UNSC and by extension the Alliance, who do have the numbers and the resources to bring them to a halt. However, I am not going to simply give it away for free, and with my operative at your mercy I find the secrecy of my organization threatened. Therefore I decided to make a deal that makes everyone happy, I get my operative back

and you

have the information to deal with one of the galaxy's oldest threats. So," he finished, looking at Jane again, "do we have a deal?"

Jane glanced at Hall, who gave her a small nod. "How do we know that you're not lying?" Jane asked.

"Captain, mere hours ago I tried to storm your ship and take one of your crew hostage. Do you really think that I would try to get my own personal back with a lie and if I did do you really believe that I would use a lie so outrageous?"

Jane paused, glaring at the Illusive Man. "Garrus," she muttered, "could you kindly go get our guest? And please take Ms. Wells with you, I am not very comfortable with her being in the same room as this man and I have a feeling that she feels the same way."

"Got it," Garrus said, beckoning Oriana to follow him as he began to head for the exit.

The Ensign silently followed, a single thought present in her mind. 'I have a sister?'

XXXXX

"Arbiter, it's been awhile." Thel 'Vadam turned to see Fleet Admiral David Anderson approaching him.

"The Council requested that they speak to you as well?" he asked.

"Yes, mainly to get a 411 on our operation at Virmire. It's rather odd, Admiral Hall should have reported in by now, it's not like her to be late with these kinds of things."

"It is not like Rtas to delay either, I suppose that that is why the Council wishes to speak with us," Rtas said as the two of them stepped into an elevator leading up to the Presidium. "How is President Richards?"

"He's well, a little overworked the last time that I saw him but he was managing. I think he went through all of the wine that you gave him though."

"I will be certain to send him another jug then," Thel remarked, smirking. "Is he coming here? I imagine that the Council wanted to speak to the highest ranking officials in the UNSC and RSN that they could."

"He's on his way but he'll take some time to get here, probably not until tomorrow. There's a lot of fires that he had to put out back on Earth so he sent his VP to represent him. He should be here in about an hour."

"Udina," Thel growled, "I fail to understand why a man as noble as Richards continues to associate himself with that coward who hides behinds words and empty deals."

"He has his uses," Anderson remarked, "he knows how to pull strings in the political department and that van be a big damn help sometimes."

"Perhaps in Human politics, among the Sangheili he would not last a day," Thel said scathingly as the elevator door opened onto the Presidium. The two of them exited and ascended the steps to where the Council was waiting for them.

"Gentlemen," Councilor Tevos said politely, "I am very glad that you were able to join us here."

"We were hoping that you could explain why your forces have yet to confirm their mission," Valern said sourly, "when the Normandy had reported in they were supposed to send the all clear to us before they-"

"We are well aware of the basic military practices that they were supposed to perform," Thel said, "I know the Grand Fleetmaster well and I am aware that Hall is no novice. Undoubtedly they are maintaining no communications for a reason. They could be in a situation where they could be traced or a complication could have caused them to jump to slipspace, where communication is impossible."

"I was under the impression that this was supposed to be an easy win that would but the Coalition down a sure path to defeat, how could there have been complications in a mission that was supposed to be so simple?"

"Turian, one thing every person that serves in the armed forces needs to understand is that predicting every element on the battlefield is impossible. You never know what to expect and you must be prepared for every possible-"

"Kindly do not lecture me on the very basics of tactics that every Turian learns at the age of seventeen," Valern growled.

"Then demonstrate that it is something that is not beyond your understanding," Thel said snidely.

"Please calm yourselves," Tevos said, glancing back and forth between Thel and Valern. "I understand that our races have always been at odds but now we must cooperate more than ever, we do not have the time to be at each other's throats. There is no reason for there to be such hatred between us."

"That is a lie and you know exactly why Tevos," Valern growled. "Both the UNSC and RSN claim to be far wiser than the entirety of the Council, despite the RSN making blatantly insane decisions that involve the security of every last species in the galaxy, while the UNSC stands besides them."

"So, you know," Anderson remarked.

"STG was suspicious on how the RSN was able to repel such superior numbers when Sanghelios was attacked," Naios explained, "we managed to trace the dots back to Noveria and the actions that took place there."

"So now that it is out in the open, would you explain to us why you released the Rachni onto the galaxy, knowing that they had caused the death of billions during the Rachni Wars and were only defeated by the massive numbers and sheer brutality of the Krogan. Not only that, but kept it a secret from us! For a YEAR!"

"The operative that freed that Rachni spoke with one of the Queens. She claimed that her species had been manipulated into fighting by an external factor that we have no knowledge of. The fact that they intervened in a crucial battle and turned the tide of it, and by extension the entire war, proves that there is truth in her words."

"Yes, or it could be a rather well thought out trap. They sacrifice a couple hundred thousand of their kind and then replenish them by the end of the week. Then they sit back and watch the Alliance and the Coalition wage war, manipulating events to make it go one as long as possible until only one is left standing at which point they emerge-"

"I can't help but feel that every single action that a person could ever do seems dangerous once you introduce the words "what if" Anderson remarked. "Even if it sounds completely absurd because you just made it up on the spot. For all we know you're planning on launching a massive invasion of both of our homeworlds the moment this war ends."

"Why you-"

"PLEASE!" Tevos shouted, losing her patience as a biotic aura flared up around her. "Whatever disagreements that we have can be settled after the Coalition is defeated!"

Thel was about to reply when his COM unit began to beep. "What is it?" he asked, putting his fingers to it. "Rtas, why are you late in...what? Are you certain? She vouches for them...very well. How long?...good, I will let them know."

"What was that about?" Naios asked.

"Things have just become very complicated," Thel replied, a grim tone in his voice that reflected the look on his face.

XXXXX

Oriana gazed in disbelief as Garrus gently pushed a bed into the Normandy's elevator. The woman that was lying on it was unconscious with several tubes and wired connected to her body, keeping her alive. She was a mess, badly bruised and still covered in dry blood. She truly was a perfect reflection of her.

"Now that I think about it the son of a bitch does have a bit of a point, you do look like her," Garrus remarked, causing Oriana to jump. "Sorry, did I startle you?" he asked.

"No," Oriana muttered as Garrus pushed a button on the wall, causing the elevator door to slide shut. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now."

"I can imagine, you've gotten three major bombshells dropped on you in the last ten minutes."

"I suppose...do you mind if I ask you a question Mr..."

"Garrus," the Turian said, "and go ahead."

"You're being awfully polite to me, why is that?"

"Is this a trick question?" Garrus said uncertainly.

"No, I mean why are you being so nice you me, I'm basically the clone of the woman who tried to kill and kidnap the people that you fight alongside. She's my sister, Hell I look like her in pretty much every way. Didn't you recognize me?"

"I don't know about the others, but I'm still not that good at telling Humans apart, I only noticed that you looked like her when you were standing right next to her. As for the others, They probably put all of the pieces together until the Illusive Man's pet killer spelt everything out. We just got back from a damn stressful mission so your sister was probably at the back of everyone's mind. Also you just look like her, that doesn't make you like her in anyway."

"I...thanks," Oriana said shyly, as the elevator slowed to a halt and the door slip open. Pushing the bed out of the elevator, the two of them made their way back to the hanger.

"Ah," the Illusive Man said, seeing Miranda being wheeled into the hanger, "I am glad to see that you are being reasonable here Captain, I assure you that you will not regret it. If you could please push her onto our dropship I will be more than happy to share the information."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Jane questioned, "info first, then you get her."

"It seems that military strategy is not the only form of tactical thinking that you have knowledge of," the Illusive Man remarked. "Very well, I suggest a compromise. I will tell you where the Flood are, you return my operative, and then I tell you how to get there."

"Fine," Jane snarled, sounding as if she was still dissatisfied, but could think of no better alternative.

"They have gone past the Omega-4 Relay. Wherever the Collectors come from, no doubt the Flood have overwhelmed it and used it as an outpost. We intercepted the transmissions of Collectors coming out of the relay before they were destroyed. This in fact just happened earlier today."

"Jane," Garrus said, "not to side with this guy, but that actually makes sense. The Collectors were probably coming out to act as reinforcements to the Flood showing up on Virmire, but the damn parasites were waiting for them. They probably stripped their ships for tech and used it to get through the relay. But how the hell are we supposed to follow them? No one ever comes back through that relay, and we have no idea what kind of special device the Collectors use to make it so that they can."

"I do," the Illusive Man remarked, "and it is closer than you think. If you return my operative to me, I will tell you what it is." Garrus glanced questioningly at Jane, who nodded reluctantly. Pushing the bed again, Garrus crossed the hanger and pushed it onto the Cerberus Pelican, taking a step back as he did.

"I thank you for that. In order to pass through the Omega-4 relay, you will need an IFF that will allow you to go through it safely."

"And where are we supposed to acquire a piece of technology that is that sophisticated?" Marton questioned.

"Ironically, you already have it," the Illusive Man said. "I have reports that said that you took a piece of technology off of the derelict ship orbiting that Brown Dwarf. I trust that you recall that."

"Yes, but what makes you so certain that that device will work? I have been unable to make any progress with discovering it's purpose."

"I imagine that Jiralhanae technology is lacking when it comes to supercomputers, even in the Human-Covenant war Smart A.I.s were unmatched in that field. Have the UNSC take a look at it, it should be ready for use in under a day."

"That still does not answer how you know that it will work," Marton commented.

"My team that I sent to that ship took countless scans of it. When compared to the data we managed to gather from the Collectors, we found several similarities to the technology used by them, and by Saren's dreadnaught, which was of the same design."

"Well pals, I think that we've gone over everything that we needed to do," Leng said, grinning wildly, "I think it's time for me to fuck off while you go do that bullshit that you were talking about and-" Leng was cut off by a clanging noise. Turning around, he saw that the bay door to the Pelican and slammed shut and that the dropship was taking off. He watched in disbelief as it passed through the force field and began to head back to the Cerberus frigate.

"What the Hell are you doing!" he shouted into his COM unit. "Get back here! You forgot me you dumbass!"

"No, he did not," the Illusive Man said, standing up from his chair and turning to face Leng. "I ordered that you be left behind once Lawson was secure. Consider yourself relieved of duty Mr. Leng."

"You fucking son of a bitch!" Leng roared, "I stuck my neck out for you so many fucking times and this is how you pay me back!"

"You were only welcome in Cerberus so long as you were an asset and not a liability. Your actions today proved to me that you are more the latter than the former. In other words Leng you are an unstable element, and Cerberus will suffer if you continue to remain among our ranks."

"You fucking cocksucker! You go to all of the trouble of getting Lawson and then you just ditch me! You really think I'm just going to keep my mouth shut after this!"

"Leng, ask yourself what you know that could possibly compromise me," the Illusive Man asked, taking another puff from his cigarette. "You are a grunt, any information that you have is either out of date or trivial, unlike you I am not a mindless buffoon." He turned to look at Jane. "Consider him a bonus to our trade. Do with him what you please, I care not for his fate," and with that, the hologram disappeared.

"Richard!" Jane shouted, "were you able to trace that signal?"

"Sorry M'am," the A.I. said apologetically, "it was scrambled to the great beyond and back, he knew that I would try to figure out where he was transmitting from."

"Well it was worth a try," she muttered, looking at her men, all of whom still had their weapons trained on Leng. He was staring at the inactive spike, pure fury etched into his face. "The Illusive Man may have said that he knows nothing but I want to be sure. I want the five of you to escort him to the brig and-"

"FUCK YOU BITCH!" he shrieked, snatching the projector and snapping off one of the legs of the tripod, charging at Jane. Without so much as blinking, Jane whipped her battle rifle off of her back, aiming it at Leng as Taylor, Tali, Liara, Ashley, Garrus and Wrex all opened fire alongside her. The storm of bullets and pellets tore through Kai Leng's body, tearing his muscles and organs.

Stumbling and losing his speed, Leng continued to charge at Jane, blood pouring out of his wounds. He neared her, intending to jam the tripod leg into her throat, when she lined up a shot with his face and fired. Three shots pierced his head and blew out a significant portion of both his brain and his skull, leaving a gaping hole in the side of his head as he fell to the ground.

'I enjoyed that I little more than I should have,' Jane thought silently as she slid her rifle onto her back.

"Captain are you alright?" Hall asked, starting forward.

"I'm fine Admiral. We need to get to the Citadel with this information."

Hall nodded, "Fleet Admiral Anderson and the Arbiter are there too with their fleets. They and the Council were planning on launching a follow up attack once we took out the Coalition leadership. We can form up with them."

"The forces there along with everything that we have here might just be enough to deal with the Flood and the Reapers. At least I pray that it is."

Author's Note: Well one guy in particular has been getting on my back about Cerberus doing something kind of nice and I finally managed to find away to do it in character in a way that fits into the story. YOU CAN GET OFF OF MY BACK ABOUT IT NOW! You know who you are. Also remember how I mentioned Taylor was a fill in for Kaiden? Do me a favor and reread the last scene of this chapter and tell me if you notice anything with this info in mind.

Also, info about Halo 4 is finally starting to come out of the woodwork, and I honestly think that I'll buy it when it comes out. Now for something a little more solum and serious.

Mass Effect 3 will either be out or be on the brink of being out by the time that this chapter comes out. I'm not going to lie to you people...I'm nervous. I want it to be good and I believe that Bioware can make an epic conclusion to a great story, but there have been leaks about the story left right and center. I've been exposed to a couple (Don't worry I won't talk about them) but I've seen a lot of people tearing the hell out of them online. They say that there are stupid plot points and that even the endings are horrible, even the paragon ones.

I would like to think that mined data isn't 100% reliable and that Bioware promised a definitive happy ending if we played our cards right, but I can't help but be nervous. Still, I've preorded the Collector's Edition, the launch trailer is out and it is freaking awesome, and Tuesday is around the corner. I'll be getting Mass Effect 3 and praying that all of the nay sayers were just blowing hot air. Also there was something about a rumor about a day 1 patch unlocking the good endings, so maybe these bad endings were a way to flip off pre-launch pirates, I don't know, I've been avoiding the whole story for fear of spoilers.

Well people, let's pray that this is the thrilling conclusion that we've all been waiting for. Let's take Earth back.


	90. The Truth

Chapter 90

The Truth

Author's Note: Ok, I got back into writing a little sooner than I thought than I would. Mass Effect 3 was written brilliantly, the combat was excellent and the missions were countless and I thought that they were actually important. I thought that it was perfect...and then the ending happened...ugh. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but...wow...let me just say that I was worried that the ending for this story would be induce eye rolls, sadly though, I don't think that that's going to be an issue. I just...I don't want to talk about it, I'm just going to keep writing this to take my mind off of this.

XXXXX

Anderson let out a gasp as he looked out into space. Hundreds of starships were emerging from slipspace all around the Citadel, countless more than had been deployed to attack Virmire. He had believed Rtas when he had contacted the Citadel and told them about both the Marauders and the Loyalists, but actually seeing them in person was something he had simply not been prepared for.

"Admiral, are you there?"

"Jane, is that you?" Anderson asked, putting his hand to his ear. "Are you all right?"

"I...I've been better," Jane said weakly.

"Is it true that Tritus is dead? And everything else that you said?"

"I meant every word that I said. Also sir, Jun...he...he..."

"I see," Anderson said, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"He knew what he was doing," she said softly, not putting her heart into the words. Anderson could tell.

"Look, the Council needs to meet the leaders of these Jiralhanae, they're waiting on top of the Presidium."

"Ok, our Pelican is heading your way." Anderson's head craned up to see a dropship passing through the barriers that surrounding the Citadel's docks. The green metal vehicle slowly lowered it's bay door and Jane jumped out, followed by Taylor, Tali, Liara, Ashley, Garrus, Rason and Zalton.

"So, it's true," Anderson said, approaching Rason and looking him in the eye, not intimidated by the Jiralhanae that was easily several feet taller than him. "There's been a schism among the Empire." Rason nodded grimly. "But if you'll forgive me, where is the leader of the Marauders? I was under the impression that he would be joining us, unless your friend back there is him."

Rason let out a bark of laughter. "No, I am afraid that Zalton is merely an Imperial Guardsman that survived the slaughter. Marton will be arriving shortly, he simply had to retrieve a couple of his companions that he believed would be needed for the negotiations." He turned to look out through the veil, "ah, that should be him."

Another Pelican was passing through the barrier, the bay door sliding open. Marton exited it, along with Tesueg, Rutherforae, Wrex and Legion. "Uh...may I ask why you have a Geth with you?"

The heads of the Normandy's crew snapped to look at Legion, all of them looking stunned and even a little worried. Tali in particular looked wary that the Geth in front of them might shoot the Council. "How...does that work?" Ashley asked.

"The Geth that you have fought have been the heretics, a group that splintered off from the true Geth. Heretic Geth desire the destruction of all organic life, true Geth do not. This unit was sent to investigate the vessel that Saren used to way the heretics to follow him. We were concerned, as the heretics rival the true Geth in numbers, and with them being identical to true Geth, their actions could endanger us."

"Does this mean that the Geth will stand alongside?" Liara asked.

"Sadly no," Marton said, "I attempted to gain their support in the invasion of Virmire, but they were too divides to send any-"

"Yes," Legion said simply.

"I...I beg your pardon?" Marton said, looking at Legion and sounding hopelessly confused. "You said that the Geth could not reach consensus on the matter of the war."

"What happened to all that, 'we are too deeply divided, we can not send any vessels to assist in your suicide mission' talk?" Rutherforae demanded, anger seeping out of her words.

"Additional data has been acquired, the Reapers pose a grave threat to the true Geth. Their actions will endanger our existence. Cooperation with organic races will be necessary to ensure survival. Our forces will move to support the Galactic Alliance."

"I defiantly think that the Council will want to hear this," Anderson said, "come on, we don't want to keep them waiting." The mob of people began to head towards the elevators, idly wondering how they were going to squeeze everyone into it. Taylor started forward when he noticed that Tali was walking towards the Geth and not the elevator. Unwelcome thoughts that involved Tali shooting the synthetic in the face with her shotgun crept into his mind. He stepped forward to shout out when he noticed that he hands weren't reaching for her weapons.

"Um, pardon me," she said, causing Legion to stop and turn it's head to look at her. "I'm sorry to bother you but...my name is Tai'Zorah. You said that the true Geth didn't hate organics? Does that include Quarians?"

"It does creator 'Zorah. We do not resent the creators for their actions in the Morning War. We do not wish to conquer, we wish to understand."

"Then...does that mean it could be possible for Quarians and Geth to live in peace?"

"Uncertain. Geth desire this, but when the creators believed that victory was possible, they attacked 100% of the time."

"I haven't attacked you. And not to brag, but I would probably win at this range. I have a shotgun and you have a sniper rifle." Tali's tone as she said this was difficult to describe. It was a mixture of attempted humor and fear, like she was attempting to make light of a situation that she was worried would blow up in her face.

Legion stared at Tali, the hundreds of programs within it buzzing rapidly "...99.99% of the time," Legion corrected. 'This...this data must be further analyzed." Without another word, it began to walk away.

"Did a Geth just...stutter?" Taylor asked.

"I...I think it did," Tali said, looking at the ODST.

"Wow...I just...wow. You know I thought that you were going to shoot it for a second."

"To be honest so did I. But I asked myself...what would I accomplish? We've been fighting the Geth for so long I'm...I'm tired of it."

"I'm glad that you didn't. Anyway we should probably keep up." Tali nodded as the two of them ran for the elevator.

After several very uncomfortable minutes, everyone was stepping out of the elevator and onto the Presidium. "They are waiting for us," Thel said, watching the massive group with a wary eye. "They have not been happy talking with Udina."

"Then we better hurry," Anderson said, the group heading up the stairs to where the Council was waiting for them. As they got closer, they heard shouting in the distance.

"It is none of your concern what choice our commanders made!" Udina roared, "you chose not to lend any ships to this mission, therefor any complaints that you have are not my concern! I have my own problems to deal with!"

"We deserve to know Udina," Valern growled back, "the entirety of the Alliance is all in this together, if you have made a choice regarding the entire leadership of the Coalition, we must know in order to ensure that the mission was not a failure and that the Coalition is not attacking because of that."

"What's going on?" Anderson demanded, stepping in between Udina and the Council, "what is it now?"

"We intercepted a Coalition communication not too long ago," Naios said quietly, "the Coalition is organizing a massive fleet to launch an all out attack on the Citadel."

"I am very curious to understand why they are doing this, when the UNSC and RSN were supposed to have launched an attack that would cripple their leadership," Valern snarled. "Instead they withdrew for reasons we are not yet aware of, and now the largest fleet that the Coalition has ever organized will be here within a day or two."

"But...this doesn't make any sense," Tevos pointed out. "The Coalition never fully recovered from their defeat at Sangheilios. Reports suggest that they are pulling the defensive fleets of entire planets just to form their attack forces. Even if they manage to take the Citadel, the forces that they will lose will negate any kind of victory. The military might of the Coalition will be permanently destroyed and defeat for them in this conflict will be certain. In a way...they are signing their own death warrants."

"That leaves the question of what our battle strategy will be," Naios remarked. "Is it true that there is a rift among the Jiralhanae AND that the Flood has returned. And...is that a Geth!"

"We find ourselves in a most compromising situation," Marton said, stepping forward with Rason. "The Jiralhanae Empire is being lead by Sukron, and we have reason to believe that he is little more than a puppet of Saren."

"We have reason to assist you in the coming battle," Rason said, "and Marton and I have talked on how we plan to do so."

"The Eternal Salvation would have some difficulty maneuvering in the tight space around the Citadel, it is actually bigger than the station itself. Because of this and of the equipment that I posses, I will take the Marauders and deal with the Flood."

"I will remain here with the Loyalists and we will assist in fighting off the Coalition forces. With any luck I will be able to inform some of the amassed Jiralhanae forces among their ranks of Sukron's treachery and convince them to turn on him."

"What is more," Marton said, "I have made contact with a Geth who has stated that the Geth are actually divided into two factions, they one that we have seen and one that has remained neutral up until this point. The heretic Geth are the ones that are allied with the Coalition, while the true Geth now believe that the heretics have gone too far and that their actions will result in massive attacks on the Geth as a whole. Because of this, the true Geth have agreed to provide support in the coming battle."

"Is this true?" Tevos said, looking at Legion.

"It is," the infiltrator replied.

"Yes, we are willing to provide all of this support. However...I must ask for two conditions first."

"And what conditions will these be?" Valern asked, looking wary.

"After this coming battle, we will continue to fight alongside the Alliance until the Empire has fallen. Afterwards, I ask that I been given charge of the Jiralhanae people. Not all of them agreed with Tritus' plans for the galaxy, I wish to rebuild our civilization for those people. A civilization that can peacefully coexist with the rest of the galactic community."

"That is...doable," Naios, "no doubt this would prove to be beneficial to all. But what is your second demand?"

"I request that the Krogan people be annexed by the new Jiralhanae government that I will form," Marton said calmly. Out of the corner of his eye, Marton saw Wrex flash him a brief smile. A smile of approval. However, all Hell broke lose at that point

"WHAT!" Valern roared, "you honestly expect us to just GIVE you the Krogan? What could your justification for THAT possibly be?"

"My accomplice here is Urdnot Wrex, a Krogan that I have come to respect and trust. Before the Krogan people allied themselves with the Coalition, he was a high ranking member of clan Urdnot, one of the more powerful Krogan clans. I intent to put him in power of them and have him direct the reconstruction of the Krogan people, leading them to a more peaceful way of life."

"This is something that can be considered," Naios said, "However, what is certain is that once the Krogan fighting with the Coalition have been defeated, a fresh strain of the Genophage must be created to-"

"No," Marton growled, "I made a deal with Wrex. The Krogan would be allowed to live under the protection of the new Jiralhanae government WITHOUT the Genophage affecting them."

"You honestly expect us to let the Krogan run amok with no means of restraint?" Valern demanded

"I am well aware of the past of the Krogan, and I will take precautions to ensure that war is avoided. I will pass laws limiting Krogan birth rates, I will give the Krogan several planets within Jiralhanae territory to spread out, and I will ensure that any violent acts that are preformed are counteracted and the guilty parties punished."

"You honestly expect us to trust you?" Naios demanded, "we have not even known of your existence for a full day and already you make demands of us that not even the Turian Primarch would receive."

"Then I give you two different ways to look at it. If you accept my deal, you will have a Jiralhanae that is in your debt leading two of the most violent races that you have ever encountered down a peaceful and prosperous path. Because of this, neither race will have any reason to wish you ill will or attack you again."

"Or, if you do not do this, you will have the Krogan hating you with every ounce of their being. All it will take is a single scientist to cure the new strain of Genophage and incite the Krogan into another war. If you do this now, you prevent that from happening. Also if you agree to my terms, you ensure that the Marauders actually go through with their plans to destroy the Flood."

"This is something that you should be interested in doing," Rason added in, his smile crooked, "considering that they are the only ones with the means to reach where the Flood are hiding."

"This...are you...are you blackmailing us?" Valern shouted, looking absolutely furious.

"I prefer the term 'intense diplomacy'," Marton said, the faintest smirk playing across his face. He had heard about how thick headed and stubborn the Council could be. To be in a position where he could make demands from them and they had no leverage to counteract them simple filled him with satisfaction. "My offer is fair, what do you say?"

There was a long pause as both Valern and Naios glared at Marton. Tevos broke the silence. "Very well Marton. If your skill with negotiations is anything to go on, then perhaps it would be for the best for you to lead the Krogan. Now then, we must move onto the matter of preparing for the oncoming invasion. We have a massive amount of forces at our-"

"Hold on!" Jane shouted out, starting forward. "We've got another problem to deal with.

"She's right, Rtas mentioned something else in his report," Thel said gravely, "if this is true, then our trials are merely beginning."

"And what is this, dare I ask?" Udina said snidely.

"Do you remember when I showed you that recording of Saren a year ago?" Jane demanded, looking at the Council. "The one about the Reapers?"

"I do believe that we already agreed that it was a superstitious ploy used by Saren to gain the favor of the Geth," Naios said.

"It wasn't," Jane said bluntly, "the Reapers are real. Saren's flagship, Sovereign, is one of them. They're a race of machines that wipe out all life in the galaxy every 50,000 years, they're the ones that built the Mass Relays and the Citadel. They've been raising you like livestock for the slaughter."

"This...this is a massive claim to be making Captain," Tevos said uncertainly, "what evidence do you have to support this?"

"Sovereign talked to me, it told me everything. What's more, there was another Prothean beacon on Virmire. It added to the vision that I had. Saren is heading for Illos for something, to get there he's traveling through the Mu relay. He went to the trouble of going to Eden Prime to get the first vision, getting the Cipher from Feros to understand it, uncovering the coordinates of the Mu relay, and now he's dug up a second beacon. He's after something, and we need to get to it before he does."

"There's something else," Liara added. There was a part of her vision that I could not understand but she could. If I could understand it, even Saren could not. There is something else on Illos that he does not know about."

"Which is why we need to get there," Jane said.

"With all due respect Captain," Tevos said, "the Coalition is organizing a massive fleet to attack this very station. We cannot afford to send ships out to Illos and expect them back in time for the battle. If we send out too few they will no doubt be wiped out by the enemy presence there, but if we send too many were are detracting from our forces here? How do you suggest we deal with that?"

"The Normandy's stealth systems could sneak by an entire fleet," Jane answered, almost as if she had been expecting the question. "We can get in and out in the blink of an-"

"Absolutely not," Udina said, cutting Jane off. "I will not sacrifice the usefulness of the Normandy so that you can go off on a wild goose chase."

"With all due respect Mr. Vice President," Jane hissed, "one ship being absent from one battle is irrelevant considered God knows what Saren is planning."

"For all we know you were talking to a VI on Virmire. Saren does not have a master plan that he is about to put in affect. Now you will either stand down and take part in the upcoming battle or I will relive you of command and give control of the Normandy to someone who is actually mentally sound."

Jane looked as if she wanted to grab Udina's throat and snap it. She glared at the dark skinned man, her teeth grit and her hands balled into fists. "Pardon me sir," she hissed, walking past Udina and heading for the elevator. Pushing one of the buttons, she stepped into and stared coldly at Udina as the grills closed in front of her.

"Excuse me Donald," Anderson said quietly. "There's...something that I need to take care of. All of you, come with me," he continued, gesturing to the present crew members of the _Normandy_.

"Very well, try to talk some sense into that woman," Udiana said, turning back to face the Council. He either did not notice or was ignoring the looks of doubt the Jiralhanae and Wrex gave him, or the look of undiluted hated that Thel was giving him.

"Contact the rest of your crew," Anderson whispered to Ashley. "Tell them that I want to meet them in the Flux ASAP. The Latin woman nodded without question and whispered orders into her COM unit as they stepped into the second elevator.

Fifteen minutes later, they were all sitting at table in the Flux, one of the Council's more respectable bars, having being joined by Jacob, Rebecca, Damon, Crystal, Sarah, Neriena, Ken, Gabby, Kelly, Chakwas, Gardner and Joker. "You will have no doubt have noticed that Jane Shepard isn't an ordinary UNSC Captain. She's-"

"A SPARTAN, we know," Ashley said softly. "I didn't believe it when everyone else told me, Hell nether did Joker or Rebecca, but the pieces fit together. She's a SPARTAN III and the last living member of Noble Team."

"Well, then that saves us some time. Jane believes that Saren is going to do something on Illos, and unlike Udina I trust her judgement."

"So do we," Garrus said, earning a steady chorus of nods from the rest of the crew, "when she said that the Normandy would deal with Saren I was ready to hop back onto the ship."

"The point is that Jane isn't going to take this sitting down. SPARTANs don't just sit on their assess just because someone gave them a stupid order. They were trained to do what they had to do, not what they were told."

"So, what are you saying?" Kelly asked.

"I fully expect Jane to try and steal the Normandy and go to Illos," Anderson said calmly. "Hell I even expect her to try and get me to help. I suppose the question is, what are all of you going to do?"

"We're going with her of course!" Joker shouted, standing up.

"Damn straight," Garrus hissed, "why wouldn't we?"

"Because I expect that she planned on leaving without telling you."

Everyone present blinked, completely stunned by Anderson's words. "But...but why?" Liara asked. "Does she think that we can't handle this? Does she think we're not good enough"

"On the contrary, she thinks the world of you people. The reports that she has sent about you have been nothing short of glowing. But as you may or may not know already, Jane feels as if she is isolated from you, being unable to tell you about being a SPARTAN. What's more is that because of this she feels as if she is not truly part of your crew, that she is an unwelcome visitor."

"That's bullshit!" Ashley shouted. "We wouldn't have been able to do half the things that we've done in this war if she wasn't leading this crew! She's our Captain and our friend!"

"But she doesn't know that," Anderson said sadly. "The point that I'm trying to make here is that she will try to go to Illos on her own, probably in a few hours once the urge to strangle Udina is gone. When that time comes, she'll contact me. Now I'm going to ask you, do you want to commit insubordination and go with her? If you decide that you don't want to, I suggest that you leave now."

Anderson paused and gazed back and forth across the table. No one made any move to leave or even to get up. "I see that she got the crew that she deserves," he said, smiling slightly. "All right, we won't have to make a move for awhile, a couple of hours at least. I'll contact you when the time comes and then you all need to get to the _Normandy_. Don't worry about how you're going to get out of here, I'll deal with that. Until then take time for yourselves. Have a drink, write a goodbye letter, get a lap dance, do whatever you think you need to do to get closure. I'm counting on you."

Slowly and silently, the crew of the Normandy got up and walked away one by one. "Jane's counting on you," Anderson whispered as the last of them left.

XXXXX

"How long did Anderson say that we had until he could make our move again?" Tali asked, looking at Taylor in the seat next to her. The two of them were sitting in a rented aircar, Taylor sitting behind the wheel.

"A couple of hours," he remarked, pulling back on the wheel, causing the car to head up. "Flying cars may be one of the stupidest things ever created, but I have to admit they gave me a little idea."

"That reminds me, why did you rent an aircar and tell me to get in? We're leaving the Citadel in a few hours and you refuse to tell me where we're going?" the Quarian asked, gazing at him questioningly. "Also, why are we heading to the top of the Presidium?"

"Garrus dropped something when I was talking to him once. It...it gave me a little idea," he said, a nervous tone slipping into his voice. Pressing down on the brakes, the aircar slid to a halt right over one of the massive beams over the top of the Presidium. Gently setting the car down, the biotic pressed a button and the roof slid back, both of them climbing out.

"All right, you dragged me all the way up her, violating Keelah knows how many laws in the process. Are you going to tell why no-" Tali began, but stopped as she spotted Taylor reaching into the back of the car and pulled out a small metal box. Walking towards the edge of the beam, Taylor said down, his legs hanging over the edge. Gesturing for Tali to sit down next to him, he put the box down to his right, taking the lid off as he did.

Sitting down beside him, Tali glanced into the box and saw it's contents. It contained two bottles, two glasses and something rectangular wrapped in foil. "You took me up her to...have a drink?" she asked as Taylor took one of the bottles out, along with a glass. "And a bar was inconvenient because?" she asked as he popped the cork out and poured bright blue liquid into it.

"Uh...I...," Taylor stuttered, handing Tali the glass, which she took with an amused look. "I just wanted to...treat you to a nice time...something special," he mumbled, putting the bottle of Turian whiskey next to her before reaching into the box again for the other bottle, which contained Asari wine.

"Taylor, you don't need to prove yourself to me you know," she said, smiling as she raised the glass to her lips, taking a sip. "I mean you got my favorite whiskey and everything. I'm already going to marry you, trying to butter me up at this point is kind of pointless."

"It's not that," he said indignantly, pouring himself the wine, "it's just that... I just wanted to...we might not come back from this, I just wanted to spend some time with you." As if excuse himself from talking, he took a gulp of his wine.

"Which raises my earlier question, why couldn't we just go to a bar? We've done that before. Why rent a car and go to the highest place on the Citadel?"

"I...thought that you'd like it," he said weakly, "nice view...we're alone...no one can see us...that came out wrong...God damn it, I'm not saying this right."

"I don't follow, you take me up here and all of a sudden you start stuttering like...well me. Seriously you've never done this...well...ever!" she shouted, looking at him with exasperation.

"I...I-I-I," Taylor stuttered, nervously looking away, draining the rest of his glass.

"Oh Keelah," she whispered, "I get it. You're...you're trying to be romantic aren't you."

"I...yeah," he muttered, reaching into the box again and handing the object wrapped in foil to her. "Got you that too," he said, speaking so softly that the Quarian could barely hear him, his face turning a bright crimson. Tali blinked and placed her glass next to her, reaching out and taking it. Unwrapping the foil, she discovered that a solid brown bar was underneath.

"Really?" she asked, smirking as Taylor poured himself another glass, refusing to make eye contact with her. "Chocolate Taylor?" Snapping off a piece, she popped in into her mouth before chewing it and swallowing it. "Dextro chocolate? Seriously Taylor, where did this all come from?"

"Just...just something dad taught me," he whispered before taking another swig of his drink. "That and I always thought doing things like this were really...uh...nice."

"Wow, I'm getting married to a hopeless romantic sap," Tali said, taking another bite of chocolate. "I don't know which is more embarrassing, the fact that you wanted to have drinks with me at the top of the Citadel, or that I think I love you a little bit more now because of that."

"Shut it," he muttered, polishing off his second glass.

"Oh don't be like that, you know I think that you're a sweetheart."

"Yeah," he muttered, grinning nervously, "I guess that I do."

"A big, stupid, sappy sweetheart," she said playfully, pouring herself another glass of whisky.

"Gee, thanks dear," he said dryly, his smile becoming more confident.

"Ok, let's be serious for two seconds," she said, sipping her whisky. "Why did you get so nervous when you wanted to do this? We've been together for a year, and frankly I'm the one who wrings my hands when I do something embarrassing, not you."

"I don't know really," he answered honestly "I've only ever treated you to really mundane stuff, any guy can just take his future spouse out to a bar, and it really isn't that appropriate when half of the bars on this station are filled with Asari shaking their rears in your face."

"That still doesn't explain why you were such a wreck. Did you think that I would laugh at you or something?"

"Kinda, sorta. I guess I was more concerned that you wouldn't like it or that you would think that I was going completely overboard or something. Also there's that whole, 'we're going to seriously jeopardize our careers and lives' thing. Even if we succeed we're probably going to be labeled traitors of the UNSC. I thought that we should do something a little crazy in the time that we have left, make us of it."

"Do me a favor, the next time you have an idea that you think is crazy, just talk to me about it. I won't mind, in fact I'll probably enjoy whatever insanity that you can throw my way."

"You like that kind of stuff?"

"I've been serving for a year on a stealth frigate, created by the people that took my race in like we were lost children, and crewed by two Asari, a Turian with a lousy sense of humor, a woman with silver hair, and the most powerful person that I've ever met in my life. I'm used to crazy, and I've even developed a bit of a taste for it. Why else would I be in a relationship with someone that jumps from high orbit for a living?"

"And I'm with the freaking elf," Taylor said, his confidence returning to him as he reached out and playfully stroked one of Tali's pointed ears, earning a giggle from her.

"Cut that out!" she said, swatting his hand away, "that tickles." They both laughed. "Thanks for bringing me up here," she said, looking down and drinking in the sights of the Citadel. "Garrus really said that he wanted to come up here?"

"Yeah, but he said something about there being around a hundred regulations saying that he couldn't."

"And knowing that you decided to bring me up here knowing that?" Tali replied, her eyes narrowing in a mock angry manner.

"There's tens of millions of Jiralhanae just outside the Citadel. C-Sec is going to have it's hands full just posting people at every possible airlock just to make sure that they don't cause any trouble."

"Well, I guess that we should just enjoy the view," Tali said.

"I guess...I thought that you would be really confused or something. Legion just destroyed everything that you know about the Geth."

Tali shook her head. "I just don't know what do think anymore. Too many times something I took to be a basic fact was proven wrong. I thought that the Quarians would be forced to live on ships forever, then your people gave us a home, I thought that all A.I.s were evil, then Devon gave my people a cure, I thought that the Jiralhanae were nothing but savages, and now we're working together. I thought that what we had would never last but we...we turned out all right didn't we?" Taylor smiled.

"All I know for certain now is that I'm up here, I've got some strong whiskey, and the man I love is sitting right next to me. Right now I don't want to think about parasites or omnicidal machines, I just want to think about us and all the happy times that we had."

"That doesn't sound like something that you would normally say," Taylor said playfully. "That sounds awfully...selfish."

"Then you're marrying a selfish Quarian you bosh'tet," Tali snarled, and before he was even sure what had happened, he was on his back in the center of the beam with Tali right on top of him. Before he could so much as say a word, she had locked her lips with his and wrapped her arms around him. Not complaining, Taylor returned the favor, kissing her back. The seconds slowly ticked by as they continued to kiss, losing themselves entirely in the moment.

"Hey!" a voice shouted over the COM lines, "this is Garrus, Jacob just had a brilliant idea. I need everyone to meet me down in the Wards."

Tali broke away, a disappointed sigh escaping from her lips. Reluctantly, she got to her feet, reaching down to Taylor and pulling him to his feet. "I'm glad that you thought of this," she said softly, as both she and Taylor put the bottles and glasses back into the box, sliding the lid on and standing up afterward.

"Sorry that we had to cut it so short," he said, looking at the view below them.

"Then make me a promise," Tali said, "one day we'll come back to this place, I don't care if it's years from now and we've got a dozen other people with us. Promise me that."

Smiling, Taylor gently took Tali's wrists in his hands. "We'll come back here. I promise." Leaning forward, their lips connected and they exchanged a brief but passionate kiss.

"We should go," she said. Taylor nodded and the two of them climbed back into the aircar, the roof closing over their heads. Taylor gently placed the box back in the rear seat of the aircar and began to drive towards the wards, Tali taking a bite out of her chocolate as she did.

Ten minutes later, the aircar was sliding into the lower Wards, parking gently. The roof slid open again and the two of them exited to find the rest of the Normandy crew that had spoken with Anderson standing there. "Ok, so what's the emergency?" Taylor asked.

"I had a thought," Jacob said, "Anderson said that SPARTANs form close attachments with each other, mainly because they were constantly fighting for their lives?"

"Right, and?"

"Jane respects us but she doesn't quite get that we consider her a close friend and a comrade on the battlefield. I say that we show her that we're behind her every step of the way."

"And how do we do that?" Tali asked.

Garrus grinned as he turned to face the rest of the crew, all of them looking confused. "How does everyone feel about tattoos?"

XXXXX

Author's Note: Hey I'm curious about something as this isn't something that I really get a lot of feedback about. How do you people feel about the romance in my story? Personally I love writing about Taylor and Tali's relationship slowly moving forward (First they meet, then they're friends, then they're lovers, then they're engaged) but does it annoy you guys? What about Rebecca and Liara? Please tell me, I'm curious.

Also as for why I wrote that last scene, the ending for ME3 REALLY got me down, so I wanted to put in a super sappy scene to A. Lighten the mood, B. Cheer myself up. I always hated depressing endings, but...I don't want to spoil the ending but this didn't even make any sense. So...I would appreciate it if you answer my question above. I'm sorry if these romances bug you but frankly I like them and writing them really gets me out of the dumps. What can I say, I may be in the minority on this one but I like reading about people that go though Hell and back actually being happy from time to time.

P.S. Some people have been complaining about Kai Leng's death in the last chapter. I'm just going to throw it out there that I did as much research as I could but I could barely come up with anything about him other than "he's good with knives, works with Cerberus and hates aliens". I wrote that chapter before ME3 came out so that's why it may not match up.


	91. How to Hijack a Stealth Frigate

Chapter 91

How to Hijack a Stealth Frigate

Author's Note: That last chapter was received much better than I thought it would, it's nice to know that I'm making people happy by giving them a story that they enjoy.

"Oh Keelah," Tali said, holding out her right hand and looking at the back of it, a look of shock coating her face. "Keelah, Keelah, Keelah. How did you talk me into this?"

"I think my exact words were, 'come on Tali, do this for Jane, it'll mean the world to her.' Seriously though it's not that bad, it's not like we asked you to put 'insert here' over your-"

"Thank you Taylor, I get the idea," Tali growled, turning to face the ODST, a cocky grin sliding over his face. The two of them were sitting next to each other in a tattoo pallor located in the Citadel's lower wards. The rest of the Normandy's crew were spread out through the rest of the pallor, some of them examining the new mark that their bodies now sported, some of them were sitting at tables as the Turians and Batarians that owned the store worked, while a few were still sitting in chairs, waiting for their turn.

"Seriously is it that bad? Look, I got the same thing as you," Taylor said, holding out his hand so that it was right next to Tali's. "Seriously, compared to some of the other things I've seen on the Citadel alone this is pretty tame."

"I suppose," Tali muttered, staring uncertainly at her hand. Jacob's idea, which even she had to admit was clever, was that they all get the same mark on the back of their right hand, as a way of showing to Jane that they were behind her, understood what she had gone through, and would never abandon her.

"It's just...my mother is going to murder me when she sees this," Tali said, feeling rather silly that she was going to help steal a starship, a crime punishable by exile back on the Migrant Fleet, and her biggest concern at the moment was her mother's reaction to a tattoo. "Come to think of it, Auntie Raan will probably be pretty angry too."

"Raan? As in Shala'Raan? Former Migrant Fleet Admiral? I didn't know that she was your aunt."

"Well, not by blood," Tali corrected, "she was just close friends with my mother. She's not family but my mother and I consider her to be."

"So in other words she's kind of like Mack?"

"From what you've told me, yes. She was even the midwife when I was born." She gave a dry chuckle. "Funny, she was more of a parent to me than my real father. I know that he had responsibilities but she had the same ones...and she always found time." She shook her head, "I'm sorry, it's been months, you're probably tired of me talking about it."

"If you think that I'd ever get tired of listening to your problems you've got another thing coming," he said, smirking slightly. "Sorry Tali, you're stuck with me."

"I guess I am," she said, smiling ever so slightly. "Aw well, I don't really feel like talking about him right now. It was just something that I thought about...wait a minute, I just remembered something. Damon said that he wasn't your biological father...who was?"

Taylor shrugged, "Hell if I know, Mom and Dad don't really like talking about him. I never met the guy myself and as far as I know he isn't even alive."

"I guess you deserve to know now." Both Taylor and Tali looked up to see Crystal approaching them, sitting down next to her son. "His name was Robert Reed. I met him after my first tour of duty in a bar. We hit it off pretty well and had a bit of a run away wedding. Afterward through, it became clear that the guy I had seen was just a mask that the real Robert had been wearing, one that went away the second he lost his patience."

"Turns out that he was pretty bad with money too, he had a whole lot of debts. He was trying to mooch off of me and my parents after awhile, thats when I left him. Shame, I thought that we could actually work out, I guess not. But before he left, he...left me a little something," she smiled softly as she gently patted her son's head. "My Dad still likes to tease me about that though."

On the other side of the pallor, Liara stared nervously as a series of light blue lasers danced across her hand, marking her flesh with a permeant mark. "I always thought that I wouldn't go through this part of my Maiden stage," she said softly, continuing to stare as the lasers finished and deactivated. Lifting her hand up, she stared at her fresh tattoo. "Still, this is a rather dignified symbol I suppose. There's no shame in showing it."

"Atta girl!" Rebecca shouted, patting Liara's shoulder. "Look at it from a positive point of view. This isn't some form of rebelling against our parents or trying to make ourselves look cool, this is a sign of trust."

Liara smiled, continuing to look at the tattoo. "Now that I think about it, it doesn't look too bad. I mean, I've seen a lot of things from my times in the Terminus systems, this actually looks like something that you can display with pride."

"I gotta say Jacob, you can actually come up with some good ideas," Joker said, limping across the room to sit down, "never thought the guy that spent all of his time shut up in the armory doing maintenance would be able to come up with something like this."

"Keep talking and I'll ask Tali for her shotgun back," Jacob growled, sitting down next to the pilot "show you the mods that I installed."

"Hey, it was a compliment," the man said, raising his hands. "Putting this thing on the back of our hands was a great idea. Only an idiot puts tattoos on his face. Seriously, who does that?"

"Ahem," Garrus coughed, approaching Joker from behind.

"Oh hi, Garrus," Joker said, "can you think of anyone?"

"Screw you."

Joker chuckled, "that's the best comeback that you can come up with?"

Garrus gave an evil smirk, "You know Joker, I don't think that you took your pills this morning," he said loudly, his voice carrying.

"What does that have to do with-"

"JOKER!" The pilot could barely even blink before Dr. Chakwas' nose was inches away from his. "How many times do I need to tell you that you need to take your medicine! I don't care how fine you feel! I swear sometimes I think that you want your legs to snap like twigs."

Joker shrank under Chakwas' presence as Garrus walked away, smirking. He approached the counter, a rather amused looking Batarian standing behind it. "Gotta say, I never thought that I would have two dozen people come in together and demand the same thing," he remarked, "so, are you satisfied with the design? If you're not, removal is free."

Garrus glanced at the back of his hand, "nah, you got it just the way that I wanted it."

"Glad to here it, that should come out to around 300 for each of your friends. Just let me do a quick headcount and you can-"

"I think that this should do it," Garrus said, swiping his credit chit through the Batarian's kiosk.

The alien glanced down at the screen in front of him, and all four of his eyes widened. "I'm pretty sure that it doesn't come out to 10,000 credits," he said softly.

"We're in a hurry and you managed to get most of these done with time to spare. Consider it a tip for a job well done."

"You know, for a Turian, you're all right," the Batarian said, flashing his needle like teeth in a smile.

"You're not so bad yourself."

"Garrus!" a voice shouted over the COM lines, "It's Anderson! We're out of time! Jane just contacted me, and I was right. She wants me to disable the Citadel security that's keeping the _Normandy_ locked down. I'll have to access from Udina's office. I'll told her not to make a move for the ship until I gave the all clear, said that it would attract attention. I don't know if she knew that I was bullshiting her or not but you need to get your assess over there now!"

"How long to we have?" Garrus asked.

"Twenty minutes at the most, get moving. Just so you know we're all going to be in deep shit because of this, Udina will probably be in his office. I might have to get him out of the way."

"Give him a right hook from me," Garrus said before lowering his hand and looking at the Batarian again. "We have less time to spare than we thought, I throw on an extra 7k if you can get this all done in then next five minutes and make it look good."

The Batarian grinned. "I like a challenge. COME ON BOYS!" he shouted to his employees, "you heard the man DOUBLE TIME!"

XXXXX

Fifteen minutes later, Udina stiffened in his chair as his fingers slid across the keyboard in front of him. "Mr. Richards," he muttered under his breath as he typed out a report to the President of the UEG, "with all due respect, I must inform you of the improper behavior of a UNSC Captain, a one Jane Shepard. Said Captain undermined my authority as Vice President directly in front of the Council, no doubt damaging the image of the UNSC. I am aware of her past, but I humbly request that she placed under phycological care."

"As I mentioned before, she had an outburst in front of the Council, claiming that our resources should be focused on dealing with a race of machines known as Reapers, who were allied with Saren and who would soon return to exterminate all organic life. It is my view that Shepard has been so deeply traumatized by the events of the Human-Covenant War and this one that she can no longer understand the lines between fantasy and reality."

"She is an extremely dangerous and powerful person, and should her condition go unchecked, she may unintentionally bring harm to those around her. Her mental condition must first be assessed before she can be put back into command of one of our most expensive and experimental starships, and to ensure that no harm will come to her or her crew, I have ordered that a lock be placed on the _Normandy_ until you arrive. It is my hope that-"

"Udina." The Vice President glanced up to see Anderson approaching him. "I need to have a word with you."

Udina sighed as he pushed out his chair and got to his feet. "For the last time Anderson, no I will not allow an expedition to Illos, it is simply too risky. My orders are final until President Richards arrives, and when he does-" Udina was cut off as Anderson smashed a right hook into his face.

Proceeding to grab the shoulders of the man in front of him and slamming his knee into his stomach. Udina gasped as the air was forced out of his lungs, his hands covering his chest. Before he could react, he felt the roots of his hair being pulled and felt a force pushing his entire body to the side. He caught a glimpse of his desk speeding up to meet him before a sharp pain tore through his head and he blacked out.

Anderson released his grip and let Udina slide to the ground limply. The Fleet Admiral allowed himself a slightly smirk as he sat down in front of Udina's computer. "Gotta say, that was worth the court martial alone." Noticing the letter that Udina had been typing out, Anderson scowled. "Saying that she's insane Udina?" he sighed, looking disbelievingly at the unconscious politician. "Figures, you would try to say that about someone that you've talked to for thirty seconds."

Deciding that since he was already breaking around a dozen UNSC laws and regulations, Anderson thought that he might as well make the most of the moment that he was in as he pressed a button on the keyboard, deleting Udina's letter.

"Jane, it's Anderson, I'm in Udina's office. I'm disengaging the lock on the Normandy, are you ready?"

"I'm right outside her Anderson. Richard should be enough to get her from here to Illos...thank you for doing this."

"It's my pleasure Jane," Anderson said, smiling softly. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye...David," she whispered, as she disconnected the COM line. Anderson let out a sigh as he leaned back into the chair that he was sitting in. Glancing up, he saw a security camera staring directly at him. Even if someone hadn't already seen him and raised an alarm, the recording would frame him without any issues.

"There're going to get me no matter what I do," he muttered, staring at the computer in front of him. "I wonder if I should...screw it, I'm going to jail anyway," and with that, he leaned forward and began typing on the computer again, noting with glee that none of Udina's accounts were locked.

On the other side of the Citadel, Jane stood outside of the stealth frigate that she had captained for the last year. Three weapons were crossed on her back, the Cain, her battle rifle, and the ravager plasma rifle that she had acquired on Virmire. She idly glanced at the advanced weapon, recalling with the slightest bit of embarrassment how she had understood how the settings had worked when she had first acquired it. Now however, she had figured out how the weapon, and it had proved to be a useful assets.

She began to approach the airlock, hesitating as she neared it. "Should I really do this to them? We've been through so...no, they're not like me. They have lives to live when all of this is done, they can't just throw away their lives like I was trained to do." Sighed, she slapped a button and the door slid open, Jane stepping over the threshold. Walking through the airlock, she entered the main area of the ship. All of the Marauder and Loyalist passengers had disembarked, either heading back to friendly ships or the Citadel. The ship was empty, perfect for what she had in mind.

"Richard!" she said, walking into the ship, past the cockpit, "start up the engines, set a course for the Mu relay and then Illos. Don't stop for anything and tell me if the ship needs any manual adjustments."

"Got it, Shep, one way trip to Illos, kids and seniors half price," a voice said.

Jane whirled around to see Joker siting in the cockpit, a mischievous grin on his face. "What are you doing here?" she asked sternly.

"Same thing that everyone else is doing here," Joker said, pointing behind Jane. The SPARTAN turned to see her entire crew amassed behind her, all of them staring at her, some with concern, some with amusement, and some with annoyance.

"What do you think you're all doing here?" she demanded, actually sounding angry, "Don't you have any idea what's going on?"

"Ok it was either commit insubordinate, theft of military equipment, desertion and launch a suicide mission to stop Saren on Illos...or run around the corner to get pizza, I forget which one," Joker said.

"This isn't a joke Jeff!" Jane growled, grabbing Joker by his wrist, intending to pull him out of his chair, "if you think that I'm just going to let all of you throw your lives away because-" her voice caught in her throat as she saw the mark on Joker's hand. The mark was a moderate shade of gray and was of a symbol that vaguely resembled a metal eagle with it's wings spread, all of it continued within a triangle. It was the insignia of Noble Team.

"I...I...," Jane said, at a lost for words as Joker's arm slid through her hand. Turning around, she slowly walked towards the rest of her crew, looking like a small child looking for her lost teddy bear. Reaching the amassing crowd in front of her, she hesitantly reached out and grabbed the right hand of the person closest to her, which happened to be Kelly. Lifting the redhead's hand up to her face, she silently gazed at the back of her hand. The same symbol was there.

Lowering the slender hand, she gazed open mouthed at Kelly, who simply smiled. "Tattoos aren't really my thing, but I made an exception for this one."

Slowly, she walked through the crowd in front of her, people politely stepping out of the way to allow her through. Jane examined the hands of Gabby, Liara, Rebecca and Tali before finally coming to Garrus. Grabbing the Turian's hand, she lifted it up to see the same mark. "Jacob's idea," the Spectre explained, "I decided that it was good and we all got them."

"I...this doesn't change anything," Jane said, spinning around and looking at the people surrounding her, "you're not coming with me."

"Care to explain why?" Ashley asked, folding her arms and staring at Jane with a disapproving look.

"It's dangerous for starters," Jane said, the conviction slowly leaking out of her voice, "we're jumping blind here, we have no idea what we're going to run in to and God knows what could happen to you people."

"I seem to recall coming back from Feros with only four fingers," Taylor interjected, "And psychotic Jiralhanae with a knife fetish wasn't exactly part of that mission briefing. I think we can handle a curveball or two."

"Feros wasn't kind to me either," Tali interjected.

"And I took four spikes to the chest on Galnu," Sarah added.

"And in case you forgot, my eyes now glow," Ashley pointed out, gesturing to her bright blue implants. "We know that it's possible that we could be injured, but then again we risk being wounded and even killed on every mission that we go on."

"Not to mention less than 24 hours ago you had us drop on a planet crawling with Coalition forces with orders to kill the Emperor of all Jiralhanae while we only had a vague idea where he was," Liara finished. "That argument holds no weight Jane."

"How about the part where everyone who's still on this ship in the next five minutes is going to get a dishonorable discharge and somewhere between twenty years to life?"

"And if what you said is anything to go on, it doesn't matter," Rebecca countered. "There's a race of machines out there that wipe out entire civilizations as a pass time and there's something on Illos that ties them and Saren together. Stopping the mass genocide of trillions is worth that risk."

"I...but...," Jane stuttered, her eyes darting back and forth between all of them, desperately attempting to think of a counterargument. "Why? I can handle this just fine on my own god damn-"

"Just because you're a SPARTAN doesn't make you invincible," Jacob argued, "like you said, we have no idea what's going to be waiting for us, you'll need all of the support that you can get."

"Why?...why god damn it, why are you throwing away your lives for ME of all people?"

"Seriously?" Garrus asked, prompting Jane to look at her, "that's your big problem? Hate to tell you this but we didn't exactly get these things to keep up with the latest fashion trends. You've stuck by us this past year, now we're sticking by you. So the way I see it you're going to have to kick us all out yourself if you plan on going anywhere."

"I...I just," Jane whispered, her head drooping to look at the floor. "Jun's dead, Carter's dead, Kat's dead, Jorge's dead, even Emile's gone. They all died and for some reason I kept on living. If you go with me you'll all...I can't protect anyone...I can't lose all of you too you're...you're all I have left...I..." a single tear slid down Jane Shepard's face, dropping off and hitting the floor.

Without speaking a work, Garrus silently grabbed Jane and hugged her for the second time that day...and the entire time that he had known her. It was a little unsettling to see the woman who had torn apart dozens of opponents without breaking a sweat simply collapse like this. 'How...how long has she been carrying this burden?'

Jane silently slid her arms around the Turian, returning the hug. As she did, countless other arms reached out and gently grabbed her, holding her tightly. Something in the back of Jane's mind told her that she was in the middle of a group hug, something that brought a flicker of amusement to her. After half a minute, Jane lightly pushed off of Garrus, everyone releasing their grip on her practically simultaneously.

Lifting her head up, she looked around at the amassed team that stood around her. Even as tears continued to flow down her face, the edges of her lips curled into a smile. A large, beautiful, genuine smile. "You really are the best crew a Captain could ask for," she said softly before turning to face the cockpit. "Joker, set a course for Illos. Warm up the stealth systems, I don't want this trip cut short."

"You got it boss," he said, giving her a playful salute before spinning his chair to face the controls.

"I know that I promised you all drinks after Virmire, but after Jun...you know, it doesn't really seem right, especially considering I said "if you all come back alive. So I'm going to say it one more time, all of you come back alive and I'll find a way to buy you all drinks until you puke up your livers...unless one of you ladies feels like getting pregnant in-between now and then, in which case you'll just have to settle for non alcoholic stuff." This last comment earned roars of laughter from the assembled crowd, which slowly began to peel away, heading for their stations.

"Oh yeah!" Jane shouted after them, "It'll take twenty hours to get to Illos! I need you all rested for this, especially after Virmire! Each of you get eight hours in your bunks at minimum!"

"Now you're assigning bed times?" Tali joked as she walked past, "It's good to have you back."

Still smiling, Jane made to walk forward when a three fingered hand caught her shoulder. "Uh, Jane?" Garrus said, sounding a little nervous. "Is there any chance that I...can propose something to you?"

"What is it?"

"I may have mentioned that Turians have different ways of dealing with stress before big missions. I imagine you're still a little stressed and I know that I'm a little stressed. I think I may know a way to blow it off...though I'm not sure if you'll like it."

Jane folded her arms, looking interested. "I'm listening."

XXXXX

"Ok, let me see if I have this straight," President Issac Richards said, rubbing his forehead. "Our fleet returned to the Citadel with around five hundred Jiralhanae vessels, half of them rebel forces, half of them loyalists that split off when Sukron seized power. On the way back, they made a trade with Cerberus, who apparently use genetically augmented clones as foot soldiers now, giving them their operative in exchange for information on the Flood, the creatures that happened to attack Virmire as well."

"Also, Captain Jane Shepard claims that there are sentient starships called Reapers that destroy all organic life every 50,000 years, and also said that Saren's flagship was one of them and that they will reappear soon. She also said that pieces of evidence that she picked up over this war indicated that Saren was looking for something on Illos, but you did not allow the _Normandy_ to travel there, so Fleet Admiral Anderson assaulted you in your office, hacked your computer, while Shepard and her crew stole the _Normandy_ and jumped out of the system. And all of this happened a couple of hours before I arrived, and you just now put everything together. Did I miss anything?"

Udina, who was standing across from him, shook his head. His upper lip was swollen and there was an ugly purple bruise right above his right eye. They were both standing in the Council chambers, the Council themselves standing in their usual positions, while several other people filled the room. Among them were Admiral Elizabeth Hall, a female Quarian who stood next to her, Thel 'Vadam, Rtas 'Vadum, Isonia 'Cirate, a Sangheili RSN Councilor, Marton, Rutherforae, Tesueg, Rason, and the commander of the Destiny Ascension, Matriarch Lidanya.

"Where is Anderson, may I ask?" Richards asked, looking around.

"He is being held by C-Sec," Udina replied, "he is being charged with-"

"Let him out," Richards said quietly.

"Sir with all due respect, you cannot let him walk away just because he is an old friend of yours, he needs to-"

"I know what must be done Udina!" Richards snapped, "but there's a massive hostile fleet coming and Anderson is both the Fleet Admiral of the UNSC and commander of our only dreadnaught, and we don't have time to find replacements for either one that are anywhere as good as him. He will pay for his crimes AFTER this is over."

"If I may have your attention!" Tevos called out, causing the crowd of high ranking commanders to look at her. "You all know that there is a massive fleet of Coalition forces approaching this station, however in a rare turn of events we have a chance to prepare for this." Activating her omni-tool, she pressed a handful of keys, which caused a hologram of the Citadel to appear in front of her, a swarm of ships surrounding it.

"Luckily for us we have a massive amount of vessels to work with, the combined forces of the UNSC, RSN and the Council were already a force to be reckoned with, but our numbers recently been bolstered by the arrival of renegade Jiralhanae forces. Also, as promised, two hundred Geth ships have entered the system with none of them so much as locking on to our defenses. What is more...the Geth were not alone, bringing another 150 ships, crewed entirely by...Rachni."

Half of the present commanders stiffened at the mention of the insectiods, but no one spoke up. They had reached the point where everyone, even Valern, knew that complaining would accomplish nothing. "It is safe to assume that the Coalition wishes to take the Citadel because of it's strategic value, which will allow them to use the Mass Relays to launch attacks on systems throughout the galaxy. We cannot allow this to happen."

"Since the bulk of the Coalition forces will be Jiralhanae, we have no idea from exactly which angle they will strike, although a forward assault is necessary. In order to properly prepare, we must spread out our fleets around the Citadel, close enough together to concentrate fire but far enough away to maneuver and flank the enemy. To better coordinate movement I propose that all of our ships be broken up into sections commanded by different officers."

"Fleet Admiral Anderson will command Section 1, Admiral Hall Section 2 and..." her eyes fixed on the Quarian, "I'm sorry I don't believe that I know your name Ms...?"

"Shala'Raan," the Quarian said, "Vice-Admiral Shala'Raan."

"Admiral Shala'Raan now," Richards said, looking at the Quarian, "we've got a lot of ships and not many commanders if we're going the way of divide and conquer."

"Thank you," Shala'Raan said, nodding her head slightly.

"Admiral 'Raan will command Section 3, all of those three sections consisting of UNSC and Geth forces. Section 4 will be commanded by Grand Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum and Section 5 by Fleetmistress Isonia 'Cirate these two sections being comprised of RSN and Rachni ships. Superme Commander Rason will command Section 6, made up of the Jiralhanae Loyalists, and Matriarch Lidanya will command Section 7, consisting of all present Council forces."

"There is also the matter of the Flood infection that is present in the galaxy, the commanders of the Marauder rebels have agreed to take their forces and exterminate it in it's infancy. They will be departing shortly. Are there any objections?" Looking around, she saw that no one had made a move to speak. Well...almost no one.

"I am afraid that the UNSC has an issue to deal with," Udina said, causing the eyes of Hall and Thel to narrow. "A one of a kind stealth frigate was stolen by an insubordinate Captain, the one that you met earlier today. That ship could have provided invaluable support in this coming battle, we must recover it if possible."

While Udina did not notice it, Shala'Raan lowered her head slightly, looking saddened. "You were always as thick headed as your father Tali...but then again you always had your mother's heart. I hope you know what you're doing," she whispered, only Hall hearing her.

"Exactly how do you propose that we do that?" Rtas asked.

"I may have a solution," the Sangheili Councilor said, looking at Udina. "I would be willing to send forces to hunt down your ship Udina. We happen to have a CCS-battlecruiser that will do little to hurt our defenses."

"You...you would do that?" Richards asked, not certain if this was supposed to be an act of kindness or a hidden insult.

"Why yes, I came here as fast as I could to smooth over interspecies relationships with the allies of the RSN. Shipmistress Iasa 'Cirate will leave immediately to hunt down your ship." Isonia felt a knot in her stomach, something was very wrong about this.

The _Normandy_ was a ship that would be nearly impossible to catch with it's stealth drive, and it would be impossible for a lone CSS-battlecruiser to do. He was trying to humiliate Iasa, that's all there was to it. She ground her mandibles in rage. There was nothing that she could do about this, an insult from an equal was one thing in Sangheili culture but an order from a superior was another. Her hands were tied. "Now, if you could please tell me the coordinates of the planet that you ship was heading to I will have 'Cirate leave right away."

Author's Notes: For the most part I don't know how a chapter is going to play out until I sit down and actually start writing it. There are some exceptions though and there are some scenes that I plan on writing months ahead of time, such as revealing that Jane was Noble Six, reuniting Rebecca and Elizabeth, and killing Jun.

The scene between Jane and her crew was one that I've been planning for awhile, although to be fair originally it was supposed to be the crew of the Normandy throwing her a surprise birthday party but this works too. As for why she cried when she's a SPARTAN, consider that a century's worth of pain and suffering all combining and forcing it's way out of her. Seriously I know some people tend to complain when SPARTAN's get emotional, but they ARE still Human and she's been bottling up her pain for a long time, and unlike Chief, she didn't have a friendly A.I. keeping her company, I say she's earned a good cry.

Also a reviewer mentioned something about Cerberus SPARTANs. Funny that you mention that, I originally planned have Elizabeth finding a teenage Cerberus SPARTAN on that station instead of the Flood. The kid would have amnesia and would try to follow a breadcrumb trail around the galaxy trying to figure out who he was while other Cerberus SPARTANs try to hunt him down. Sadly I had to cut it out because this story is big enough already. In fact I've cut out a lot of things from this story, maybe when I'm done with this I'll write a chapter just listing off what could have been in this story.

Also yes that group hug was sappy, SHUT UP!


	92. Relieving Stress

Chapter 92

Relieving Stress

Author's Note: This is another one of those chapters that I've been looking forward to writing for some time now, maybe you'll appreciate why or maybe you'll stone me to death for it, we'll see.

Taylor let out an annoyed sigh as he drummed his fingers on the edge of the bedside table in the room that he and Tali shared. He was currently experiencing the most frustrating part of being an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, the waiting. The main problem with ODSTs and by extension Marines, is that while they weren't in the field or training, they didn't really have any duties to attend to.

Marines and ODSTs were really only needed during active combat, while navy personal tended to work around the clock, doing everything from maintaining the ship to maneuvering it in combat. 'I suppose that's why the Marines and the Navy are always at each other's throats,' Taylor thought.

He supposed that he could get some sleep but he imagined that that would be particularly difficult with all of the hormones running through his veins. After everything that had just happened, Jiralhanae allies, peaceful Geth, the Flood, the Reapers, and stealing a ship, asking someone to just lie down and sleep was like asking someone to not look twice at a gay Krogan couple mating in public, it just wasn't going to happen.

Groaning in annoyance, he extended his tapping hand further out and felt his fingers touch something with a texture different from the table. Looking up he saw a small chip that he recognized as an omni-tool. Picking it up and examining it more closely, he realized that it was Tali's. He briefly wondered why she had left it here when she was supposed to be running a last minute check on the engines when he realized that she was probably still using the omni-tool that she had taken off of that Cerberus operative.

He hesitated as he held the chip in his hand, wondering what he should do with it, if anything. "Ah screw it, she won't mind," he remarked, sliping his own omni-tool out of the slot where it was kept in his right wrist guard and inserted Tali's.

"Ok," he remarked, activating the computer and pressing a key, causing a holographic screen to come up. "I won't be able to access the extranet at slipsapce but I should still be able to see her history and downloads...God I must be bored." Shaking his head, he pressed a button and brought up a screen of items that the Quarian had downloaded.

He began to read them off. "The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine Humanity's First Step to the Stars, SPARTANs, the Finest Warriors that the Galaxy has ever known, Fleet and Flotilla, we should probably watch that later, Sanctuary vacation hotspots, Fornax issue #197, Things that you never knew that you could do but can now that you don't need a suit, planning a...wait a minute."

Taylor eyes scrolled back up the list, coming to a halt on a certain item. With his free hand, he vigorously rubbed his eyes to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. He wasn't. "Fornax?" he said, his jaw feeling awfully slack. "Wh...why does Tali have a digital copy of Fornax? Curiosity getting the better of him, he hesitantly clicked on it.

"Accessing bookmarked page," a text box said as a series of images filled the screen in front of him. All of them were of people in...compromising positions. Not that he expected anything less from the galaxy's most popular porn magazine but he couldn't help but notice something that practically set off sirens in his head. All the pictures were of Human men and Quarian women.

"Agha?" Taylor blurted out, completely flabbergasted. Blinking, he decided that he needed to get away from this page. Without thinking, he smashed down on the first button that he could see. Had he looked at what he had clicked on, he might have reconsidered. Only after the page had loaded did he realize what he had pressed.

"R-related items?" he stuttered as a list of documents and programs that Tali had downloaded filled the screen. Despite his best intentions, his eyes were still drawn to the text in front of him, whispering them out as he did. "Biotics and how the can enhance your sex life, Illium's finest selection of lingerie catalog, Interspecies sex, Human and Quarian edition, advice on making your first time the best time, super deluxe nerve stimulator." He glanced downward, the list went on. "When did...when did she get all of this stuff?" he asked no one in particular.

Common sense shrieked that he should turn off the omni-tool and pretend that nothing had ever happened, but his curiosity was getting the better of him again. "What is this supposed to be?" he wondered out loud, pressing on "super deluxe nerve stimulator." As he did, another wall of text popped up.

"Thank you for purchasing our latest model of nerve stimulators," he read, "if you are new to our products, please read the following explanation. The nerve stimulator..." Taylor's jaw dropped as he read exactly what a nerve stimulator did. He tried to speak, but only two words managed to leave his mouth. "Oh my."

The ODST's brain must have slowed down after being exposed to this information, otherwise he would have heard the door open. "Well, the engine is running at maximum output, we should be there in 14 hours, and Ken and Gabby FINALLY kissed," Tali said, sounding cheerful as she walked into the room. "In short, things are great. What are you reading there?"

Sitting down, she idly glanced at the screen that was floating in front of Taylor's face. She hadn't even seen the second line when her happy grin was replaced with a look of sheer horror. Taylor looked to the side, realized the situation that he was in, and braced himself for the bomb that was about to go off. And go off it did, although not with a flurry of swearwords as he had expected.

"KEELAH!" she shrieked, her hand flying to her omni-tool, ripping it out of the wrist guard that it was inserted in. "Taylor I can explain!" she babbled, her words coming out a mile a minute, "W-W-we're going to get to that stage sooner or later- oh damn it no- I was just curious as to what would entail- no that's even worse- oh damn it- I just wanted to be more prepared so that it would finally did be more enjoyable-uh not that I thought that you wouldn't be able to satisfy me I just-" she was cut off as a hand slid over her mouth

"Tali, calm down!" Taylor said, staring with surprise at the Quarian. "Jeez where did that come from?" he asked, slowly taking his hand away.

"You...all that stuff...that embarrassing stuff."

"I...yeah," the ODST said, not sure as how to approach the situation.

"Keelah, you must think I'm a nymphomaniac or something," Tali groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"You? Addicted to sex? I seriously doubt that. I don't think that your like that, I just think that you have a bit of an inner pervert is all. You know, some Human women have something very similar to that."

The Quarian lifted her head back ever so slightly. "Really?"

"Of course they do, you're not the first person that needed that particular itch scratched and you're sure as Hell not going to be the last. Everything else though...is there something that you want to talk to me about?"

"Kind of," Tali squeaked, looking as if it was taking every ounce of her self control to stay seated and not make a run for the door. "I don't know. We've been sleeping in the same bed for some time, been engaged for even longer, and simply been together for a year. I guess I kept thinking about how we were going to get to that stage sooner or later and I wanted to be prepared. So...so I did research."

"A lot of research," Taylor corrected.

"Yeah," she whispered.

"A pervert and a romantic, boy aren't we a match made in heaven?" he joked, earning a nervous chuckle from Tali. He noticed how tense she was. "Come on Tali, I'm not going to kick you out of the room or anything. You don't need to be so nervous."

"It's not the omni-tool," she replied quietly, "it just got me thinking about something."

"About what?"

Tali slowly turned to look Taylor in the eye, wringing her hands nervously. "This might be the last night that we have together," she whispered. "Who knows what will happened when we get to Illos, and even if we succeed without so much as a scratch, we'll either be arrested or have to spend the rest of our lives as fugitives."

"Don't talk like that, everything is going-"

"I know," Tali said, sounding as if she wanted to say what was on her mind before she lost her nerve. "It's just that I don't want to take any chances...I don't want there to be anything unsaid or undone between us."

"Tali...are you suggesting-"

"Only if you think that there's something left unfinished between us...do you?" The question was very gentle. "I've been thinking about this for some time...It's...it's a moment that I don't want to be forced."

Without speaking, Taylor slowly leaned in, his lips brushing against hers. The smallest sigh of satisfaction left the Quarians lips as she closed her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered ever so silently, breaking away only for a second. Without thinking, she leaned forward and caused both of them to overbalance. Silently they continued to kiss, slowly working their way towards something that both of them had been craving for a long time.

XXXXX

Rebecca inhaled deeply before relaxing her lungs, a puff of smoke escaping her lips. "Feeling nervous?" The silver haired woman turned to see that Liara had sat down next to her in the starboard observation lounge.

"You want the truth?" she asked. Liara nodded. "Yeah, I am," she answered, putting her cigarette to her lips for another puff. "Just thinking things through really. It's amazing how times like this make you consider things that you never even gave the light of day before."

"May I ask what you are referring to?" the Asari asked.

"Nothing in particular, the second I try to focus on something it slips away and something else takes it's place. It's a little unnerving to be honest, like I'm not in control of my own thoughts."

"I have lived a long time Rebecca," the archeologist said, resting her hand on the Russian's knee, "I have seen more than most non-Asari...and I have been down that path myself. I know what you are going through. I suspect that it is nerves, nothing more."

"Well, that's believable," she admitted, "though I can't help but notice that less than pleasant memories keep coming to the forefront."

"Such as?"

"Elysium," the ODST replied grimly, "it was supposed to be a simple mission, storm the labs, kill any guards, take the scientists prisoner and recover whatever data we could. We ended up MAC rounding the planet from orbit and killed every living thing on it. A lot of good people died back there."

"Including Elizabeth," Liara pointed out.

Rebecca stiffened slightly, "yeah."

"Do...do you still have feelings for her?"

"You know Liara I admit I haven't done a lot of catching up on Asari relationships, even with Neriena as my mom, but when it comes to Humans we generally don't like our partners talking about their exes."

"This isn't exactly a normal situation," Liara interjected, "you believed that she was dead, but Cerberus brought her back. It isn't something that you can just ignore."

Rebecca sighed. "I'd be lying if I saw no, so yeah, I still got tingles when I saw her. I'm not going back to her though, I still want to be friends with her and maybe catch up on old times but our relationship is over. I can't let myself get stuck in the past, if I do I can never move forward. "

"As someone who spent half a century digging up ancient civilizations, I resent that comment," Liara said, smirking ever so slightly.

Rebecca chuckled. "You know what I mean. What I'm trying to say is that it's not fair to you. You opened yourself up to me at Galnu and let me into your life. What kind of a cold heartless bitch would I have to be to just drop you and just run back to my old flame? I just hope that she thinks the same way. I can't go back to her but...I just hope she understands"

"A respectable and understandable approach to a situation," Liara said comfortingly. "I heard that she was accompanying the Marauders to deal with the Flood. Perhaps after all of this she could join us and the rest of the crew for drinks."

"You know, Jane only said that she would buy those if we all came back alive."

"Yes, so odds are we will all be intoxicated within 48 hours."

Rebecca laughed. "Thanks for giving my spirits a bit of a boost, a guess sometimes you just need to talk to someone...god have I been single for so long that I forgot that?"

"Think nothing of it, just ask me anytime you need me to do something."

"Well...there is one thing." Reaching for the table in front of her, Rebecca picked up a small box of cigarettes. "Just in case things don't go that well, I'd like to die knowing that I had a smoke with my girlfriend before I did."

"Aren't...aren't those things unhealthy?" Liara asked nervously.

"They would be if I was a cheapskate or if I lived in the 21st century, but these aren't the standard tobacco cigarettes. They're made from genetically engineered plants, all the good feelings of a regular cigarette, none of the health problems or addiction. They're more expensive but I think they're worth it, after all I don't plan on fighting in the biggest war of my time and living, only to die of lung cancer a couple of decades down the road."

"Well, if it's healthy," Liara said, taking a single cigarette and wedging it in-between her lips.

"Let me get that," Rebecca said, flicking her lighter on and holding it up to the Asari's face, lighting the cigarette. Hesitantly, Liara inhaled before removing the butt and exhaling.

"It is...an interesting sensation," Liara remarked. "It is hard to describe."

"You don't need to, I'm feeling the same thing right now," the Russian said with a grin, taking another puff. "So what do you think?"

"I suppose that it is enjoyable, though I do not feel the urge to make a habit out of it. Perhaps it will be an act that I only preform at special occasions."

"Sure, why not?" Rebecca said cheerfully. The moments ticked by as the two women simply sat there, taking the occasional puff. However, the sticks in their mouths were not meant to last forever, and all too soon they had burnt out. "This is why you carry a pack of them around," Rebecca explained, grinding her stub into the ash tray in front of her, Liara doing the same. "They don't last that long."

"It seems like quite a credit sink."

"I guess it is, but then again hopping around the edge of the galaxy looking for ancient artifacts doesn't exactly sound cheap either. Speaking of which, are you going to go back to that when this is all over?"

"I...I guess that would be nice...but...if I would like it if you...you would accompany me," Liara said, sounding nervous all of a sudden. "I...I enjoy practicing my studies, but...but I enjoy being with you more...so if...if you do not wish to do-"

"What are you talking about? Going from planet to planet, seeing new places, contributing to history and discovery while hanging around with a 100 year old biesexual alien? I can think of a lot more boring ways to retire, you can bet your sweet blue ass I'm tagging along for the ride."

"Really?" Liara asked, sounding excited, "oh that's wonderful to hear."

"I'm afraid I'm a little under qualified in the field of archeology though," she remarked, "Guess I just have to watch you play in the dirt and have all the fun to yourself."

"Oh that will not be any issue, I could tutor you," Liara said, so enthusiastic that she paid no heed to Rebecca's joke. "I know just about everything there is to know. Even better, I have my doctorate, therefore I am qualified to be a professional teacher to you. If you act as my assistant for a few years with me teaching you, you could write your own thesis essay and get your own doctorate, then you would be considered an expert on Protheans, just like me."

"Dr. Frost," Rebecca remarked staring out into the void in front of her. "Well...there's a thought. You know what? You've got a deal Dr. T'Soni, you've got an assistant for the next couple of years."

Liara looked like she wanted to squeal with joy, but instead she settled for hugging Rebecca. "I can't remember the last time that I was this excited," she panted.

"I had no idea that this stuff got you so worked up," Rebecca remarked, looking amused. "By the way, if I'm doing this for you could you do me one more favor?"

"Name it."

"We're alone now...I'd like to get back to what we started back on Earth."

"That is it?"

"Think of it as a way to give me my first crash coarse on Prothean history."

Liara grinned. "If you insist Ms. Frost, but pay attention. There will be a test on this." Reaching out, she gently pressed her middle and index finger to the silver haired woman's temple. "Embrace eternity."

XXXXX

Garrus panted heavily as he forced himself forward again. He had been ecstatic when Jane had taken him up on his offer but now he was starting to see how his idea was coming back to bite him in the ass. He understood and had accepted the fact that she was a SPARTAN, but how powerful she was something that you had to experience first hand to truly appreciate. Even without the enhanced strength that her MJOLNIR gave her he was certain that she could snap a Krogan's neck without much difficulty, and he was sure that he was developing the bruises to prove it.

Even as she lunges forward, their eyes met. Her lip curled into the faintest of smirks. She knew how much trouble she was causing him, her face simply said "you really didn't think this through, did you?" But if Garrus Vakarian was one thing it was bullheaded. He never knew when to give up, even when doing so would have saved him a lot of pain. This was defiantly one of those times.

Before he could so much as blink, he was on his back, his chest smarting as Jane smirked and looked down on him. "You should have known that it would've ended like this. Still I gotta give you credit Garrus, you actually managed to make me more work up one Hell of a sweat. I can't help but wonder why you even suggested this in the first place."

"What can I say? Curiosity killed the dog."

"Cat."

"I'm gonna kill Joker," Garrus growled. "Anyway, as I was saying, it was partly curiosity but also partly because it's been awhile since I've done this and I just knew that you would be better at it than any Turian I ever met."

"Aw that's sweet...I think."

"Well I suppose I should thank you for even saying yes to it. I gotta say Shepard, I didn't think that you were up for sparring." Jane grinned as she reached down, grabbing Garrus' hand and pulling him to his feet. The two of them were standing in Jane's cabin, the mess from her earlier rampage having been cleaned up. For the past hour they had been fully engrossed in full contact sparring. It was certainly odd that they had chosen to spend the hours they had left before the mission punching the daylights out of each other, although Garrus would remark it was more of Jane beating him to a pulp and seeing how long he could remain vertical, but neither of them regretted it.

"So do you ever-ow," he winced, walking towards the couch that was located next to Jane's bed. "Do you ever take that armor off?" he asked, slumping onto the couch.

"Not really," Jane said honestly, sitting down next to him. Both of them had been wearing their combat gear during the sparring match, although for the sake of fairness Jane had fiddled around with her MJOLNIR, reducing it's total capacity so that she wouldn't knock Garrus out in five seconds.

"Can I ask why?"

She shrugged, "It's kind of a SPARTAN thing. Back in the day MJOLNIR was a real pain in the ass to get on, we had to use heavy lift equipment and everything. We couldn't afford to do that whenever we pleased, especially considering that we commonly spent weeks on uncharted planets, so we ending up spending a lot of time in these suits. Eventually we came to think of them as a second set of skin, we grew to accept them as part of our lives. When we take them off, no matter what we're wearing underneath, we feel...naked."

"Damn, you'd make a better Turian than me," Garrus remarked. "I hate regulations and following orders, you need someone to order you out of your armor before you even consider taking it off."

"Oh I'm not all that great at following orders, we're all out here are we?"

"Anderson said something about SPARTANs doing the right thing and not what they're told to do."

"Yeah," Jane said, words that she had heard a long time ago echoing in her mind. 'Are you a puppet or a SPARTAN?' "Something like that."

"So, exactly what do you have planned after this? Assuming that we all survive and somehow avoid the death penalty?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Jane, you've spent enough years in your military to make even the most dedicated of Turian generals blush. You've fought in not one but two galactic wars, I can't help but wonder what you plan on doing once all of this is over."

"I...I don't know," Jane answered honestly. "There isn't exactly a retirement plan for super soldiers created in a desperate attempt to save mankind from extinction. Heck, it's even worse for me, I'm a third generation SPARTAN."

"Right...you're going to have to tell me what that means. I didn't do a whole lot of research into the different variations of your kind."

"Ok, first you have your SPARTAN Is, they were the result of the ORION project. They were basically just normal Marines that volunteered for genetic augmentation. From what I heard there wasn't exactly a high death rate and the augs did work, but they fell way short of expectations. They filed them off to the best spec op units that could use them and then started up the SPARTAN II program, and these guys are the ones that most people think of when you talk about us."

"Seventy five kids were taken from their families and replaced with flash clones. They were put through brutal training that even Turians would think was going too far, being educated over the years on every aspect of warfare. Scouting, espionage, behind the lines insertion, frontline combat, long range support, you name it, they learned it. Then they got their groundbreaking augmentations and state of the art armor and then got sent out to change the outcomes of entire battles."

"It was far from flawless though, half of the recruits were either killed or crippled for life, but no one could argue with the results, they were forces of nature. Millions of Covenant personal were killed because of three dozen Humans, and the most well known and skilled one even ending up striking the blow that would eventually kill them...but before that they weren't cutting it, despite their impressive record."

"The Covenant were just too numerous and the UNSC actually had more planets than they did SPARTANs. So a certain jackass Colonel who will go unnamed went in front of ONI and said 'the IIs were a good prototype, but now we need a mass production model'. That's what SPARTAN IIIs are, they're the IIs stripped down to make them easier to train, only around a third of the training and much less advanced armor...and we were considered much more expendable."

"How expendable?"

"The first mission that they sent the IIIs on? We weren't expected to come back."

"Well that's just idiotic. In the Turian military we know that we need to take risks, that we need to tell our men to do dangerous things that there's a good chance they won't survive, but I've yet to meet a commander that told a soldier, 'go out there and die.' Also if you're anything to go by, SPARTAN IIIs were unstoppable on the battlefield, I don't see why they would just throw you away."

"Most SPARTAN IIIs were a lot less skilled than me, at least in my current state. After awhile we started to rack up some experience and some of us even got better suits. I suppose that you had a point, we needed every soldier we could get back then, I don't get why they were just being thrown away. Besides, what sense does it make to make someone's first mission a suicide one, THEN give them easier missions. It would have made more sense to deploy us in normal engagements, let us rack up skill, then tackled those impossible missions that needed to be done."

"I suppose there's a reason your government isn't trying that particular maneuver again, it would probably be a public relations nightmare. Now going back, you said that you're better than most SPARTAN IIIs. By how much exactly?"

"Well, I don't like to brag but let me put it this way," Jane replied, her grin slightly cocky. "All SPARTANs got different ratings to help determine where their talents could best be used. Only two of them ever got the rating 'hyper-lethal vector.' I was one of them."

"Who was the other one?"

"John-117."

"Damn, high bar."

"Nice to know that you're impressed." She looked at the Turian, smiling. "I'm glad that we can talk like this Garrus. You're a good friend, even if it took me this long to realize it."

"Well I can't blame you for that. If the research I did is anything to go on your skull is a lot thicker than I originally thought it was."

"Oh, ha ha Vakarian," Jane snarked, playfully punching him in the arm. "That does it, enough about me, tell me about you."

"Ok, I think I'll have a hard time toping someone who's on par with the savior of humanity but I'll give it a shot. Remember that recon scout I mentioned a couple of months ago?"

XXXXX

Author's Note: I'm starting to get a nagging feeling when I look through my reviews. There's a large pocket of anonymous reviews that all happened for the last chapter, all of them very close together and have similar messages, albeit different names. I'm starting to get the feeling that someone is spamming me, but I'm not certain if I should delete them or not. I suppose I could turn off anonymous reviews, but a couple of reviewers that I respect review anonymously, so I find myself in a bit of a pickle. Any advice?

Yeah, I had a little fun with that first scene, even since Lair of the Shadow Broker, I can't help but remember Ms. 'Zorah's "nerve stimulator". Now I'm pretty much convinced that Tali is a complete and utter pervert once you get past her shyness. If I can be more serious for a second here, did anyone hear the mass effect romance music while reading this? Because I heard it while writing it. All in all, I enjoyed writing about the crew of the Normandy taking their relationships one step further. I know some people will probably be angry with me not hooking up Jane and Garrus, but as Jane is supposed to be asexual with being a SPARTAN and all and Garrus is not supposed to be into humans, I thought I try and mix things up and just make them platonic life partner.

Yes this chapter was shorter than usual, but it was bridging and I like to think that it doesn't matter if a chapter has 1000 more or less words, the quality of the work should be what matters, and if I think a chapter only needs 4500 words, I see no reason to shoehorn in more dialogue in just to meet a quota.

On a side note, Valern is the SALARIAN councilor's name? GOD DAMN IT!


	93. Vigilant

Chapter 93

Vigilant

Author's Note: Well the last chapter was fairly well received, although one guy commented on being slightly uncomfortable about Tali and Taylor jumping the gun before they tied the knot. Admittedly I don't see the problem with pre marital sex despite being Catholic, I guess I just look at it like this, I don't mind people making love when they're not married, I mind when they fuck when they're not married...in fact I mind when people fuck in general. And yes I consider making love and fucking to be two completely different things. To that particular reviewer though, it came as a part of them being scared that they could die tomorrow and they were engaged and let's just say that they plan on taking that particular step ASAP if they get out alive. Ok, let's go.

Oh yeah, happy St. Patrick's day.

XXXXX

Jane blinked as she stepped out of the elevator, Garrus standing next to her. She had just gotten the word from Joker, they would be arriving at Illos within five minutes. "Thanks for letting me crash on your couch, hope my snoring didn't keep you up," the Turian said as they began to walk forward, heading for the bridge.

"I've learned to catch sleep whenever I need to, that includes while I can hear artillery fire," Jane remarked, smirking slightly. "Don't pat yourself on the back too much."

As the two of them began to walk forward, both Taylor and Tali passed them. "Hey," the Quarian said, sounding like she was in a particularly good mood, "just need to get down the engines, make sure that Ken and Gabby don't mishandle the radiation containment and fry us all."

"And I thought that I might as well keep her company considering that the HEV pods are a hop and a skip away," Taylor remarked. "I trust that's how we're deploying?"

"I can't say for certain," Jane replied, "we need to figure out what kind of situation we're jumping into first. We may use HEVs, we may use dropships, or we might just jump out of the cargo bay again. Hell we might not even have to land, we might just need the Normandy to bombard the planet's surface. I need the two of you to be ready to do anything, along with everyone else. Are you up for it?"

"No, we came out here because we were only prepared for a picnic," Tali said dryly. "Just tell us where to go and we'll be there," she continued, her tone growing more serious.

"All right, see you soon Chief, you too LT." The two passed Jane and Garrus, stepping into the still open elevator. As they did, the faintest of scents reached Jane's nostrils, smelling odd and as if as if someone had tried to wash the scent away yet the tiniest bit of it had lingered. A realization struck Jane and as Taylor reached out to push the button that would take them down to engineering. She flashed a knowing smile at the young couple. Both of their faces darkened and they looked away from their Captain, the doors closing.

"What was that all about?" Garrus asked, glancing at the SPARTAN that stood next to him.

"Oh, nothing," Jane lied, turning around and continuing on her way to the bridge, Garrus right behind her. "What's our status Joker?" she asked, the two of them stopping right behind the pilot's seat.

"We should be coming out of slipspace right about...now," he replied, a strange vibration running through the ship. "Stealth drive is online, they shouldn't be able to see us unless they've got someone running maintenance on the outer hull."

"What are the scanners saying?"

"Hold on a second...yeah, I'm picking up the heat signatures of around 25 ships in orbit over Illos. Most of them look like Geth ships, but one of them is Jiralhanae...shit, looks like it's a super-carrier too. Looks like the Vice President of the UEG owes you an apology Jane, with this many ships out here they're defiantly up to something."

"Yeah, but the question is what. Can you pick up any movement inside of Illos' atmosphere?"

"Hold on a second," Joker said, his fingers dancing across the controls in front of him. "There's a lone Geth frigate that's not that far from the surface. It looks like it's dropping off some people directly in front of a building of some kind. Hold on, from what I can tell that thing leads underground. It's a bunker."

"Saren looking for something buried on a planet that used to be a massive Prothean city?" Garrus pointed out, looking at Jane. "This can't be good."

"If only we knew exactly what he was looking for," Jane said, sounding frustrated. "but we don't, so we have no idea how to deal with this apart from a direct insertion. We need to get down there and storm that bunker."

"So what's it going to be? The pods again?" Garrus asked.

"Yeah, that would be a bad idea," Joker said, tapping the screen in front of him and causing a three dimensional hologram of the bunker's entrance to appear in front of them, countless towering skyscrapers surrounding it. "You see these buildings? They're clustered pretty damn close together, looks like this place used to be a city. Anyway, there's a small patch of clear ground right in front of the bunker, but there's only around 20 meters of it."

"And?"

"Well you wouldn't know considering that you've only jumped once and when you did you landed in the middle of a field, but HEV pods need room for error. They fall from high orbit all the way to the surface and on the way down they pick up a LOT of speed."

"So? When I used them there was an auto guide setting. We can just use that and land right in front of the bunker."

"And if you were to tell that to, say, Rebecca, she would laugh her ass off. Pretty much all ODSTs consider the auto function on the pods to be completely inferior to manual. It's a widely accepted fact that the judgement of shock troops is better for getting people on the ground alive. Either way, that's too little space to land, if a pod hits a building on the way down, odds are it'll kill the passenger, and even then you could only squeeze two pods into that space before they start landing on top of one another, three if you're lucky."

"Dropships then?"

"Better, but I don't think that'll work either. That Geth frigate is still near the entrance to the bunker. The thing could just blow you out of the sky before you even got close. And here's the thing, I'm not 100% we can just drop off a ground team manually either. I would have to go in, slow down the Normandy so that you all don't die when you jump, open the cargo bay, let you all jump out, and then restart the engines so I can get out of there. The stealth systems don't block visual contact, so a Geth might be able to paint a target and get the frigate to fire on me. Or, you know, they could just radio it and say, hey, filthy organic ship right below you."

"Then...is there anyway for us to get down there?" Garrus asked, sounding frustrated.

Joker turned to look at the Turian, his normal wise ass smile replaced by a look of honest concern and desperation. "I...I don't know Garrus...it doesn't look good. I can't put the shields up because if I do it'll see me coming, even if I warm up the MAC and take it out before it can do anything the Geth ships in orbit might be able to get a bead on me before we can vent the heat and get the stealth systems online again. The nearest patch where we can safely drop you is too far away, the Geth would be able to fortify the bunker before you could even get there...we're stuck."

"I once took out a super-carrier with a fighter, a dropship and a rigged slipspace drive," Jane remarked, staring at the hologram. "There's got to be a way too...hold on. Joker, could you get down there and drop something off and get out safely?"

"Uh, yeah probably. If you're saying that someone should jump out of the ship while it's going that fast though the Geth are only going to have to deal with a couple of corpses though."

"I have an idea that just might work," Jane remarked. Set a bombing run for that patch in front of the bunker. "We're making a delivery."

"Jane, what are you doing?" Joker asked, looking at the Captain as she began to walk away, looking nervous.

"No time to explain, Garrus I need you to come with me." The Turian looked startled but followed the SPARTAN without question. "Ashley, can you hear me?" she asked, putting her fingers to her COM unit.

"Yeah, what do you need?"

"Garrus and I are heading down, it'll be too dangerous for anyone else at the moment. I want you to assume command of the ship and provide support in whatever way you can."

"Got it."

"Jacob, I need you to get a rocket launcher and as much ammo as you can carry down to the cargo bay, we're going to need a lot of firepower."

"Understood."

"Uh, Jane you heard Joker, exactly how are we going to get down there...Jane?"

She allowed herself a smile as the stopped in front of the elevator. "You'll see."

XXXXX

Anderson felt his muscles tense as he sat on the bridge of his dreadnaught and flagship, the _Last Defense_. Look at the datapad in his hand, he quickly scanned a section dictating the other commanders of the massive fleet defending the Citadel, numbering at 1,764 ships and holding the record for one of the largest fleets ever assembled. "Elizabeth Hall, commander of the Marathon-class cruiser _Archangel_, Shala'Raan, commander of the Marathon-class cruiser _Never-ending Night_, Rtas' Vadum, commander of the super-carrier _Enlightened Crusader_, Isonia 'Cirate, command of the super-carrier _Righteous Justice_, Rason, commander of the super carrier _Unbreakable Resolve_, and Matriarch Lidanya, commander of the dreadnought, the _Destiny Ascension,_" he muttered. Marton and the rest of the Marauders had left hours ago, heading for the Omega 4 relay to deal with the Flood.

He sighedrubbing his eyes in a tired manner. "I've got a bad feeling about this," he said to no one in particular.

"Sir, I'm receiving a signal. Apparently all of the fleet commanders have established a private COM line," a navigator said.

"Very well, patch me in," the Fleet Admiral said, putting his fingers to his ear.

"I am glad that you could join us Anderson," Rtas said over the COM lines, "I see that the Arbiter was not jesting when he said that you were rather impulsive. Assaulting your leader because you believed his judgement to be faulty is something that I would expect from a Sangheili, not a Human."

A grim smile spread over Anderson's face. "Well, I've known Jane Shepard for a long time, and I've grown to trust her with my life. I believed her, and if what she said about the Reapers is true then I'll be more than happy to take the fall for giving her a chance to do something about it."

"Admiral, I must ask you a question," Shala'Raan said. "I know from experience that your judgement is widely respected among Humans, but I need to hear you say it. The _Normandy_ and her crew, do you beleive that they are doing what is right?"

"I do Admiral, why do you ask?"

"No reason," the Quarian lied, "I was merely curious. For the most part I simply wanted to be assured that you did not do what you did simply to spite Udina."

"Well that was an added bonus," Anderson joked. Shala replied with a nervous laugh before falling silent. "Rtas, is there any chance that I could ask why Thel is staying on the sidelines for this battle?"

"Sadly, the Arbiter's personal vessel was badly damaged in the Battle of Sanghelios and repairs are not yet finished. I offered him my vessel to command from but he denied, saying that he would not rip my own ship from me."

"An interesting approach," Rason said over the lines, "it is a pity, he would have been a valuable ally in the coming battle."

"Fighting alongside a Jiralhanae," Rtas grumbled. "The list of things that I have never seen in my life is much shorter than I thought it would be."

The former Supreme Commander chuckled, "The feeling is mutual Sangheili."

"Is it true that the fool known as Sukron assumed control of all of the Empire's forces and replaced the regular fleet and fieldmasters with his own puppets?" Matriarch Lidanya asked, sounding grim.

"Sadly," Rason replied.

"You knew him, what do you think his battle strategy is?" Hall asked.

"I suspect that he will be willing to sacrifice countless lives to take the Citadel, do not expect any caution from the attackers. No doubt Sukron ordered his commanders to fire on any ship that hesitates to do whatever it takes to destroy us, from using itself as a shield to ramming. He fails short in terms of being tactical, but I must admit as much as I hate him, it is somewhat admirable how determined he can be. That is, when it is not terrifying."

"I saw the bodies of one of his victims on Noveria," Isonia hissed, "I look forward to the heat of my plasma torpedoes searing the flesh from his bones."

"As much as Sukron is despised by everyone, myself included, we seem to be forgetting who the real threat is here." Lidanya remarked. "The one that engineered Sukron's rise to power, who started this whole damn war, and is the only reason the Coalition exists in the first place. Saren."

"He wasn't even born when I hit my Matriarch stage, and considering that he was one of the most skilled Spectres that the Council ever had, I heard and saw many things. Like Sukron, he is relentless and brutal, but unlike that fool, Saren has a method to his madness. As tempting as it will be to kill that madman that now calls himself Emperor, we need to focus on Saren. Our main priority should be to destroy his flagship and him."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it Matriarch," Anderson said, "this is one battle where we're going to have to make plans on the-"

"I'm reading reports!" the voice of an Asari shrieked over all COM lines, "Slipspace ruptures, hundreds of them!"

Anderson's jaw curled into a grimace. The screen in front of him displayed countless ships emerging from the milky white portals. Jiralhanae, Blood Pack, Geth, Collector, even a few Batarian that had escaped the fall of the Hegemony. And at the center of the throng was the red and black starship that had taken part in the attack on Eden Prime, Sovereign. There was well over a thousand, even more than had attacked Sanghelios. But still, the Alliance had the advantage in numbers. Anderson couldn't help but think that something simply felt wrong about this. He had no time to analyze it, as he and the other six commanders all roared the same order. "OPEN FIRE!"

XXXXX

Saren held up his arm in front of him, staring at his new hand. Admittedly he had had an artificial hand for a long time, but that one had been crafted from Geth technology. This one was different though, it had been made by Sovereign, by the Reapers. Instead of the dull gray of the Geth, this was an eery blue with an occasional red glint visible in the depths. It was far more advanced, he could easily crush the skull of a Krogan with it.

The arm was not the only implant that he had now, countless other implants had been installed throughout his entire body. They increased his reflex time, agility, strength, and in practically every way possible. In his current state only the most skilled individuals in the galaxy even had a chance of defeating him in a one on one fight. It made him feel powerful...but uneasy at the same time.

For the longest time he had been afraid of the most dangerous powers that Sovereign possessed. Indoctrination. The ability to completely control any organic being no matter how strong their minds were. The signal that did so was slow, subtle and undetectable, with no counter in existence. You didn't even know that it was affecting you at first, and when you realized that it was, it was already too late.

"No," Saren muttered, closing his hand into a fist, "my mind is still my own...besides, even if I wan under that machine's control, I have gone too far to turn back now. If organic life is to survive in any form, this must be done.

He glanced to his left and saw several Geth passing by, holding rifles. A Geth buggy then pulled up, a hatch opening up top with a Geth grunt poking it's head out, gesturing for him to get in. Without speaking, Saren climbed onto the buggy and positioned himself to drop into it. However, a faint roaring noise reached his ears, causing him to hesitate. Wondering what it was, he glanced up at the sky in the direction that it was coming from.

His eyes widened. A UNSC starship was tearing through the air, heading directly for their position. The cargo bay door was sliding open slightly and the ship partially reduced speed the very moment that something shot out of the cargo bay. Saren realized that the object falling to the ground was a Warthog. A crewed Warthog. "GO!" he shouted, jumping into the buggy and slamming the hatch shut behind him. Facing the Geth that was driving the vehicle, he shouted "Get to the conduit now! Have everything else hold them off!"

The Geth said nothing as it floored the acceleration, causing the buggy to take off, heading into the bunker. As it did, the Warthog slammed into the ground, where it bounced and went up into the air a couple of feet before landing again. Garrus, looking like he had just free fallen from the Normandy, grit his mandibles as he brought the turret to bear, aiming it at the Geth infantry, Jane slamming on the acceleration as he did.

The turret roared to life as a dozen Geth dove for cover in front of the bunker, the storm of bullets tearing four of them to shreds before they could reach it. Popping out, the Geth returned fire, Jane making a sharp right as bullets raked the side of the jeep. Garrus gunned down three more of the light units as another one took aim and fired at the Warthog, this one holding a rocket launcher.

Jane spotted the oncoming rocket out of the corner of her eye and swerved viciously. The projectile missed the center of the vehicle, but still managed to clip the rear and hit it with the edge of it's detonation. This resulting the metal back of the Warthog buckling under the strain and Garrus' shields flaring. Swearing under his breath, the Turian aimed the turret at the Geth with the rocket launch and pounded several dozen rounds into the synthetic.

The remaining Geth hid behind cover again, but Jane decided that they could no longer afford to waste time with them as Saren got deeper and deeper into the bunker. Taking one hand off of the wheel, Jane grabbed her Cain off of her back, aiming it at the slab of stone that the last four Geth were taking cover behind. The 25 gram slug tore through the air and smashing into the slab, completely annihilating it and the Geth that were crouching behind it.

"It really shows that the Quarians designed the Geth for manual labor, not combat!" Jane shouted as she spun the Warthog and drove into the bunker, heading after Saren. "How are you holding up back there?"

"You just drove a flimsy combat jeep out of a starship going who knows how fast and landed it on the hard ground while I was doing nothing but holding onto this turret!" Garrus shouted. "I'm going to need to have Chakwas make sure that all my organs are in the right place! Next time I'm driving!"

"You're fine, good to hear it!" Jane replied, the Warthog heading deeper into the bunker. The inside of the bunker was surprising massive, the ceiling at least a hundred feet above the ground, old yet sturdy walls standing strong even after 50,000 years. Oddly enough, what appeared to be silvery tubes seemed to be jutting out of the walls at regular intervals. They appeared to be pieces of technology instead of simply being part of the architecture of the underground facility that they were in, but they appeared to be inactive.

"Why is this place so damn big?" Garrus asked, glancing from side to side and realizing that a small convey could spread out horizontally in this tunnel and still have a bit of elbow room.

"I don't know Garrus, Hell I still don't even know what is special about this place, but we can figure that out later. Right now we need to-DAMN IT!" A massive transparent shield with an orange tint flared to life in front of them, blocking their path "Saren must have set this up to slow us down!" she snarled, slamming on the brakes and bringing the Warthog to a screeching halt.

"How does that work? We saw him run into the tunnel three minutes ago, when did he have the time to set this up. It...wait a minute, there's a door over there." Jane looked to the side and saw Garrus pointing to the side, where there was indeed a man sized opening in the wall.

"Maybe we can disable the power source of this thing," Jane remarked, stepping out of the Warthog as Garrus jumped off of the turret.

"Was it really necessary to bring this?" Garrus asked, pointing to the UNSC rocket launcher that was lying in the passenger seat along with several cases of ammo. "It's a noisy and imprecise thing, I much rather use my rifle."

"Which won't do anything against a Geth Colossus unless you want to politely ask it to stand still while you whittle down it's shields. Take it." Sighed, Garrus grabbed the heavy weapon, sliding it onto his back and slapping three ammo cases to his waist. Hesitantly, the two of them entered the doorway.

The stepped into a rather small room, packed with pieces of machinery. The two of them started to look around when they noticed a little hologram of an undefinable shape. "You are not Prothean," a mystical and mysterious voice said, originating from the hologram, "but you are not machine either. This is one of many eventualities that was predicted, this is why we sent our message through the beacons."

"What is that? A VI?" Garrus asked as the two stopped in front of the hologram. "Why is it speaking a language our translators can understand?"

"I have been analyzing the speech of all who have entered this facility, by doing so I am able to speak a language that you are capable of understanding. My name is Vigil, an advanced non-organic operating system charged with the maintenance and organization of the Illos research facility."

"What is this place? What is Saren looking for here?" Jane asked, looking at the Prothean A.I..

"The one you call Saren is searching for a device known as the conduit, a top secret research project developed her on Illos. He has been exposed to the taint of the machines and has become indoctrinated, all he does is to further the goals of the Reapers."

"The Reapers? You know about them?"

"Yes. Saren seeks the Conduit to gain access to the Citadel."

"The Citadel? What does it have to do with anything?" Garrus questioned.

"The Citadel was the heart of Prothean civilization, as it is the heart of galactic civilization today and the center of civilization many times before. It is a trap set by the Reapers, in reality it is a giant mass relay, it's true purpose kept secret and it's structure maintained by a race of mindless drones."

"The Keepers," Garrus muttered, "so that's where they came from. Still what does the Citadel being a relay accomplish?"

"It takes thousands of years for empires to rise, the Reapers must shut down to conserve energy while they wait for their prey to repopulate. However, they are vulnerable in this state. In order to avoid destruction, they flee beyond the edge of the galaxy, to dark space, where they will never be found. When organic life has risen again, they will use the Citadel to return."

"That means that the first blow struck by the Reapers will be against the leaders of every race!" Jane shouted.

"Correct, the first attack against the Protheans crippled the leadership of the Empire. What is more, from the Citadel the Reapers are capable of shutting down all of the Mass Relays, cutting off star systems from one another. From there, there, they can systematically wipe out races planet by planet. When they are finished, they return to dark space."

"That's why they built the Relays," Jane said, "The Reapers make races depend on them, then take them away when they need them the most. But that won't work this time around, the Council might be crippled by this, but the UNSC, RSN and Empire all use slipspace technology, they don't need the relays."

"The Council races though...they'll be defenseless," Garrus remarked, a horrified look crossing his face. "But still what is this place? Where did Sovereign come from if the Reapers are in dark space? What is the Conduit and why do they need it?"

"Sovereign was no doubt a vanguard left behind to monitor the status of organic life in the galaxy, and signal the other Reapers through the Citadel when the time came. However when it attempted to this time, the signal failed, the Keepers did not respond, the Citadel remained closed and the Reapers remained trapped in dark space."

"What went wrong?" Jane asked.

"Illos was a secret research facility, dedicated to discovering the secrets of the Mass Relays. Not even the Citadel knew of it's existence, and when the Reapers came through, it was spared. The research teams put themselves in status in cryogenic pods, waiting until the Reapers had returned to dark space. But the genocide of the Protheans took three centuries, and while they attempted to hold out, the facility fell into disrepair and my power sources began to falter. There was not enough power to maintain all of the pods soon."

"You didn't," Garrus whispered.

"I had no choice. One by one, I was forced to disable the pods of non-essential personal. As the years passed by, the number of survivors grew fewer and fewer. When the Reapers finally retreated back beyond the Citadel, only the top scientists remained. When they awakened, they finished development on the Conduit."

"You mentioned that before, what is it?" Jane asked.

"The Conduit is a miniature Mass Relay that connects to the inner Citadel. The research team used it to return there and sabotaged the Keepers with their last breath. They were the ones that received the Reaper's signal and opened the portal. Without them, the Reapers could not remotely open it. They would have to do it manually."

"And now Saren is using the Conduit to get to the Citadel and open the Citadel!" Garrus shouted. "We need to get moving!"

"Wait," Jane said, looking at Vigil. "There was something else in your beacon, another part of the message. Saren and I both have the Cipher, but only I could understand it. Why is that?"

"You...you understood it? Then there may be hope."

"What are you talking about?" Jane asked.

"There is a reason that Illos was chosen to act as a home to the research team. We found evidence of alien life forms before our time, and we were investigating them alongside other forms of technology. Most of the alien technology could not be activated by Protheans. However, in the years that I was forced to wait after the research team went through the Conduit, never to return as the Conduit only travels one way, I was able to reactivate one of the alien's communication lines. I made contact with an alien A.I., hidden beneath the planet's surface and I learned much. The A.I. Used the beacons to add to the message that I sent out in desperation, hopping that some Protheans would find it. The alien intelligence said that only one species would be able to understand it, and that only a member of that race would be able to activate this."

As Vigil spoke, a panel in the floor disappeared and a small control panel rose out of the ground. It was silvery and consisted of a small support that wended in a sphere dotted with symbols. "The alien A.I. Refused to tell me more out of fear that the Reapers would uncover it's secrets, and not long after the communication line failed, causing me to fall out of contact with the A.I. All that it said is that when the Reclaimers came, it would provide them with their salvation."

"Reclaimer," Jane whispered. Without thinking, she walking forward, stopping in front of the control panel. Taking a deep breath, she reached out and pressed her palm against the panel. Instantly the panel began to glow brightly, and Jane felt the ground shake.

"Jane, what the Hell is going on down there!" Joker shouted over the COM lines.

"I don't know, what's your status up there! Are you getting a reading?"

"All of the Geth ships jumped out of the system a little while ago but the super-carrier is sticking around for some reason. And You better bet I'm getting a reading. I'm reading massive tectonic movement on Illos' surface. The freaking continents are being split in half! They...oh dear god. There's a massive hole opening in the planet, you could fit a fleet in it. But there's no rocks, no magma, there's just...machinery."

"The A.I. That I spoke to said that salvation would be found within. I do believe that he referred to Illos as a...shield world," Vigil said,

XXXXX

Author's Note: Ok, I got another cluster of anonymous reviewers within half an hour with all of them ranting, I'm pretty sure I've got a spammer here. That's it, I made up my mind, I'm deleting all reviews from this guy, I'm pretty sure this crosses into flaming/trolling/spamming, one of those things that I don't tolerate. Half of the things he (I assume it's a he) said were just idiotic, like I should write how all the Sangheili get killed or that Jane should kill someone that didn't deserve it or that Taylor should be dismissed from the military because he screwed up once around 70 chapters ago.

Yeah, how dare he let people die because one of the most deadly people in the Empire attacked him with technology he didn't know they had when in reality most of his platoon walked away alive and he still accomplished his objective in a situation where the enemy had the tactical advantage. To whoever is leaving these reviews, stop, I will delete them. I don't want to turn off anonymous reviews but I will if I think this problem is getting out of hand. There's a fine line between constructive criticism and this. People, I kindly ask you to keep all of your views on a certain chapter confined to a single review.

Also, regarding the ME3 ending. I won't mention spoilers for those of you who haven't beaten it yet, but I've heard rumors that Bioware may be waiting out to see if the movement to change it loses steam. Whatever you do, KEEP THIS MOVEMENT ALIVE! Be persistent, be determined, and above all, BE POILTE. Don't shout THIS ENDING SUCKS, shout "this ending was poorly executed and this is why I think that." Don't give up, I REFUSE to accept the abomination that I saw as the ending to one of the best video games series that I have ever played. My friends, HOLD THE LINE!


	94. Into the Unknown

Chapter 94

Into the Unknown

Author's Note: Well the the reveal in the last chapter is something that I've been working towards for some time now and I'm glad that I was finally able to write it, now time to explore what I've been planning for so long.

"A shield world?" Jane said, wheeling around to look at Vigil. "What is that...what is this place?"

"I am not certain," the A.I. responded honestly. "The alien Artificial Intelligence that I made contact with refused to tell me much about the true nature of this planet. It said that it was afraid that vital information could be compromised. However, it did say that the key to fighting the Reapers would be revealed when the Reclaimers came. If your touch opened that rift in the planet then what it was talking about must be down there."

"Jane, Saren is still going after the Conduit, we need to stop him from opening the relay and letting the Reapers through. Whatever is down there can wait."

"There's a super-carrier stilling floating around this planet, I'm not too keen on leaving whatever's down there for the Separatists to get. She put her finger to her COM unit. "Joker did you get that conversation?"

"Most of it, damn I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do."

"What's the position of the carrier and how long would it take you to get down into that rift?"

"Luckily the thing is on the far side of the planet, looks like it was waiting for us and picked the wrong side. It'll take it half an hour to get into position, but I can start heading down in a couple of minutes.

"All right, get in there, find whatever Vigil was talking about, and then grab it and get the Hell out of there!"

"All right, I'll tell Ashley and make sure that everyone gets combat ready, what are you going to do?"

"Garrus and I will make sure that Saren doesn't get a chance to use the Conduit. Look at it this way, if one of us fails we'll have the other as insurance. Now get moving! We don't have much time!"

"Got it!" Joker shouted, the line dying.

"I have deactivated the barriers that blocked your path," Vigil said, "the Conduit is not very far, but I must warn you, it is not like the Mass Relays, it was not built to withstand eons of neglect. Even now it is nearing a total shutdown."

"Garrus, Warthog, now!" Jane roared, the two of them running towards the exit, "Vigil, thank you!" she shouted over her shoulder.

"I am happy to have helped those who plan to break the cycle," the A.I. said, it's avatar flicking out. Both the Human and the Turian clambered into the combat jeep before Jane slamming on the the acceleration.

"Never a dull day with you!" Garrus shouted over the roar of the engine as they tore down the tunnel.

"We can make wisecracks later!" she replied, turning sharply around a corner. "God damn it, has this been what Saren has been planning this whole time? He's been controlled by the Reapers and has just been a puppet for them?"

"Looks like it."

"But why? Why the war, why did he organize the Coalition and pitch them against us only now bring the Reapers through. It...oh Lord."

"What?"

"Even if the Reapers could cripple the Council, they would still have three galactic superpowers to deal with. The UNSC, RSN and Empire all use Forerunner technology, it's more advanced than mass effect technology and we wouldn't be cut off from galactic travel if we used it. They would have trouble dealing us so they...they had Saren start this war...they started this war. Son of a bitch, they made us fight each other, all to make their jobs easier!"

Garrus looked horrorstruck. "We...we played right into their hands. But why is Saren using the Conduit now? The war could still drag on for months?"

"Saren must have realized that I was putting the pieces of the puzzle together. He had to move now or everything that he had worked for would come crashing down on top of him." She growled, "I'm going to make that bastard pay for every last death that he's caused, not just Jun's every last person that died in this war, Alliance and Coalition, entire planets devastated, all because of HIM!"

"Jane I know that you're angry, I'm angry too, plenty of Turians have died because of this war, but we've got to stay focused."

Jane inhaled deeply before exhaling. "You're right, but I swear I'm going to rip his head off for everything that he's done." The Warthog continued to speed forward, until the tunnel that the two were in came to an end. They found themselves in a massive room, small piles of wreckage present along the edges. A small path was visible that lead to the other side of the room, Geth flanking the edges.

At the end of the path was unmistakably a Mass Relay, not a simple statue of one, for it's core glowed brightly and it's rings spun. But it was flickering, as if it was having difficulty staying online. "I don't see Saren!" Garrus shouted at the Warthog thundered down the dirt path. He wheeled the turret around and opened fire on the Geth as they began targeting the jeep, bringing down three of them. "He must have gone through already!"

"Then we're going after him!" Jane shouted, swerving violently to avoid a plasma blast from a Colossus before straightening out and heading for the Conduit again.

"Uh Jane, I don't think that's how it works!" Garrus shouted, two more plasma blasts grazing the Warthog and dealing moderate damage by exploding, causing the vehicle to smoke slightly.

"We're about to find out!" she replied, bearing down in the miniature Mass Relay, which was growing dimmer. Closing her eyes, Jane floored the acceleration, intending to ram the device. What happened next was an experience that she had never felt before and never would feel again. She felt as if all of her innards had been ripped from her body and placed in a second set of skin waiting elsewhere, but she felt no pain.

When she opened her eyes, the Warthog was heading for a gray metal ground, which it hit rather violently. Jane found herself thrown against the steering wheel and Garrus held onto the turret for dear life as the jeep slid across the ground. After several painful seconds, it finally came to a stop. "Seriously Jane, are you trying to kill me?" Garrus moaned, leaping off of the turret.

"I'm an excellent driver," she said defensivly, climbing out of the driver's seat.

"I beg to differ."

"Garrus, in the last hour I drove out of the bay of a starship going who knows how fast, if I wasn't a good driver, we'd both be dead."

"Well I'm not dead at the moment, give me a few minutes and I'll see if my heart gives out though."

Jane chuckled as they both looked around. They were on one of the higher levels of the Citadel, not very far away from the C-Sec headquarters. "Did we just travel a couple hundred lightyears in a Warthog?" Jane wondered out loud.

"I think we did, congradulations, you just set a new record for milage on that...thing," Garrus said, trailing off. The Citadel looked like it had seen better days, at least the section that they were in. Stalls had been ransacked and statues overturned, even a handful of fires were burning nearby.

"Who authorized the arms to open?" a voice roared over a local channel. "CLOSE THEM! The Coalition is landed drop ships all over the Cit-oh no, get ba-AHHHHHHH"

"Damn it," Garrus swore, "sounds like Saren took control of the Citadel defenses. We-" he was cut off by a scream and a thud. Glancing to his right, he saw that a Jiralhanae Commander had landed not that far away from them and was desperately trying to scramble to his feet. A deafining roar filled the room and Jane and Garrus looked up to see Thel 'Vadam jumping off of a balcony, energy sword in hand. Thrusting downward, Thel landed with a massive smash, impaling the Jiralhanae with his sword, killing him.

"Arbiter?" Jane asked, looking at the alien as he pulled his sword out.

The Sangheili whipped around in surprise. "Captain Shepard?" he asked, "Spectre Vakarian? How did you get back on the Citadel? I thought that you left for Illos."

"We did, look we don't have a lot of time to explain," Jane said hastily, "what's the status of the battle?"

"We are holding steady, none of the seven sections has crumbled, although we are taking loses. What is more, when the battle began the Council had ordered that the Citadel's arms be closed for protection as they could not evacuate the millions of species that live on this station in time. However, Saren must have had a mole in the Citadel's security, the Citadel's arms opened around fifteen minutes ago and the defensive turrets are offline. The Coalition have been slipping drop ships through our defenses ever since."

"Saren didn't have a mole, he probably stormed the command room!" Jane said.

"But how could he have gotten onboard the Citadel to do so?"

"The same way that we did," Jane said, pointing to the Conduit's twin, "that thing over there is a miniature mass relay! It's what Saren was looking for on Illos and it's how he and we got here. But Arbiter you don't understand, the Citadel isn't what it seems, it's nothing but a huge mass relay that connects to where the Reapers are hiding on the edge of the Milky Way. Saren wants to open it so that they can return!"

"But how-"

"We explain everything later, we promise," Garrus said desperately, "right now we need to figure out where Saren is. The rest of my crew stayed at Illos to look for something that's supposed to help us but right now we need to stop him. Is there anyway that you can help us with that?"

"We received reports from C-Sec officers that a large concentration of Geth were making their way towards the Council's chambers on the Presidium. The Council, the RSN representative that was sent here and the UNSC politicians were all evacuated from there the second that we learned of this and taken to the Destiny Ascension. Other ships would be too light to withstand punishment long enough for them to board, but the Destiny Ascension is so important to the battle that they cannot retreat, so as long as this battle continues, all of our leaders are at risk."

"The Presidium," Jane said, "I guess machines have a taste for dramatics, come on Garrus we need to get up there."

"Just the two of us taking on a platoon of Geth and a Spectre huh?" Garrus joked, "you sure know how to show a guy a good time."

"The three of us," Thel said suddenly. Both Jane and Garrus blinked as he picked up the dead Jiralhanae's weapon, a fuel rod cannon, and hoisted it over his shoulder.

"Arbiter, I'm not certain that you even should be here," Garrus said. "You're the leader of the RSN military, you should have been evacuated with the politicians. Also I'm pretty certain that there's laws in UNSC, RSN and Council space about aiding fugitives of the law."

"I am not a Turian Vakarian, I do not hold the law in the same infallible status that many of your kind do. Also I am a warrior first and a leader second, I will accompany you to the Presidium and I will not hear any arguments on the subject."

"Can I at least ask why you trust us? We could be spies for Saren for all you know," Jane asked. "I sent the Council, UNSC and RSN a report about what happened to Matriarch Benezia, how do you know that Saren isn't controlling us?"

"You attitude and actions do not match that of someone being controlled. Besides, stealing a starship to accomplish your mission, risking life and limb without the approval of your superiors to achieve what you believe is right? I read the reports on you Captain, I know who you really are, and I must say, you remind me of another warrior of your caliber that I once fought alongside." In Thel's mind, an image flashed, an image of a man in dark green armor with a bright golden visor holding an assault rifle.

"Thank you," Jane said softly.

"There is no need to thank me for compliments that you have earned. Now then we must move, if we are lucky the elevators have not been deactivated yet. They were able to get us out of the Presidium, perhaps they can get us back in." Without another word, the three of them headed to the nearest elevator.

XXXXX

"Oh God please not now," Elizabeth whispered as tears began to well up behind her eyes again. She was standing in the cargo bay of the _Eternal Salvation_, which was currently heading towards the Omega 4 Relay. The rest of the Marauder fleet could not travel through the relay as they only had one Reaper IFF, which the UNSC had kindly decoded for them. The rest of the fleet was currently bombarding Omega, destroying the station level by level, while the rest were glassing the nearby planet Bindur, both of which had traces of Flood infections.

She wasn't sure exactly what was causing the tears to well up in her again, maybe it was the looming concept that she could die again on this mission, or maybe it was the parasite showing up again. She had no idea, but all she could think about at the moment was a red haired Russian who had graced her life with her presence...and who was now forever beyond her reach.

"You died," the blonde sniper whispered to herself, "you died, she moved on, she found someone else."

"Hey, Marton said that he needs you combat ready in around an hour, we're gonna hit the relay soon," a voice said from behind her. Jack's voice.

'Not what I need right now, not what I need right now,' Elizabeth mentally chanted, continuing to stare at the barrier that separated her from the airless vacuum of space. "Ok, tell him I'll be ready," she said, trying to keep her voice low. It didn't work.

"The Hell is wrong with you?" the shaven woman asked, walking around to look Elizabeth in the face. She looked away, but not before the convict had gotten a good look at her eyes. "Oh fuck no," Jack said, sounding angry. "No, no, no, I am not putting up with you having your period over your ex while we're taking on the fucking Flood. So if it means that you'll be able to hold yourself together, then just sit down and bitch at me, ok?"

"I...wha...?" Elizabeth stuttered.

"If it means that you are sobbing like a school girl and don't blow my head off my mistake then I'll do this...'talking' bullshit people like you are so freaking fond of." Elizabeth gapped at Jack, not beleiving that the foul mouthed woman was actually doing this. "Well spit it out!" she shouted, "why are you acting like a fucking depressed teenager? Did she say that she never wanted to see you again or something?"

"No, she actually said that she wanted to get together for drinks after all of this is over but-"

"Stop," Jack said, holding up a hand and looking at Elizabeth, exasperation coating her face. "Let me see if I got that right. You're upset because of that silver haired chick not licking your snatch anymore am I right?" Blushing furiously, Elizabeth nodded weakly. "You're upset that she broke up with you...but still wants to be friends with you...are you fucking kidding me? That's what's bothering you! Are you serious?"

"I-" Elizabeth began, but Jack cut her off.

"No, shut the fuck up and listen! Dear God, that's your problem? I wish that was all I had to deal with. You want to hear about problems, let me tell you what I had to go with in my love life, first there was the Cerberus guard that felt like excreting his dominance, then there was the pirate crew that had their way with me and then threw me away, the pair that let me share their bed before stabbing me in the back and then-" Jack paused, her eyes widening as if she had stumbled upon a particularly unhappy memory.

"None of your fucking business that's what. The point is that you have no fucking idea how good you have it. I'm no shrink but you'll be over this before the month is out. For the love of God, you'll probably be kicking your feet back on a table getting drunk with her and laughing about how stupid the two of you used to be. So get over it, or do I have to track her and her Asari bitch down and arrange a threesome?"

Elizabeth stood there, thinking everything over. "I guess...I guess you have a point."

"Of course I-wait what?" Jack said, looking surprised that the sniper was agreeing with her.

"I guess I just got emotional with everything going on," Elizabeth admitted, "thanks."

"I...no problem," Jack said uncertainly. The two of them stood there, both of them looking uncomfortable. "Well...I should probably take a look at my SMG and shit," without another word, the convict immediately began to walk away, not looking back.

Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth turned to look back at the void of space. "I'm getting through this," she whispered.

XXXXX

"We're doing what!" Sarah found herself shouting.

"We're heading to the center of this planet to look for something that is supposed to help us defeat the Reapers," Ashley said, trying to keep a straight face and failing as a look of disbelief slowly overtook her. Both she and Sarah were standing on the bridge of the _Normandy_, right behind Joker's seat. They had entered the massive void that had opened in Illos' surface and were heading into the depths.

"Ladies, just for the record I'm turning around if we run into a lava vein," the pilot said as they continued to head deeper.

"Anything else that you would like to tell us captain obvious?" Ashley groaned.

"Your eyes are metal, I'm the best damn pilot in the UNSC and Rebecca and Liara got to Asari 4th base last night in starboard observation."

"Yes yes, your wit never ceases to-wait what!" Ashley said. "How they Hell did you know that? Were you spying on them?"

"Hey, hey," Joker said, throwing his arms up in the air, "why would I need to spy on my own crew mates for something like that? I happen to have this thing called the extranet and it's got things that you wouldn't believe. If you really need to know I needed to use the bathroom and I happened to overhear them moaning. Then I politely left, I'm a pervert, but not a peeping tom."

"Oh fine," Ashley said grudgingly, "is the super-carrier following us?"

"If it is I can't see it. We just...damn it."

"What?"

Joker sighed. "I just realized something. If we're not in the vacuum of space then the stealth systems won't work. They block heat signatures because that's the only way to see where a ship is in space. But even if we are underground, we're in atmosphere now they can detect us via conventional radar."

"I thought that this ship had a stealth coating that helped us block that."

"We do, however it needs to be maintained regularly otherwise the tinniest scratch will give us away, and I seem to recall stealing the Normandy before anyone could run any maintenance on it after the mission to Virmire AND being attacked by Cerberus. I also seem to recall a couple of holes being drilled in the ship."

"Fuck," Ashley swore, "you're right...just in case push comes to shove, deactivate the stealth systems and bring the weapons and shields online."

"Got it," Joker said, fingers flying across the controls in front of him. "Spinning up MAC round, loading Archer missiles, shields at full power."

"What ordinance do we have? Even if we catch that carrier with it's shields down a single volley might not be enough."

"Well, we've got a dozen MAC rounds, a couple hundred Archer missiles, six HORNET mines leftover from Galnu, and a single Shiva that we never got around to using. If you want land combat, we've got tw-oh right, one Warthog, a Falcon, a Scorpion and two Pelicans."

"Am I the only one that finds it odd that we've never used the Scorpion or the Falcon?" Sarah asked.

"We got them with the HORNET mines, and the missions that we got after that really weren't suited for a tank," Joker said. "Damn how deep does this thing go, we should hit where the planetary core should be soon. I...oh dear Lord."

For awhile now, the _Normandy_ had been traveling down a long straight silver tunnel lined with gaps that revealing light blue circuitry. However, they had reached the end of the tunnel, where a bright yellow light was shinning through. Everyone on the bridge gaped as they passed through it and the view screen showed them what was on the other side.

"That's...that's not possible," Sarah whispered. A massive green field was spread out in front of them, a bright blue sky above them and a bright sun floating in the very center. There was another world inside of Illos.

"Apparently it is," Ashley said, looking shocked.

"Uh, I hate to add to the weirdness factor, but I'm getting a transmission," Joker said.

Pressing a handful of buttons, a static filled message began to play. "Thank the creators, Reclaimer, please follow my signal. I have waited so long-" and that was all that was said before it was cut off.

"I've got a lock on where it came from, looks like it some sort of facility. What do you want me to do?"

"Follow it," Ashley said. "Everyone, I need you down in the cargo bay ASAP, we're making a stop," she said into her COM. "Sarah come on, Joker keep the engines hot." The pilot nodded as the youngest member of the Winter's family followed the Major, heading towards the elevator.

The _Normandy_ soared through the wide open space in the interior of the shield world, passing over massive towers that stretched upward. They were made out of a bright golden metal that shone brightly in the light generated by the artificial sun. They all looked as if they had just been finished yesterday, not a scratch was visible on any of them. Countless smaller buildings dotted the ground around them, these ones made out of a bright silver metal. The Normandy began to slow and descend, hovering over a massive bridge that extended over a deep ravine.

The cargo bay door extended open and the combined forces of the Normandy's ground teams jumped out. Practically all of them turned and gazed opened mouthed at their surroundings. "We're...inside Illos?" Taylor whispered, looking up and shielding his eyes from the artificial sun.

"Goddess, we are aren't we?" Liara said, staring at the massive spires that surrounded them. "This is amazing, if the circumstances were different, this could have been the archeological discover of the millennium."

"So, what exactly are we supposed to do here?" Jacob asked, glancing at Ashley with a slightly confused look.

"Hold on a second," she said, putting her hand to her COM again. "Joker I need you to tell me exactly where the signal is coming from."

"It's a little hard to say for certain, I can't get an exact read but it's defiantly moving in your direction," the pilot replied.

"Uh...we have company," Damon said, raising his battle rifle. Several small silver drones had risen up from the depths below them and were staring at them, doing and saying nothing.

"Are these things friendly?" Neriena asked, aiming her rifle at one. The drone flew a little closer to her, projecting out a solid blue line that waved up and down her.

"Unknown alien life form detected, exterminating," it reported, and without warning, a bright yellow beam shot out of it's eye, impacting on Neriena's barriers. Letting out a cry of shock, the ex-commando opened fire on the drone, taking it down with two well placed bursts.

The other drones had also opened fire, their beams firing indiscriminately at the ground team. Three of the beams managed to hit Tali, the combined strength being enough to shatter her shields and burn her arm. Crying out in pain, the Quarian leveled her shotgun at the nearest drone and fired, blowing it to pieces. The others fired their own weapons, whittling down the drones, that is until-"STOP! HOLD FIRE! ALL SENTINELS HOLD FIRE!"

Instantly, the drones ceased their attack and began to float idly in the air. A head sized silver orb with a single bright white eye sped through the air, coming to a halt in front of the _Normandy'_s crew. "My deepest apologizes," the orb said quickly, it's voice rather deep yet somewhat mystical sounding "all sentinels stationed at this facility are programed to attack any life form that does not register as a Reclaimer. My creators never assumed that anything other than a Reclaimer would locate this instillation, and if they somehow did they would be a threat. I reprogramed the sentinels, they will recognize all of you as friendlies from now on."

"Oh thank you, that made the pain go away," Tali hissed, clutching her burned arm.

"Oh dear you were injured?" the orb said, sounding genuinely distressed, "just a moment." Floating closer to Tali, the orb shot out a bright white ray of light at the Quarian, engulfing her entire body. It maintained this beam for twenty seconds before releasing it. "Is that better?"

Tali glanced down at her arm, and realized with great surprise that the burn had completely disappeared. "Yes," she said, flexing the appendage and noticing that there was no pain. "What was that?"

"State of the art Forerunner medical technology," the orb said, sounding slightly proud. "What it does is speed up the metabolism of the body in any area and then uses the new cells to repair any damage. In reality it affects the entire body, it being so advanced that it can rejuvenate dead cells and even repurpose cells that are in an area of the body that they can not be used it. For example, a blood cell could be repurposed into a nerve cell. By the creators it can even redesign any alien tissue into a form that is the most practical for the body to use, depending on it's location."

"I'll be sure to remember that if anyone on the ship sweats on me," Tali said dryly. "But, thank you for fixing my arm."

"Little overkill isn't it?" Crystal asked.

"I suppose that it is, but there is nothing wrong with advances in the field of medical science. I am sorry but I have yet to introduce myself. I am 00 Clarifying Atom, caretaker of this shield world. I am so glad that Reclaimers have finally found it."

"What is this place?" Ashley asked.

"It is a shieldworld, an artificial construct made by my creators, the Forerunners. It's purpose was to preserve their gifts to the Reclaimers after they had passed on. Specifically that designed shieldworlds as the perfect hiding spot after the relay was activated."

"Oh...those," Ashley said.

"Relay? Major what is he talking about?" Jacob asked.

"He's talking...about Halo," Ashley said. "Weapons made by the Forerunners to wipe out the Flood when they were overrunning their empire. There were seven in total, each with a radius of 25,000 light years. They fire off a pulse that exterminates all organic life. Flood...and Forerunner."

"Oh god," Crystal whispered.

"Yes," Atom said sadly, "my creators designed them after all other options against the Flood were exhausted. But in the months before the relay was fired, they uncovered a horrible truth. The Flood were merely puppets, and their masters would not be harmed by the relay."

"The Reapers?" Ashley asked.

"Yes. My creators learned everything about them, they managed to intercept the transmissions of the Flood. They realized the Reapers were directly avoiding them in frontal combat because they knew that they could not win it." Atom turned to look at the massive spires that surrounded them. "So they hid their technology where only the Reclaimers could find them, so that they could use them to defeat the Reapers."

"You keep saying that word, Reclaimer. What does it mean?" Taylor asked.

"I must ask you something, of the three races among you, which is the oldest space faring race?"

"Well, that would be the Asari," Tali said. "They developed faster than light travel three thousand years ago."

"Oh," Atom said, sounding disappointed. "So the knowledge was lost among your kind...that is unfortunate."

"What?" Liara said, "what information?"

"My creators were not the only race that traveled the stars during our time. There was another empire that rivaled ours in strength. They fought the Flood as well, and actually developed a method to defeat them. However, during their war with the parasite, they were forced to make a minor incursion into our territory. Tensions between the two races had always been high, they had resented my makers for their high status and refusal to share their technology. They had alway pushed to be equal to them."

"The tensions grew too high and war broke out. The Reclaimers fought with everything they had but my makers won, pushing them back to their homeworld, back to the stone age. However, the Flood rose again, perhaps the Reapers realized how effective they were in the first war, I do not know. My creators could not defeat the Flood, and they were forced to resort to Halo. In their final hours, they realized that they were not fit to be the caretakers of the Milky Way as they had once thought."

"Are you saying-" Sarah began.

"Yes, you Reclaimers...you Humans, had a mighty empire 100,000 years ago. My makers left you all of this to succeed where we failed."

"Goddess," Liara said, looking at Rebecca. "I spent fifty years searching for the secrets to the past, and you just came to me. Your species...it's even older than mine."

"But...there are other races with you. Please, tell me, did other civilizations rise?"

"Yes, over a dozen," Neriena said.

"Oh excellent," Atom said, sounding overjoyed. "Vigil told me about the sabotage of the Keepers. How long do we have until the Reapers return?"

"An agent of theirs has gone through the Conduit, he's trying to open the Citadel."

"Oh, dear," Atom said, sounding horrified. "The gifts that I told you about? They are ships, Forerunner warships. There were other shieldworlds designed just for this purpose but I have no way of contacting him. Please follow me," Atom immediately turned and began to speed down the bridge. Throwing glances at each other, the _Normandy_ crew followed.

"My makers put a lock on these ships, with the sentinels that I have I will be able to command and operate all of them, but I need you to unlock them first. They were terrified that either the Flood or the Reapers would steal them for their own purposes." He came to a stop in front of a massive blue sphere, held up on a silver plinth. "If you activate these ships, I will lead them against the Reapers. 150 incredibly advanced starships," Atom said, looking at the _Normandy_ crew. "What say you?"

All of them hesitated, looking uneasily at the sphere. Then slowly, ever so slowly, Ashley stepped forward, hesitantly reaching outward and gently touching the sphere. Almost at once, bright blue lights lit up over the sphere. There was a grinding noise and all around them the spires began to move, metal arms extending outward to form metal wings.

"Oh thank you," Atom said, sounding as if he wanted to cry, "thank you so much Reclaimer. My makers will finally be avenged, the Protheans will finally be avenged, but most importantly, the species of the Milky Way will finally be given a future!"

XXXXX

Author's Note: I recalled reading a person or two being a tad bit worried that Jane would only have Garrus backing her up on the Citadel, probably because of a combination of tradition that Shepard is supposed to take two squad mates with him/her to fight the final boss, and that a Warthog has a perfectly good passenger seat. Well here's why I just had Garrus, because Jane's second squad mate is none other than the Arbiter himself, Thel 'Vadam. I wanted some balance here, Jane is a hybrid of Noble Six and Jane Shepard, therefore she is both a Mass Effect and a Halo character. I decided that it would just be perfect to give her a badass from each game to fight alongside for an epic climatic fight, so I picked two of the biggest badasses that both games had to offer. Thel 'Vadam and Garrus Vakarian, two alien proud warrior race guys that kick ass and doesn't afraid of anything. What do you think about this?

Oh and by the way, Bioware announced that they would be releasing DLC that quote "extend Mass Effect 3"...I want to squee but I can't help but wonder if they'll handle it properly or if they're even talking about the ending...aw screw it, THEY BOWED BEFORE OUR WILL! DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE INTERNET! BROTHERS! SISTERS! WE! HELD! THE! LINE!


	95. Drawn Lines

Chapter 95

Drawn Lines

Author's Note: Well, my big reveals are out in the open, now it's time for the climaxes of this story. We've got the battle of the Citadel, the battle of the Collector base, and for the Normandy crew...well let's just say that they're not exactly sitting the ending of this story out.

XXXXX

Elizabeth checked the gauge on her sniper rifle one last time before slipping the safety off. "Can you stop fiddling with that damn thing?" Jack said, glancing at her. "It's putting me on edge."

"Don't worry, I'm done with it," she said, holding the weapon in both hands.

"Well...thanks," Jack said, looking away from the blonde sniper. Rutherforae looked at Jack out of the corner of her eye before looking back to her railgun, slapping a clip into it. They were all standing in a Marauder boarding pod, along with Teseug, Marton, Legion and Wrex. They were mere minutes away from the Omega 4 Relay, and all of the Eternal Salvation was on full alert. Boarding pods and Phantoms were packed to the brim, Seraphs and Banshees were waiting to launch, weapons and shields were fully charged. They were as ready as they could ever be.

"So...what's the plan?" Jack asked, looking at Marton's back.

"If the Collectors were using the galactic core as their base of operations, they must have used artificial construct of sort, most likely a station with shielding. A planet would not be able to survive the strain in there, there are regular black holes and supernovas. It is face to assume that the Flood have taken over it and are now operating out of it. We are going to launch an all out assault on it, boarding it, clearing out all the Flood one step at a time, killing the Gravemind and eliminating off the rest as they scatter, bombarding the station with everything the Salvation has to offer, I care not what we must do."

"The ideal course of action would be to overload the power source of their base from the inside," Rutherforae pointed out. "The Flood may believe that they won't be found for some time, but they are not stupid. They know that the Collectors still poses the technology to access their new headquarters, as well as the Reapers. They may hope that they are not discovered but they will still take precautions, and that will include fortifying their position with anti-ship weaponry."

Elizabeth stiffened slightly at the mention of the Reapers. "Uh, Marton?" she said quietly, "could I ask you something?" The leader of the Marauders nodded. "Why didn't you say anything to the UNSC about the Reapers? From what I heard, that Captain was adamant that there was something on Illos worth looking for."

"A fair question," he replied. "Truth be told, I was already pushing my chances with the Alliance when I had to practically blackmail the Council into giving me control of the Krogan after the war is over. Besides, I am the leader of a movement that they did not know existed a week ago. So far I have only been able to accomplish anything with them through the means of force and threats. Pleading with them to trust me would be foolhardy, and attempting to blackmail them again could have easily backfired on me."

"I doubt that they would have believed me either," Wrex added, "I'm not exactly what they would call charismatic."

"Really?" Elizabeth said, "they seem to think a murderous Turian with a metal arm and a skeleton face is charismatic...for some reason."

"HA!" Wrex laughed, "you make a good point Conner, although to be fair someone like that would be charismatic...to a Krogan. Can't speak for the Geth though."

"The Council's theory that the heretics are being swayed by charisma is illogical and unfounded," Legion stated We are creatures of logic and reason, attempts to sway us through emotion are ineffective. The heretics joined Saren because calculations showed that his assistance would greatly assist them in accomplishing their goal to wipe out all organics."

"The Council's overall understanding of A.I.s is...less than impressive. This was apparent when they passed laws outlawing A.I.s on the grounds of being dangerous despite having no evidence to the contrary, but it is evident that their views have deteriorated over time. Even the creators, the very race that did everything in their power to wipe us out despite suffering near extinction, has apparently moved on and made peace with synthetics in the form of UNSC Smart A.I.s."

"If you do not mind me asking, how do you feel about that?" Tesueg asked. "It must be good news to know that you life long enemy has moved on.

Legion did not answer for a second, it's flaps extending outward sporadically. "No data available," it said dumbly. Tesueg simply stared at the Geth infiltrator, before smirking slightly behind his helmet.

"All hands, we will pass through the Omega 4 Relay in approximately twenty seconds!" a voice roared through the Marauder Battle-Net, "brace yourselves for anything!"

The massive prototype flagship flew through the void of space to the ominous relay, it's core a dark red as apposed to the usual light blue. Passing by the relay, the energy coated the ship, propelling it forward at speeds countless times the speed of light.

Mere seconds later, the _Salvation_ emerged in a section of space that was completely filled with the debris of destroyed vessels. Slowly, the Marauder ship moved forward, the wreckage of the smaller ships harmlessly bouncing off of the Salvation's powerful shields. For a time, the ship moved forward unmolested, emerging from the debris field and facing a massive spiral shaped structure floating in the middle of space, massive Flood growths now coating the outer hull and who knows how much of the inside.

It was then that their moment of peace ended, as 200 Flood Ship Forms were floating in front of the former Collector base, waiting silently for any thread. No sooner had they seen the hostile ship then they all opened fire, a volley of high speed slugs and green spikes at the massive ship. As the Salvation took enemy fire, it returned the favor, unleashing a salvo of plasma torpedoes and pulse lasers at the Flood fleet. No sooner had it unleashed this barraged, then it deployed a second wave, this one comprising of boarding pods, fighters and dropships.

The seven occupants of the boarding pod that Elizabeth resided in shuddered as their pod took off, tearing through space and heading towards the Flood base. Elizabeth averted her eyes from the see through alloy that made up a small portion of the wall to her left. Other boarding pods were flying alongside theirs and she could clearly see volleys of enemy fire being directed at them. She didn't want to see them get gunned down or the people within them get killed.

The pod shuddered again as a projectile of unknown caliber struck the edge. Fortunately, it continued to move forward until, with a gut wrenching jolt that even inertial dampers could not completely block, it smashed into the base. It drilled through the hull until a massive hole had been made in the hull, the hatch to the pod opening as it did.

The seven occupants poured out to find that the room that they were in had a Flood presence, although a small one. Tesueg opened fire at a Tank Form that had begun to charge at him, ripping it's head off before it had even gotten half way towards him. Two Turian Combat forms had been splattered against a wall by Jack before they had had so much as a chance to raise their rifles. Three Human Combat Forms were quickly reduced to corpses as Rutherforae forced sections of their body to explode with her rifle. The remaining mass of Flood was quickly finished off as Marton fired a blast of plasma into the center of the horde.

"That looked like it was just a patrol," Marton remarked, holstering his plasma cannon in exchange for his screecher. "More will be on the way soon, we need to get our bearings."

"Marton Commander, this unit will attempt to access schematics of the base," Legion said, holstering it's rifle and bringing up an omni-tool.

"You can do that?" Rutherforae asked, "I would think that there would be firewalls."

"Most likely, however Geth are natural hackers, what defenses we will encounter will be deal with. What is more cyber defenses were most likely damaged in the initial Flood assault, and it is safe to assume that the Flood did not repair them. They are known for resilience and massive reserves, not skill with software."

Legion continued to type before a hologram of the base appeared over it's omni-tool. "The structure of this facility suggests that the main power source can be located here," it stated, a marker appearing in the center. "Factoring the size of the base together with the size of the room where power is apparently being drawn from, overloading it should be enough to kill all life on the station as Rutherforae Commander hoped. It will take-"

"Can you send this information to the other Marauders that have boarded the station?" Marton asked.

"Yes, we already have," Legion said simply, deactivating it's omni-tool.

"Good," Marton said before speaking into the Battle-Net. "All Marauder forces, we have acquired intelligence regarding a structural weakness in the base. Divert all forces to that location. We must do whatever it takes to seize it! Move out!" Lowering his hand he began to advance forward, the others behind him, weapons at the ready.

XXXXX

Garrus tightened his grip on his sniper rifle with one hand as he reached behind him to make sure that the rocket launcher that he had was still there. He, Jane and Thel were standing in an elevator as it sped upward towards the Presidium. Glancing at Thel, he noticed a rather odd looking weapon on the Sangheili's back, one that was defiantly not of RSN design. "Where did you get that?" the Turian asked, pointing at the odd weapon.

Thel glanced at the object in question, a slight smile on his face. "It is a Jiralhanae weapon, I believe that they called it a 'shocker'. It belonged to the Supreme Commander Ultimas. I had the privilege of fighting him and ending his life during the Battle of Sangheilios. I took his rifle for myself after I used it to kill him."

"Do the Sangheili have a particular mindset about taking weapons from the people that they defeat?" Garrus inquired.

"It is viewed as the ultimate humiliation that one can bestow on an enemy," he remarked. As he did, he noticed the ravager plasma rifle on Jane's back. "I see that you have already inflicted that insult on one of the Emperor's Imperial Guards Shepard."

"Hm?" she said, not having paid close attention to the conversation. "Oh, yeah I guess. It was in the middle of the heat of battle and I needed a heavier weapon than what I had."

"You still disgraced him," Thel insisted, his tone slightly teasing.

"I don't care if you're pretty much the most important Sangheili that ever lived, keep talking and you're going to have trouble conceiving in the future."

"Ah, I see that you are more hot blooded than him. In a way that is refreshing, he was quite the stoic warrior."

"Are you...comparing me to-" Jane began, but was cut off as the elevator jerked to a sudden halt. "Ah, crap," she swore, stepping forward and jamming her finger down on the controls, getting no response. "Saren must have shut the elevators down."

"Well he was bound to realize that we were using them sooner or later," Garrus remarked, slipping his helmet off of his back and over his head as Thel placed an oxygen mask over his face. "Only one way up now."

Jane nodded as she donned her own helmet before drawing her pistol. Aiming it at the glass in front of her, she squeezed off five shots. It exploded outward, the shards floating in the vacuum of space. Stepping out of the elevator, the three of them remaining attached to the floor via magnetic boots, they stepped out onto the outside of the tube that the elevator had been traveling through.

Looking around her, Jane saw that the Battle of the Citadel was in full swing. The Alliance and Coalition were exchanging volleys of fire and already the debris from countless ships were floating idly where a shot had delivered the fatal blow. They all winced as a Turian fighter roared past, firing shots at the Geth fighter that it was chasing before finally downing it.

The three of them began to make their way up the tube, heading towards the center of the Citadel. Jane snuck a peak to the side and saw Anderson's flagship the Last Defense, fire a volley and claim three Jiralhanae warships, the Super MAC that the dreadnaught was equipped with actually tearing through the shields and hull of a super-carrier, destroying it.

"Looks like the Alliance is putting up a good fight," Garrus remarked, as he and the others quickened their pace, "the Coalition can't get their front line ships through our defenses."

"Most of them," Thel remarked grimly, looking off into the distance. Jane and Garrus' eyes swiveled to see what he was talking about. A Turian cruiser fired a disruptor torpedo into the bridge of a Geth frigate when Sovereign emerged through the field of debris. Closing rapidly, the cruiser fired it's spinal mounted gun, which impacted harmlessly on the Reaper's shields. Not even bothering to use it's weapons, Sovereign simply rammed the Turian ship, which splintered against the massive 15 kilometer long ship.

"Shit," Garrus muttered, "Sovereign moving to the front of the fray? From what Vigil said the synthetic son of a bitch would only put it's life on the line if it thought it had a fair chance at winning. It must be up to something." As Garrus spoke, a MAC round, disruptor torpedo and a barrage of plasma torpedoes all impacted on the capital ship's shields. Undaunted, three of Sovereign's metal tendrils extended outward, each of them glowing an ominous red.

A blast of superheated metal shot from each one of them, obliterating their targets, an Asari cruiser, a UNSC destroyer and a Loyalist assault-carrier, as if they were made out of tissue paper. "That thing is making mince meat of anything it targets," Jane hissed, "it's got the firepower of a freaking super-carrier on steroids."

"I had no idea that the Reapers were this advanced," Thel whispered, "if they are many then dealing with them will be a costly affair."

"That doesn't make any sense though," Jane remarked, "Atom said that the Reapers were afraid of head on combat with the Forerunners. We're still ages away from completely unlocking the potential of their technology but we've been reverse engineering it for years, and from what Atom was talking about, the Forerunners would have completely obliterated the Reapers. How can they be this powerful then? It doesn't...oh no."

"What is it?" Garrus asked.

"I just realized something, it all makes sense," Jane said. "Atom said that the Reapers built the Mass Relays themselves and that they used the Mass Relays against the species of the galaxy. If that's the case it's safe to assume that they used mass effect technology back then and not slipspace technology."

"Your point?" Garrus asked, looking confused.

"All the reports that we've gotten on Sovereign say that it traveled through slipspace ruptures and it's shields just blocked plasma torpedoes, but if what was the case it wouldn't need a mass relay to travel from one star cluster to another. The Reapers must have upgraded themselves with Forerunner technology after Halo was fired!"

The eyes of both Thel and Garrus widened. "Are you certain?" Thel asked.

"Think about it," Jane continued, "Halo's just been fired, the Forerunners are all gone, but their technology is completely intact. They would have had plenty of time to reverse engineer their technology. Though if the DNA locks the Forerunners tended to put on them are anything to go by, they wouldn't be able to completely replicate it."

"You are correct," Thel said, "the Covenant spent over 3000 years attempted to tap into the power of the Forerunners, and we barely scratched the surface. The assistance of Humans greatly bolstered our research over the past century, and even then we still have lightyears to go before we can be considered a Tier-1 civilization."

"So what you're saying is that the Reapers have Forerunner tech built into them?" Garrus asked, sounding horrified.

"Yeah, I'd be willing to bet that Sovereign used to be a lot smaller when he was limited by a mass effect core too," Jane remarked. "There's no way that technology could handle something as big as him." Almost as if Sovereign knew that someone was talking about him, he closed on the Presidium, his tendrils gently landing on the ring that held the arms of the Citadel together.

The three of them felt a violent jolt, forcing them to their knees. Looking around them, they saw that the arms of the Citadel were closing again, with the Reaper capital ship still inside it. "Somehow I think this is part of the startup process," Garrus remarked as the arms slid shut, Sovereign being just small enough to fit inside. "Damn, the bastard doesn't exactly have a lot of elbow room."

"We need to keep moving," Jane said, as the three of them broke into a sprint, careful not to move too fast seeing as it would only take a second with both feet off of the ground to cause them to float away. "If Sovereign really is trying to start up the Citadel then we don't have a lot of time!" 'Guys,' she thought internally, 'I've already asked I lot of you, but I would really appreciate it if you find a miracle back on Illos.'

XXXXX

"I still can't believe this," Ashley whispered. Streams of sentinels were flocking towards the Forerunner warships, slipping in through hatches that had opened for them. "You're going to help us defeat the Reapers? The Coalition too?"

"Coalition?" Atom said, floating in front of Ashley's face. "What Coalition is this? A faction of organics?"

"Uh...it's a long story. Richard," she said, speaking into her COM unit, "could you please explain the current state of the galaxy it to our friend."

Atom floated in place, his eye flashing brightly as Richard uploaded everything in the Normandy's computers to him. "I see," he said, sounding sad. "I do not wish to bring harm to organics, my orders were to destroy the Reapers and only the Reapers. But if this Coalition is fighting to forward their goals then I am afraid that I have no choice. If they are attacking the Citadel while Saren is attempting to open it, then I must depart at once."

"How fast can your ships get there?" Damon asked, "we came from the Citadel and it took us the better part of a day to get here."

"Not to worry, Forerunner slipspace technology is state of the art, it should not even take an hour to arrive. Oh, the sentinels have finished loading onto the ships and the startup sequences are complete, I must go to the flagship now. One more thing though." Atom floated through the air, stopping in front of Liara. "Forgive me if I am wrong, but you mentioned that you had spent time studying species of the past?"

"Um, yes, I am an archeologist," the asari said nervously.

"Oh wonderful, simply wonderful," Atom said, sounding overjoyed. "I have access to extensive databases that were catalogued by my makers for the Reclaimers to find. A small chip popped out of Atom's head, which then floated out and into Liara's now outstretched hand. "That contains our accumulated data on the Ancient Human Empire. Everything that we could find about them, history, art, culture, favorite forms of recreation. It is incomplete, but it still should tell you much about them."

Liara gaped open mouthed at the chip in her hands. Asari Matriarchs had been known to order dozens of commandos to do whatever it took to get the slightest bit of information about the Protheans, and now an entire archive of a long lost galactic power was simply being given to her. "I...thank you," she whispered.

"The pleasure is all mine," Atom said. "My creators were...far from perfect. As their days grew few they realizes this, far too late to undo their errors in judgement. Every last act that I can preform to undo the damage done to the galaxy." The A.I. turned, looking upward.

"Pardon me, there is someone that I have not spoken to in a long time." Atom's eye flashed brightly as he sent out a signal that was bolstered by ,the now active starships. "Vigil, are you there?"

"I am," the Protean artificial intelligence responded. "How may I be of service?"

"I am taking a fleet to stop the Reapers, I will leave within a minute. I was hoping that you would join me. Our combined processing capabilities would radically improve our chances of victory."

"Long have I watched over this place, but know that my duty is fulfilled...I see no reason to remain. I will accompany you 00 Clarifying Atom."

"Wonderful!" Atom exclaimed, his eye flashing again. In a nanosecond, Vigil had been transported from his old storage into the confines of Atom's databases. "I must go now," he said, looking at the acumulated group that stood before him. "I wish that I had the words to convey how grateful I am to you all."

Without another word, Atom flew upward at an alarming speed, heading for the largest of the spires, a Forerunner dreadnaught that was around 10 kilometers in length. He disappeared into a tiny port as the engines of the ships that surrounded them began to come to life, pure white lights glowing brightly. One by one, the Forerunner starships took off, slipspace ruptures that almost looked like paper cutouts of the ship that was entering them appearing in front of them. The portals closed with a silent puff, the EMPs barely even moving outward until the dreadnaught that Atom was commanding disappeared through the last rupture.

"What just happened?" Sarah said quietly.

"I think we just changed the fate of the galaxy," Neriena answered honestly.

"We can talk later, I don't think that we should stick around this place for long," Ashley said, turning to face everyone. "Let's get out of here." Without another word, they all clambered back onto the Normandy. "Joker, I think we should head back to the Citadel now, do what we can to help."

"You know the battle will be over and done by the time we get there right?"

"I don't give a crap Flight Lieutenant, set a course," Ashley said, walking across the room and entering the elevator as the rest of the crew separated, sitting down on cargo containers or leaned against walls. She glanced back at the relaxing individuals as the elevator door closed, smiling slightly. She was glad that no one had gotten hurt on this mission...minus Tali's burn but that had been healed in an instant, so no harm done. "First things first though, I want you to exit the atmosphere first. If we make a jump to slipspace here we might damage some of the Forerunner infrastructure. For all we know it could be keeping Atom's fleet from falling apart and I don't know how much important machinery is buried in the ground around here."

"Don't destroy the ancient alien technology got it," Joker said as the doors slid open again and Ashley stepped out, heading for the bridge.

"How did it go?" Kelly asked, looking up from the console that she was typing at.

"I'll give you the full details later, but long story short the Alliance is getting some serious support heading their way." Looking interesting, Kelly stepped away from her console and followed Ashley as she stepped onto the bridge, where Joker was punching in commands for the Normandy to take off.

"By the way are you sure that you really want to go back to the Citadel?" Joker asked, looking over the shoulder of his chair at the Major, "I'm pretty sure that they won't be waiting for us with flowers and fruit baskets. I didn't steal this thing just to give it back to them with a pretty ribbon on top."

"We'll jump out of the system again afterward...maybe try and find someplace in the Terminus Systems to hide out," Ashley sounded depressed as she formulated plans for their life on the run. "If we're lucky we may only need to hide out for a year or two before we can go back to living in core territories, we can get some fake IDs. We may need to ditch the Normandy though."

"Great, all we gotta do is strand my baby," Joker said dryly.

"Are you certain that we can't be acquitted?" Kelly asked nervously. "You said that what you did down there will help the Alliance didn't you?"

"Yeah it will, but I'm not certain," Ashley said. "I think that we should defiantly play this one safe." Ashley paused "I'm sorry that you got dragged into this one Kelly, you're a non-combatant and we pulled you into this shit storm."

"Hey," Kelly said, smiling slightly, "I made this decision for myself. Besides, if Taylor's PTSD makes a reemergence he's going to need someone to talk to." Ashley grinned.

"See Ash? We need Kelly here to get Taylor's binky clean," Joker said as he turned back to look at the controls. "Everyone is doing something important for the...oh fuck." Ashley and Kelly looked at the HUD in front of Joker and felt their insides go cold. They were approaching the massive opening that would lead them back to the surface of Illos. A massive bright purple super-carrier was emerging from it, heading straight for them. "I forgot about that thing," Joker whispered.

"FIRE! Hit it with everything that we've got!" Ashley roared. Joker did not need further coaxing. He smashed his fist down on the panel in front of him and the main cannon of the Normandy roared as a MAC round tore out of it. It shot through the air and ripped it's way through the bottom of the super-carrier, forcing it's way out through the other end. A barrage of archers were right behind it, viciously bombarding the hull, the plasma warheads peeling away at the layers that protected the inner workings of the ship. Smoke and fire poured from the damage the Normandy had caused, but the super-carrier remained steady.

"Good news, apparently they didn't know that we were down here or didn't know that we had our weapons ready to go, their shields were down. Bad news, they're remedying that little flaw, and I won't be able to get another MAC off in time."

"Can't you do anything!" Ashley shouted.

Joker frantically racked his brain for a way to destroy or disable the super-carrier in the seconds that they had left before it brought it's main batteries online and tore them to shreds. He found one. A look of iron determination covered his face. "Everyone, grab onto to something!" he shouted into the COM lines, "this is going to get bumpy!"

The Normandy's engines roared as the ship sped forward, heading towards the super-carrier. As it did, a single missile flew from it, heading towards the damaged section of the Jiralhanae ship. The Shiva nuke smashed into the belly of it's target, detonating as it did. The nuclear explosion deepened the wounds that had already been made, breaching countless decks and killing thousands of Jiralhanae, but it was still not enough to finish off the metal behemoth.

"Damn it," Joker swore, "I hoped that would finish it. Ok then." He gently stroked the arm of his chair. "Sorry girl, this is gonna leave a mark." The Normandy continued to soar through the air, whizzing past the super-carrier. As it did, six black spheres fell from the UNSC frigate, being pulled downward solely by the force of gravity. "Open wide you son of a bitch," Joker whispered, pressing one last button.

The six HORNET mines that he had dropped detonated as they passed the super-carrier. This proved to be too much for the massive vessel, the damage that had been done to the stomach caused a massive tear to stretch upward towards the top of the ship. The super-carrier broke apart into two separate sections from the sheer strain. The rear section contained the engine and the cargo bay, while the forward section had the main batteries, living quarters, and the bridge.

The combined force of the multiple nuclear explosions had punctured the tubes that were feeding coolant to the main core, which itself had cracked. The combined force caused a massive explosion within the core, not as powerful as when one was intentionally overloaded, but the resulting blast completely destroyed the rear half of the carrier, obliterated the vehicles stored in the cargo bay and killed all of the Jiralhanae stationed there.

However, the the destruction of the Empire super-carrier came at a heavy price for the _Normandy_. The UNSC ship had not had enough time to put distance between itself and the HORNET mines before they detonated, and it was caught in the blast. Truth be told, the stealth frigate fared much better than the super-carrier considering that its shields had been raised, but nonetheless it took heavy damage.

The combined explosions of the nuclear weapons and the drive core knocked out the _Normandy_'s shields and buffeted the ship. The ship spun wildly as it rapidly lost altitude, heading straight for the ground. It smashed into the ground, sending up a storm of dirt and uprooting trees as it ground its way through the ground, riding off the kinetic energy it had built up. Eventually, it came to a halt, it's engines sputtering before they died.

"Ow," Joker said, pushing himself up from the controls he had smashed into. "There goes a rib...or three."

Right behind him, Ashley and Kelly were both getting to their feet. "What's our status?" the Major demanded into her COM unit.

"It's Jacob, no one in the cargo bay is hurt, we're shaken up but we're fine. The Pelicans got smashed together though, they don't look like they're going to be flying anytime soon.

"Ashley, it's Gabby. I don't know what happened but the engines...Ash, the engines are gone. Half of the circuitry is completely fried and most of the nacelles got blown off. You don't fix an engine with this kind of damage, you replace it. Hell even the slipspace core was knocked about. We got lucky though, it won't go critical but we can't overload it if that's what you were planning. We're...we're stuck here."

"Damn it," Ashley swore under her breath. Glancing behind her, she saw that the Normandy was in bad shape. Panels were hanging loosely from the ceiling, a couple of support beams had collapsed and sparks were flying through the air. "What about the super-carrier?"

Richard's avatar materialized on Joker's controls. "It looks like we did a number on it, the rear section with all of it's vehicles was destroyed when it's slipspsace drive overloaded. The front section is intact for the most part, but I imagine that they're not faring too well considering that they're probably suffering from radiation poisoning from being hit by several nukes while unshielded. We got lucky, our shields managed to protect us from that and we landed outside of the fallout area. Really the best we can do is send out a distress signal and hope that someone picks it up."

Ashley let out a reluctant sigh, "fine, do that."

"Already done," Richard said, "I suppose that we just need to...oh no."

"What is it?" Ashley asked.

"I'm picking up movement from the wreckage of the Jiralhanae ship. It looks like a fair number of crewmen survived. I can't tell how many, the radiation is interfering with my scanners. But...they're heading this way."

A deadly silence filled the bridge. "How long do we have until they get here?"

"I would say fifteen minutes...twenty if we are lucky," Richard answered.

"Right," Ashley said, sounding depressed before lifting her hand to her COM unit again. "Everyone who can hear me, get to the armory ASAP Shit is about to come down on us hard, there's an angry mob of Brutes heading this way and we need to be ready for them!" Despite trying to make her voice sound confident, Ashley felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. Stranded far from friendly territory with countless hostiles advancing on their position. What was more she was certain that Atom had taken all of his sentinels with him, so help from them was out of the question. Things didn't look good.

XXXXX

Author's Note: I find it a little hard to believe that after working on this for over a year that I'm almost done with this story. It's actually a little depressing. For so long when I had spare time or was supposed to be doing something else I was mulling everything over in my head "Where do I want them to go next? What to I want this guy to do next? How can I make the readers like this?" It's a little hard to believe that I won't be thinking about how these people are going to develop soon. Ah well, I went through the same thing when I was done with fighting for a purpose and I moved on, creating new origins. When I'm done with new origins I'll move on and create from the ashes and fall in love with those characters and so on and so forth.

So yeah, we've got a triple climax (hehehehehe) The Normandy has crash landed far from friendly forces with countless hostiles bearing down, Jane Garrus and Thel are almost at the Council Chambers, and the Marauders have boarded the enemy base. Things are going to get real messy real fast.

FYI that bit about the Reapers getting upgraded was mentioned earlier in the story, consider this a refresher.


	96. Old Adversary

Chapter 96

Old Adversary

Author's Note: People are under the impression that all of the pieces have been put in place for the final battle, and they're right...for the most part. Let's just say that there's still a few more tweaks I want to make before I step back and shout "LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!" This chapter should take care of that though...oh lordy I have been working towards this moment for SO LONG! Let's get going.

"We're what?" Kelly asked, looking horrified as Jacob approached them, holding two battle rifles that he had taken off of a rack of the things in the armory. The entire Normandy crew was standing in the cargo bay, loading weapons and armoring up.

"We're digging in," Ashley said grimly, taking one of the rifles from Jacob and sliding it onto her back. "Who knows how many Jiralhanae are heading this way and we don't have anywhere to go. The good news is that all of their vehicles were destroyed so they'll be on foot."

"But...but can't we head back to the Forerunner structures?" Kelly asked, "or use the Pelicans to get out of here?"

"We'll be torn to pieces in the open," Ashley said grimly "the Pelicans are trashed and the vehicles that we have won't carry all of us back there, and even if we could there wouldn't be anything waiting for us." Taking the other rifle from Jacob, she handed it to Kelly.

The redhead's eyes widened at the sight of the weapon. "No...no, Ashley I can't."

"I thought that you went through mandatory sessions at the gun range like all UNSC personal," the Major remarked.

"I did...but...but that was just metal targets. I...I don't think that I can-"

"I know that this is hard on you," Ashley said softly, putting a hand on the yeoman's shoulder, "Like I said earlier, you're a non-combatant, it's not fair that you have to be put in this situation. You're going to be at the rear of our defenses, the Jiralhanae will probably focus on everyone else first, we need you to take every shot that you can at them. Can I trust you on this?"

"I...I think so," she whispered.

"C'mon lass," Ken said, approaching Kelly from behind with Gabby, both of them holding rifles as well. "We're not gonna let anything happen to you, we'll have your back."

"Ken here might try to grope it but yeah we'll have it," Gabby remarked dryly, earning a nervous chuckle from Kelly.

"Oh sure," the Scottish engineer said, sounding annoyed, "cheer her up at my expense why don't ya?"

Ashley shook her head, glancing at Tali as she climbed onto the gun of their remaining Warthog, Taylor sitting behind the wheel. "How do you put up with these two?"

"Self control and a safety lock on my gun," the Quarian answered as she slid her helmet on. "And as of last night," she continued, looking at her two subordinates and flashing a mischievous smile, "leverage."

They both paled. "Ya wouldn't," Ken said

"She would," Taylor said, adjusting himself to look at the two and smirking before donning his own helmet. "She already told me."

"Well that's a betrayal of trust," Gabby remarked. "So you two are taking the Warthog?"

"Ashley wants us on skirmisher duty," Taylor explained, "we're going to maintain our distance from the main enemy force and make strafing runs on them, particularly when they get a little too close to the ship. In other words we're covering your rears."

"I can think of another reason why you got stuck driving that thing," Damon said, approaching the Warthog with Crystal at his side and a rocket launcher in his hands. "It's probably because you won't be of much use anywhere else with that damn antique of yours," he continued, gesturing to the DMR that Taylor had on his back. "Seriously son, even if that thing had a bit of a revival when we switched over to the mass effect guns, the DMR series has been discontinued for ten freaking years."

"You've been using an out of date rifle this whole war?" Tali asked, looking at Taylor with surprise covering her face.

He shrugged. "What can I say? I prefer single shots."

"Ow, ow ow ow, ribs, watch the ribs." Liara and Rebecca approached the Falcon, each of them holding one of Joker's arms.

"Are you certain that you can fly this Joker?" Liara asked, sounding concerned.

"I've been flying a starship that goes a couple of times the speed of sound on the lower settings," Joker replied dryly as they helped him into the cockpit, the canopy sliding shit behind him. "This thing will be a peace of cake."

Liara nodded as both she and Rebecca climbed into the rear section of the Falcon, each of them manning a turret. "I would assume that manning a turret is much easier than a pistol?" Liara asked, glancing behind her to where Rebecca was.

"Oh yeah," she said reassuringly. "It's bolted down so most of the recoil gets absorbed, just line up the sights and rain down Hell."

"It seems to have a limited range," Liara remarked, attempting to turn the turret and only getting so far before it slammed to a halt. "If the Falcon is not positioned propery I will not be able to target anything."

"Good thing that you're dealing with an ace pilot and not a prepubescent kid who crashes into a tree every twenty second," the pilot said snarkily. "Just to throw this out there though, I would hold on if I were you. They may not have any anti-air vehicles but they still probably have some AA weapons like fuel rods or plasma launchers. I'm going to have to hang back most of the time, I can probably manage the occasional push or two, but this thing isn't as agile as the Warthog. If we fly right over the enemy formation, this thing is going to take a lot of fire and we're going to have to make a landing, if we want to or not."

As the crippled pilot spoke, Jacob climbed into the driver's seat of the Scorpion, while Sarah took the gunners seat. "I'll be the center of attention in this thing," he said, looking around. "it's got a lot of firepower and thick armor but it's slow and bulky and it's a pretty big target. They're going to be targeting this thing first and they'll be pounding the crap out of it."

"Then we'll just have to kill them before they get the chance then won't we?" Sarah asked cheerfully, sliding the hatch over her head shut as she slumped into the gunner's seat, which had been lowered a couple of feet into the tank and given a hatch to better protect the occupant.

A grin spread across Jacob's face. "I gotta say Winters, you don't know when to give up," he remarked, sliding his own hatch shut and activating the tank. All of the Normandy's crew turned their attention to the far end of the cargo bay. A massive hole had been torn open in it, big enough for two Scorpions to drive through.

"Major, the Jiralhanae are closing in on our position!" Richard said over the COM lines.

"Everyone not in a vehicle over here!" Neriena shouted, standing in front of one of two cargo crates that had been placed in front of the hole. Damon, Crystal, Ashley, Kelly, Ken Gabby and Gardner all filed behind the crates, some of them crouching down.

"All right," Ashley said, looking at the four non-combatants of the Normandy who were all clutching battle rifles, "you four are at a disadvantage here, so I want you providing support fire. Let the rest of us do the heavy lifting."

"What?" Garnder shouted, "why? Why do we have to sit in the corner like misbehaving kids while you all put your lives on the line."

"Because let me do a quick check," Crystal said, " Us, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, biotics, cybernetic eyes that no doubt improve aim and shields. You, uniforms and battle rifles."

"She's right," Ashley said, "just keep your head down, you'll get a chance to take a shot before you know it and then you'll wish that you hadn't." Gardner grumbled but said nothing. "All right, I need the heavy support to get outside!" she shouted. The Scorpion rolled through the hole, traveling a short distance before stopping, the main cannon aiming. The Falcon's blades began to spin before taking off, soaring through the exit before stopping and beginning to climb. Finally, the Warthog sped out, turning to the side and coming to a stop.

Patiently, they all waited for the coming battle, weapons at the ready. Then, over the hill that was right in front of them, a dozen Jiralhanae appeared, wearing the armor of Metal Fist. Letting out a deafening battle cry, they opened fire on the wreckage of the Normandy with their needle rifles and carbines, only to have half of their number to a blast from the Scorpion and the rest to a combined flurry from the Warthog, Falcon and the defenders.

"That looks like it was just a team of scouts testing the waters," Joker reported, "I can see more of them on the way...Jesus, there's got to be hundreds of them."

"Listen," Ashley said, speaking over the COM lines "I've never been good with speeches but screw it. I'm proud that I've had the chance to serve along each and every one of you. We've managed to defy the odds time and time again. Escaping Feros, surviving Heaven, infiltrating Galnu, making our stand on Virmire, and now this. The odds are against us and there's a good chance that we won't walk away from this alive. But you know what? When has that ever stopped us before? We took down the apes' carrier with a puny frigate, I SAY WE FINISH THE JOB!" As Ashley roared the last words, more Jiralhanae poured over the hill and both sides unleashed everything they had.

XXXXX

Saren walked forward, trudging up the stairs to the Council chambers. He could not help but allow himself a ghost of a smile. There had been countless plans and countless complications but at long last he was about to taste the fruits of his labors. While it was true that there would be much suffering as a result of his actions, they paled in comparison to what would have happened had he done nothing. He was proving the worth of organic life, because of him, they would be allowed to survive...in some form.

As he continued to walk up he spotted a Keeper to the side, oblivious to the destruction that surrounded it, dutifully typing at it's terminal. A pang of pure hatred shot through Saren, it was because of these things that so many problems had occurred, that the cycle had been delayed. Snarling, he raised his assault rifle and fired, the Keeper squealing loudly as it was gunned down.

Saren stood still, savoring the adrenaline rush that had come with killing the insect. That is until a pang of realization shot through him. Why had he done that? He had never felt anything resembling hostility towards the caretakers of the Citadel before, why had he felt the desire to kill one? If anything he should have been grateful to them, if they had not been reprogramed to not respond to the Reaper's signal, he would not have had a chance to prove himself to them.

Saren realized at that moment that he was holding his rifle in his cybernetic arm and his stomach went cold Could it be that Sovereign had been lying to him all of this time? Had the machine never intended to uphold it's end of the bargin? Had it simply viewed Saren as nothing more than a tool to be used and discarded? Had he been...Indoctrinated?

"No," Saren whispered, shaking his head as he holstered his rifle, "I can still think about the concept of it, that must mean that my mind is still my own." A month or two ago, those words would have banished any sense of doubt from him. Now, however, they brought him no such comfort. Saren turned to look back at the stairs. In the end it really didn't matter anymore, he had come this far and he had a job to do.

He continued up the stairs and stopped at the platform where guests spoke with the Council. Holding out his mechanical arm, a beam of red light shot out and a holographic control panel appeared in front of him. He allowed himself a slight smirk at the irony of the situation. So many times the Council had stood about this spot in an attempt to establish their superiority over other races, when in reality the ones that the attempted to tower over stood in front of the controls that would change the balance of power in the entire galaxy.

Hesitantly, he reached forward, his hands lightly brushing against the controls. Slowly, he pushed a button...and then another, then another. His hands began to pick up speed as he pushed key after key, having no idea what any of them did but knew that he was pushing the right ones. Within seconds his fingers were dancing across the controls, such a blur that even he couldn't see them, nor could he predict where they were going to go next.

For a moment he was mesmerized at his ability to handle the ancient controls. After the feeling had passed, he felt a feeling of dread slip into his stomach. How was he doing this? The more and more that he thought about it, the more that-"STOP IT!" he shouted. He panted slightly as he picked up both of his hands and looked at them. He had no idea what to think as the organic hand floated next to the synthetic one.

His train of thought was broken by a loud explosion that caused him to snap around, looking back at the entrance to the Presidium. He had left the Geth that he had brought with him behind as sentinels, on the off chance that someone would try to reach him. His eyes were fixed on the elevator in the distance, the origin of the explosion. Another explosion rang through the air and Saren could hear the sound of gunfire.

He was about to turn back to the panel when a third explosion happened, this one causing the door of the elevator to be blown off and causing smoke to pour out. Drawing his rifle again, Saren took aim at the smoke and opened fire, countless shots flying through the smoke, the Turian not even knowing if they were hitting anything. He continued to do this until his weapon overheated, at which point he lowered it, watching the smoke with patience.

After ten seconds, he raised his rifle again when a rocket flew out of the screen of smoke, heading directly towards him. The former Spectre immediately ducked down to the side, the rocket just barely avoiding him. It instead flew past him and impacted on the plinth that the Turian Councilor normally stood behind, shattering it.

Standing up again, Saren saw Jane, Garrus and Thel emerging from the smoke, all of them holding heavy weapons. Jane even held two, holding the Cain in one hand and the ravager assault rifle in the other. With his augmented speed and strength, he laid down surprising fire with one hand while he reached for a grenade with the other. As the group before him moved closer and under the wave of fire, he threw the grenade at their feet. Thel dove to one end and Jane and Garrus the other, all of them barely clearing the explosion.

"I have to say Shepard, among other things you are quite persistent," he said, drawing his pistol with his free hand and keeping an eye out for any movement. "How much have you gone through and yet still you chase me down halfway across the galaxy? You would have made a good Spectre."

"Thanks, but no thanks. Law enforcement isn't really up my ally," she said, slowly peeking out from behind the wall that she was crouching behind, before ducking back as a shot narrowly grazed by. "Mind if I ask you something? Why? Why side with the Reapers?"

"You of all people I should not have to explain myself to Shepard. You touched the beacons just as I did. You saw what happened to the Protheans, they had an Empire that spanned the galaxy, but the Reapers brought them to their knees! You don't even know what happened to the Forerunners. The Reapers indoctrinated the parasite that you call the Flood and used it to overrun their Empire!"

'What?' Jane thought, but she did not voice her surprise. She did not want Saren to know that his point had actually shocked her, and besides when she looked at it from a logical standpoint it actually made sense. "What does that have to do with anything?" she asked, attempting to move out of cover again, only to have another shot nearly take her head off.

"The Reapers can't be defeated Shepard, they will wipe out all organic life in the galaxy, Alliance and Coalition. Even the Geth and your A.I.s will not be spared, they will be considered contaminated. The only way to survive is join with the Reapers, to become their servants."

"So you're choosing slavery over possible extinction? That's crazy! How do you even know that the Reapers won't just kill us all after you weaken us up for them? That's why you started this war in the first place isn't it?"

"You're sharp Shepard, I'll give you that," Saren remarked as Thel spun out of cover, aiming his fuel rod at Saren. He fired off two shots as the Turian dove to the ground, the shots flying over him as he fired both of his weapons at the Sangheili, forcing him back into cover. "Yes, the Reapers wanted me to soften up the galactic powers, make their invasion easier. They will defeat us all regardless, but with the slipspace technology of the Forerunners in play they will take heavy losses. My job was to make the galaxy waste people, ships and planets in a pointless fight against each other, leaving less resistance for the Reapers."

"And you don't see the massive gaping hole in your logic there?" Jane demanded. "Did it ever occur to you that the Reapers are scared! That they're scared of us that they were scared of the Forerunners? That's why they used the Flood to deal with them right? They were too afraid to risk their lives?"

"As skilled as you may be Shepard, you are also arrogant," Saren snarled. "The Protheans fell to the Reapers might, and the Forerunners to their cunning plans. What makes you think that you are so special?"

"The Reapers beat the Forerunners with the Flood, but we've beaten the Flood, MULTIPLE TIMES! What's more, the Flood is out there and I think it's pretty obvious that it's not under the control of the Reapers anymore, and they have a serious bone to pick."

"They are only as strong as the species that they mimic, they will fall to the Reapers just as you will. Why do you resist me Shepard? I offer organic life the only salvation available."

"Are you blind! Sovereign is controlling you! You're just his puppet!"

The words tore through Saren with more force than any bullet ever could. "I..." he started before trailing off. 'What...what if she is right? What if I am being manipulated what if...no no NO this is the only way to survive, the Protheans would have lived if they had become servants of the Reapers, like the Collect-' Saren's thoughts came to a crashing halt.

The Collectors, mindless drones whose identity had long been destroyed as their bodies were replaced piece by piece with cybernetics. They...they were the Protheans. He had known this information for a long time, having learned it from studying his forces, but he had never realized the exact implication that the races of the galaxy would share the same fate as them. How had he not realized that? For a single second he wondered this, before the answer hit him with such force his stomach dropped out of existence. He WAS indoctrinated.

"No," he whispered, "It can't be...all of it...for nothing?" He felt a sudden and powerful impulse to throw up a biotic barrier and continue the activation process. "No," he hissed, gritting his teeth as he slowly raised the hand that held his pistol. "Not anymore." Jane peeked out of cover again and her jaw dropped as she saw that Saren was pushing his gun against his temple. "I am sorry Shepard," Saren said sincerely, "I failed. Goodbye." He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. Opening his eyes, Saren looked at his pistol and a look of horror crossed his face as he realized that his finger had refused to move. At that moment, a voice spoke in his head. "**You have outlived your use Saren**." An intense pain shot through Saren, causing him to collapse to his knees. Looking down, he realized that his armor and scales were melted from a heat that came from within him, revealing a pure robotic skeleton within him.

Saren now knew out extensive his implants where, when it was too late to do anything about it. "SHEPARD!" he shouted desperately. "Succeed where I failed, whatever it takes, stop the Reap-" was all he managed to get out before Sovereign took control of him, irreversibly destroying Saren's mind. In a way, the renegade Spectre was dead, the metal creature that now stood before Jane Shepard, Garrus Vakarian and Thel 'Vadam could only be described as an entirely different being using what was left of his body as a shell.

The creatures eyes glowed a bright red, as did it's chest, little more than a ribcage over a bungle of wires. The abomination let out a snarl as the three of them all fired their heavy weapons at it. Jumping up, Sovereign cleared the projectiles as it aimed both of it's weapons and fired, letting out an inhuman shriek as it did.

XXXXX

Taylor swore under his breath as he tightly swerved, avoiding a blast from a fuel rod as he broke away from the supposed charge he had been making against the Jiralhanae. A steady mob of them were marching over the hill, raining down a storm of fire down on the wreckage of the _Normandy_. The defenders were returning fire as best they could and were stopping from advancing too far, at least for the moment. Tali brought the turret to bear and gunned down the Major that had been aiming the full rod, filling him with a couple dozen rounds and killing the Minor that stood next to him while she was at it.

"Nice shooting!" he complimented as he swerved again, driving back towards the wreckage, Tali still spraying bullets at the massive hoard, managing to kill two more of them.

"For all the good that it's doing!" she replied, "we're barely putting dents in their numbers!"

"They're just rushing mindlessly at us, eventually the bodies will pile up and the damage will begin to show!" he said, making a sharp right as plasma bolts began to rake the jeep.

"Oi, Taylor!" Joker shouted over the COM lines, his Falcon maintaing a safe distance from the slowly advancing formation, the forward and side guns alight. "I see a column of Jiralhanae to the Normandy's 3 o'clock. Looks like they took the long way around to try and flank us."

"Probably trying to force their way into the ship from the side," Taylor muttered, "catch everyone in the cargo bay with a pincer attack. Can you get there?"

"Not without flying directly over a mob of pissed of apes that probably have fuel rods to spare, or without taking a rather lengthy detour. Considering that that would draw away more from our pool of very limited resources than if you just ran over there and gunned them down-"

"I get the picture," Taylor grumbled. "Freaking smartass." Yanking the wheel to the side, Taylor made the jeep preform a 180 as they began to drive in the direction of the forces that Joker had spotted. "Did you catch all of that?" he asked Tali.

"We're getting hit from the side and the two of us are going to take care of it," the Quarian replied.

"More or less," he replied as they passed the Normandy and continued forward. The ground in front of them began to slope as they continued, causing them to drop down several feet in a matter of seconds. As they did so, a bright blue sparkling lake became visible, not too far away. "I'm glad we didn't land in that," Taylor said.

"Keelah," Tali whispered, "All of this inside an artificial world?...Oh I wish we were here under happier circumstances."

"You and me both...there they are!" Taylor shouted. Sure enough, a dozen Jiralhanae were no more than fifty yards ahead of them, moving steadily towards the main battle. Upon seeing the Warthog, they quickly raised their weapons and opened fire, superheated gases and spikes impacting on the front of the jeep.

Undaunted, Taylor pressed down on the acceleration, the turret roaring as he did. Two of the alien warriors were quickly killed by the enemy fire as the Warthog bore down upon them, heading straight at them. They all threw themselves to the side, but one was to slow and three and a half tons of metal smashed into him, rupturing half a dozen of his organs and killing him instantly.

Turning around after the warrior that he had hit slumped to the ground, Taylor drove off to his left, circling the enemy forces as Tali continued to open fire at them, claiming the lives of three more Metal Fist operatives. Taylor ducked his head down as projectiles soared over it, scraping the top of his helmet. "I would appreciate it if you finished them off!" he shouted.

"Working on it!" Tali hissed as she downed two more hostiles, "would you like to shoot!"

"Wouldn't mind it," he said. As he spoke, he glanced out of the corner of his eye that one of the four remaining aliens was leveling a fuel rod cannon and aiming it directly at him. "TALI!" he shouted, but she had already spotted him. The turret spun viciously as she attempted to kill the Brute with the heavy weapon. One of the surviving Minors pushed the Major with the fuel rod to the side and ended up being killed by the stream of bullets. Scrambling to his feet as the other two Minors were gunned down next to him, he managed to fire four shots from his fuel rod as the projectiles began to tear at his shields.

Taylor desperately attempted to turn the Warthog, but he wasn't fast enough and the heavy plasma blasts hit it head on. As the first two hit and the light recon vehicle was throw back, both the driver and the gunner jumped from it as the remaining two shots hit it, causing it to explode violently. Hastily getting to her feet and drawing her pistol, Tali aimed it at remaining Jiralhanae and dropped his weakened shields with two shots and finished him off with a third.

Panting heavily, she looked around and saw Taylor lying on the ground. Stepping towards him, she reached out with her hand open, which he took. "Are you alright?" she asked as she pulled him to his feet.

"Yeah," he said, brushing himself off before putting his hand to his COM unit. "This is Taylor, we managed to take out the flankers but the Warthog got totaled."

"Well crap," Ashley replied, "screw it, we'll have to make due without. Just get back here."

"Got it," Taylor said before glancing at Tali. "Sorry about the bumpy ride."

"It's alright, you can't help that you apparently drive worse than Jane, especially considering that her Warthog survived that little stunt that she pulled." Taylor chuckled. For a second, he couldn't help but wonder why Tali and everyone else was cracking jokes at a time like this, Hell, even he had dropped one or two. In reality he knew the answer already, the humor was keeping them from sinking into despair and panicking and by extension, making stupid mistakes. It was admirable in a way but in another it was disheartening, it was like desperately trying to keep the sparks of a fire going, and when they went out-

Taylor shook his head. 'Don't think like that,' he scolded himself. "We need to get going, they need us back at-" he came to a sudden stop as a bright green sphere rolled right in front of them. Tali saw it too, and looks of horror spread across both of their faces. Without thinking, Taylor threw his arms up in front of him and summoned up a biotic barrier that engulfed both of them as the sphere exploded. The barrier buckled slightly under the strain, but held steady.

Panting slightly, Taylor lowered his arms, dropping the barrier. "Taylor," Tali whispered, the faintest bit of fear in her voice, "that was-"

"I know," he said, hastily drawing his DMR and holding it up to eye level, Tali doing the same with her pistol. The two began to hurriedly scan the area aiming their weapons at anything that moved even slightly, searching. Taylor bit his lip, his grip tightening on his DMR as he desperately searched for what he knew was watching him. And then he spotted it, faint shimmer. Not hesitating, he opened fire, sending five shots at the disturbance. The all hit a solid object, causing the cloak of the Jiralhanae who had been standing there to drop, revealing a very familiar and unwelcome face.

Sukron flashed a dangerous smile as he slid his grenade launcher from his back, both Tali and Taylor opening fire at him. Their shots impacted on his shields, but they held as he returned fire, his grenades badly weakening the defenses of his opponents. The two of them hastily fell back, vaulting over the wreckage of the Warthog and crouching behind it.

"Oh, I have waited for this day for so long," Sukron remarked, inserting a fresh belt of grenades into his weapon. "I wonder, who should I skin alive and who should I force to watch, do you two have any preferences?"

"Keelah, what's he doing here?" Tali whispered, looking at Taylor.

"I think we just shot down his starship," he replied quietly, "that still doesn't explain why he was even at this planet th-"

"I was waiting for you, quite simply really," Sukron said, peering at the Warthog, waiting for his prey to give him something to shoot at. "Saren seemed rather paranoid that a starship called the _Normandy_ would come to Illos. Knowing this, I decided to wait for you here, and when I saw you in that vehicle, I diverted some of my forces to lure you to me."

"This was a trap," Tali groaned, "and we walked right into it."

"We've gotten out of this kind of situation before," Taylor muttered, "we can do it again."

"I know," she said, sounding defiant. Just because they had been lured away from their friends and into the hands of this madman didn't mean that they were going to give up. "Besides, things are a little different than last time."

Taylor nodded, "We do it together this time."

At the same moment, they rose up out of cover and fired at Sukron. A sinister grin consumed his face as they did. "There we go, I did not want this to be too easy!" he shouted, raising his launcher and pulling the trigger.

Author's Note: The reason I didn't touch back with the Marauders on this one is because I wanted to make it so that everything was set up. Taylor and Tali vs Sukron, Garrus Jane and Thel vs Saren, the Normandy crew in survival mode and the Marauders on board the flood infested collector base. From this point on I'm probably going to have a section dedicated to each of them, but that's still up in the air. I have to say I've been looking forward to writing the final showdown between Tali Taylor and Sukron in particular, and I imagine at least one or two of you have been looking forward to this too. Let me tell you, I plan on making the coming fight memorable.

And now, a bit of advice friends, debating about anything on the internet is a messy business. Everything makes sense from a certain point of perspective. For example, the ending of ME3 we've got Bioware royally screwed the pooch and didn't do anything that they promised and we want them to fix their products vs Bioware made a piece of art and asking them to change it is asking them to compromise their integrity as artists and that they shouldn't bow to whiny fanboys. I'm not going into a rant, but I'm going to say that as an artist, you can't just throw out "SHUT UP! IT'S ART!" all of the time, sometimes you have to admit that you fucked up like I have done countless times in the past with all of my works and fix said fuck up. I've changed my stories based on feedback every once in awhile, and Bioware has even less excuses than I do for keeping things the same. I do this for free so I have no obligations to do anything that I don't want to while Bioware is marketing their art to the masses and it is just as much a products it is art. Just throwing that out there.


	97. AN: Story on Hiatus

APRIL FOOLS

Did you guys really think that I would seriously just let this story fall off of the face of the Earth? I've worked way too long and too hard just to let you stranded like that. Anyway, the next chapter is up now, please enjoy.


	98. Highest Point

Chapter 97

Highest Point

Author's Note: Sorry that this one took a little longer than usual to get up but I've been having things go one in my life, ironically I've had more free time in the week than on the weekend. Anyway, you don't care about that, let's get going.

XXXXX

"Well, I can honestly say this!" Jack shouting, firing a swarm of bullets into the face of a Human combat form before bioticly pushing it off of the platform that the two of them were standing on. "You people see these things through to the end, even if it is fucking suicide."

"I'm glad that your softening up in a weird way!" Elizabeth shouted, firing a round from her rifle and taking the head off of a Salarian Combat Form, "but this isn't the best time!"

Marton's group had been pushing their way through hoards of Flood that had attacked them seemingly at random. Sometimes it would be with dozens of infected Turians that would simply rush at them, or a handful of Asari who would keep their distance and attack with biotics. One of the hairier situations had involved a pair of Juggernaut Forms bull rushing them that had only been brought down through a combination of massive slugs, biotic blasts and sonic waves that had been fired into them with no one being particularly conservative about their ammo stores.

But as odd as the pattern or lack of pattern in the attacks were, there was one thing that all of them had in common. No combination of Flood had been used more then once, with all of them having been different. Marton frowned slightly as Wrex smashed into a Tank Form and forced it to the ground before firing his shotgun into its face at point blank range, killing the last of the latest wave. "You have noticed it as well?" Rutherforae asked, looking at him.

He nodded, "if a Gravemind has been formed then the Flood all have a common leader, a leader more effective than any one that was elected or promoted. All of this must be happening for a reason."

"I'm getting reports from other units that are making their way to our position," Tesueg said, "they are all reporting similar occurrences."

"So what, the fucking things are a little inconsistent," Jack said, "can you honestly think of a big problem coming out of this?"

Marton frowned, while this did make him uncomfortable he could not come up with a theory as for how this could spell danger for any of them. He glanced at Legion. "Any suggestions?"

"Many," the synthetic replied. "It is possible that the Flood prefers simple mass wave tactics when dealing with their enemies and intentionally attacks with different forces in an attempt to confuse and intimidate, as well as making the enemy unsure what type of counter forces should be used. Alternatively the Flood are in a state of disarray due to not being properly prepared for infantry combat and are in a frenzy, deploying whatever forces they can muster and throwing them indiscriminately at any and all intruders."

"Neither of those make any sense," Marton remarked, "the Gravemind is a creature that the accumulated knowledge of hundreds of thousands of years. Those tactics are practically amateurish."

"We are merely listing all possibilities," Legion remarked, "there are others. The one calculated to be the most likely is that the Flood has no experience dealing with Jiralhanae using the tactics and equipment that you use now. It is possible that they are merely acquiring information on you by sending a variety of forces to fight you and recording their effectiveness in order to better understand the best way to deal with you."

"They are testing the waters," Rutherforae growled, "that would make sense, the Flood have the reserves to do that."

"So they're figuring out how we tick," Jack growled, "perfect, just fucking perfect. Now what?"

"I don't know about all of you, but I didn't come this far just to turn back because the bugs that we're fighting turned out to be a little on the smart side," Wrex growled. "They sound just like the Salarians, always thinking that just because they have a good understanding of their enemy they can outmaneuver them in every way. Needed us to kill the Rachni though, and then they needed the Turians to stop us."

"I am not certain what you are trying to say," Tesueg said.

"The point is, it doesn't matter how smart you think you are if you have your back to a wall," Wrex explained, "we have the advantage here, we caught these bastards off guard and now they're scrambling to do whatever they can to beat us. But we're not going to let them do that, we're going to hit them with everything that we've got, blow this place up, then your ship is going to clean up whatever we missed."

"That is rather...inspiring," Marton said honestly.

"You don't get as high up in the clans as I did without giving a couple of speeches. Though to be fair the ones that I gave were more about kicking the ass of some guys that we didn't like before coming home and getting drunk."

"Sounds like my kind of party," Jack said as the group continued forward.

"Commander!" a voice said from ahead. Three Marauders were standing in front of a doorway that looked like it had been forced open, dead Flood of various forms surrounding it. "We managed to secure this position no more than a few moments ago. We had planned to move forward but we ran into...complications. Because of these, we chose to wait for you."

"What kind of complications?" Marton asked as he and the others entered the room. As they did, the discovered the countless other Marauders were already inside, checking their equipment, moving corpses downing ration bars and water, or setting up cover. There were easily hundreds of them.

"The checkpoint that you gave us lies some distance ahead," the Marauder explained, leading the others further into the room. "However, simply moving forward will simply not do," he said as he stopped on the far side of the room. The others realized at that point that they were on the far end of a massive void that seemed to stretch on without end. "The core to this station lies somewhere over there," the Marauder said, pointing into the darkness.

"Unless anyone feels like sprouting wings, I say we go back and look for another way," Jack said.

"We have studied the schematics that we received religiously," the Marauder explained, "there is no other way to reach our objective with the exception of this." As he spoke, he kicked a massive metal platform that made up the edge of the cliff that they stood on. "Our technical experts studied it and realized that it was actually a form of transportation, it is some sort of platform that is capable of hovering and propulsion. It must have been used by the Collectors to travel through the base."

"This was the only one that we could locate though, and only a handful of individuals can fit on it. We will only be able to send a small team to attack the core and simply sending a standard Marauder squad into unknown territory will no doubt jeopardize this entire mission. What's more we have detected a massive amount of Flood heading in this direction and we were beginning to dig in. We were about to contact you for further orders as a matter of fact."

"You did well," Marton complimented, "all of you have done very well. My team and I will head deeper in and deal with the core. I want all of you to remain here and hold off the Flood. If they manage to catch us in a pincer attack they will be able to slaughter us and we cannot allow that to happen. We will update you regularly on our status, and while I want you to hold this position at all cost, I also want you to be ready to retreat at any second for when we overload the core."

"Understood sir," the Marauder said, activating an omni-tool. "I will bring the platform online, simply tell me when you wish to leave." Everyone slowly stepped onto the platform, staring out into the gapping blackness that was floating before them. Marton was the last to step onto the platform, and as he did he turned to face the assembled Marauders.

They had all stopped dead in their tracks and were looking at him, as if waiting for him to say something. Remembering what Wrex had said mere minutes ago, Marton chose to speak. "Brothers, sisters, words fail to describe how proud of each and every one of you. A little over a decade ago, you were the first specialist division of the Jiralhanae Empire, you were it's pride and joy. If you had stayed within the military of the Empire, you would have been hailed as heroes who had led the charge against the rest of the galaxy in the untraceable starship, the _Eternal Salvation_. Perhaps if you had, the outcome of this war would have been completely different, with you bringing the enemies of the Empire to it's knees."

"Yet despite all of this, when I asked you all to join me in a rebellion, when I asked you to throw everything that you had away because of a feeling of morality, what did you do? You did not hesitate, every last one of you defected from the Empire with me, helped me steal the Eternal Salvation, along with countless other starships. I asked you to fight a war that we would most likely use and you did not falter as you fought against your own kind."

"Now, eleven years later, the fruits of your labor are finally blossoming. We have made alliances with the United Nations Space Command, the Republic of Sovereign Nations, and the Council. When Sukron and his regime of tyranny and genocide are finally overthrown by our combined forces, we will be given the right to rebuild our civilization, this time under a banner of peace, not war."

"You accomplished all of this despite the consequences that could have easily befallen you. The entire might of the newly formed Empire stood against you, the regular army, the Chemical Corps, the shock troops, Metal Fist, the Imperial Guard and even the recently formed Blood Brothers. You put your very lives on the line for a victory and a cause that were not even certain but you stood by it with a determination that humbles me. You were the ones that looked at the common belief and practice that we are nothing but savage warmongers and said 'we are more than that! We are better than that!'"

"After so much I must admit that I feel guilty asking more of you, but we are so close to accomplishing everything that we have strived for. I must ask you to do this one last thing. Please, hold this position, no matter what it takes. If we can defeat the Flood here and now, our dreams will become a reality, our alliance with the other races of the galaxy will become cemented. Centuries from now, children will ask their elders how peace with the galaxy became possible, and the answer will point this very moment. Make me proud! Make yourselves proud! Make the galaxy proud!"

The assembled Marauders let out roars of approval, shoving their weapons into the air, but resisting the urge to fire them. Marton stood still for a second before giving the signal to the Marauder that stood next to the platform. Nodding, he typed on his omni-tool, causing the platform to rise up and move forward, making an ominous humming noise as it did.

"Gotta say monkey boy, that wasn't half bad," Jack said, "though you kinda overdid it, you sounded like a fucking boy scout."

"You talk too much," Rutherforae said as the platform continued to move forward, "I swear you sometimes remains me of-"

"_So, you are brave enough to approach me," _an ominous voice said, speaking into their minds "_or perhaps arrogant is a better word to describe you."_

"I take it you are the Gravemind?" Marton asked, his voice thick with anger.

_"Yes Marton, I am."_

"I am afraid that I cannot allow you to continue existing. You must be destroyed."

The Gravemind let out a low cackle. "_Then face me, face me and my spawn. I will be waiting for you Marton. Waiting to show you just how fragile you and your kind is."_

XXXXX

Taylor and Tali fired four shots a piece before they were forced to duck down again to avoid Sukron's grenades. The Jiralhanae slowly advanced, a confident smirk on his face. Tali popped up again and threw an active plasma grenade at him, the cyborg hastily diving to the side to avoid it as it stuck to the ground and detonated before beginning to advance again. "This isn't good," Taylor hissed as he attempted to open fire again, only to have a grenade hit him dead in the chest, forcing him back down as his shields flickered.

"If you have a plan, I'm all ears," Tali replied, placing her pistol on her thigh and producing her shotgun. She leaned out to the side, firing a blast at Sukron before a grenade forced her back into cover.

"Sorry, I've got nothing," he apologized, looking at her.

"If you two are done talking," Sukron said eerily, "I have come to a conclusion." Without warning, the Emperor let out a roar as he charged forward, heading straight for the wrecked Warthog.

"Oh fuck, MOVE!" Taylor shouted as both he and Tali dove to opposite sides as Sukron smashed into their makeshift cover with his mechanical arm. The ruined jeep jolted forward, traveling at least two dozen feet before coming to a stop. Sukron allowed himself a smile of satisfaction before turning to look at his nearest victim, who happened to be Taylor.

Getting to his feet, the ODST defiantly raised his rifle and opened fire, aiming at Sukron's head. However, ever since his days as a Supreme Commander, the massive alien had been outfitted with the most advanced shield technology that the Empire was capable of. A DMR could penetrate his shields, but it would take time, and time was something Taylor lacked at the moment.

Sukron closed the distance between them at an alarming rate, his cybernetic arm letting go of his grenade launcher. Swinging it viciously, it connected with Taylor's rifle, knocking it out of his hands. Thinking quickly, Taylor drew his magnum and fired off three shots before that too was knocked out of his hands by another blow, jarring his arm in the process.

Sukron leered down at Taylor, and he realized at that point that the massive Jiralhanae was simply toying with him. Determined to walk away from this alive, Taylor focused as much biotic energy as he could into his right fist before throwing a punch at Sukron, aiming for his gut. The Emperor's cybernetic hand intercepted the punch, catching Taylor's hand in mid air and closing around it.

Taylor gapped at his trapped fist as Sukron let out a harsh laugh, looking at him with a face he would expect from someone that had just cornered a teenage girl in a dark ally. "What is the matter Human?" he asked scornfully, "is that all you HAVE!" As he shouted, he yanked Taylor's arm forward while slamming his knee into the ODST's gut. The biotic's mouth opened wide as all the air left his lungs and an intense pain shot through his stomach. "I knew that I would win from the moment this battle began, but I expected SOMETHING!" Sukron continued, smashing his knee into Taylor's stomach, forcing the ODST to gasp in pain again.

"But this? This is simply pathetic," Sukron laughed, as he pulled Taylor's arm up over it's owners hand and raised his cybernetic leg. He released his grip on the Human as his foot flew out in a kick, impacting directly on Taylor's chest. A pang of nausea and pain tore through Taylor and a sickening cracking noise filled his ears as he was sent flying, hitting the ground with a thud as he desperately gasped for air. His Victory class armor had prevented him from being killed instantly from a single blow, but judging by the pain that was coursing through his chest, he had several broken ribs and who knows what kind of damage to his stomach.

"This is almost boring," Sukron remarked, walking forward again aiming at Taylor as he attempted to push himself to his knees, only to have his arms slip out from underneath him and fall to the ground. "I will have to be certain to make up for lost time once I am finally alone with the two of-" Sukron was cut off as a bolt of electricity struck his shields from the right.

Turning on the spot, he fired the remaining grenades in his launcher, only to find that he had been aiming at a combat drone. As he paused to load a fresh belt into his weapon, he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. Glancing at it, he had just enough time to look at the plasma grenade that was stuck there before it detonated, weakening his shields as he did. Swinging his launcher around, he saw Tali standing not that far away, aiming her shotgun at him.

Letting out a roar, he began to charge at her, even as a wave of pellets impacted on his shields. Tali fired her shotgun two more times at the Jiralhanae bearing down on her before throwing herself to the side to avoid it. However, Sukron had better reflexes than Tali had been expecting and threw out his arm, which impacted on her visor as he continued forward. The purple reinforced glass shattered diagonly, the lower half falling to the ground in shards while the upper half managed to remain in place.

Tali found herself thrown to the ground as Sukron screeched to a halt, looking at her with an expression that mixed murderous intent with glee. Reaching to her side, she produced her pistol, but before she could so much as fire a single shot, Sukron had kicked it out of her hands. He followed this up by pressing his foot against Tali's chest, pinning her to the ground, even as she began to viciously struggle.

"I do believe that you have had enough fun," he snarled, glaring at the struggling Quarian. "Now then, I seem to recall that you were the one that stabbed me in my neck, Tali'Zorah was it not? How best to return that favor..." he said absently mindedly, raising his other foot, the cybernetic one. With terrifying speed and strength, he brought in crashing down on Tali's right leg. The Quarian let out a shriek of pain as she felt bone splinter under the strain of the impact.

"Ah, it has been a year since I heard that scream," Sukron relished, "such a beautiful sound. As if to emphasize his point, he lift his foot up again and brought it down on the other leg, breaking it as well. Tali let out another shriek as intense pain shot through her body. "The question is, what to do now," Sukron said to himself, "Practically all species only have four limbs but I do not wish to rush through them. What am I to do in the mean time." Looking around with a bored expression, he spotted the lake in a distance.

"There is a thought," he said with sadistic glee, taking his foot off of Tali. Before she could react, he had grabbed her by the throat with his cybernetic arm as he began to walk towards the lake, dragging her along with him, Tali futility struggling all the way. Within seconds he had reached the lake. "Such a pity that visor of yours broke," he remarked, and without another word, pulled Tali to the shore line before shoving her head under the water.

Water flooded through the destroyed face plate, completely covering Tali's face. A panicky feeling spread through the Quarian women as Sukron's hand forced her head to remain under the water. She could feel the oxygen in the lungs slowly running out, a slight burning feeling filling them. The fear that she was about to die had entered her mind when she felt herself being pulled back above the surface of the water.

She opened her mouth in a deep gasp as air flooded her lungs. "I have waited far too long for this to simply kill you 'Zorah," he mocked. "Your death will be painful and slow." And with that, he shoved her down again, Tali barely having enough time to inhale before she was forced under the water again.

Not far away, Taylor had finally managed to force himself to his feet, panting heavily. Hearing a splash, he turned to face the direction that it had come from and felt rage flow through him as he saw Sukron water boarding Tali. He took a step forward, only to stumble and fall to his knees as his gut roared in pain. Ripping his helmet off, he clasped his right palm over his mouth as he descended into a violent coughing fit. Taking his hand away, he saw that a few drops of blood were now drying on his palm. "Not exactly lethal," he hissed, "but I'm not in a good spot right now."

He desperately reached all over his armor, looking for something that he could use to attack Sukron at this range. His hands closed on something at his hip. His fingers fumbled with it as he pulled it off of his armor, holding it up to eye level and praying that he could use it. His jaw dropped. Gasped tightly in his fingers was a syringe, filled to the brim with ominous black liquid. Serum 16.

As he looked at the combat stimulant, memories flowed to the front of Taylor's mind. He remembered fighting Xeron on Virmire, how the biotic Jiralhanae had had the serum in his hands, how Ashley had made him drop it and ordered him to recover it. In the confusion that had followed he had forgotten that he was carrying it with him the whole time.

He frowned, looking at the vial. He knew exactly what it was capable of, he had seen Xeron demonstrate its powers first hand, and the adrenaline rush that it would give would no doubt block out any and all pain. But it had also inflicted the young warrior with a deadly disease that had spent years eating away at his organs. What was more, he didn't even know if it would work on Humans, it could kill him within seconds for all he knew. A gasp reached his ears and Taylor turned to see Sukron pulling Tali's head above water before shoving it down again. Taylor's teeth gritted, forming a grimace of pure rage as his grip tightened on the vial.

Sukron smirked as he pulled Tali up for air a third time, the Quarian coughed violently as spurts of water dribbled down her face. None to gracefully, he threw her away from the lake, the woman landing limply on her back. "Now then," the cyborg said, stepping forward and placing his grenade launcher on his back before drawing his combat knife in his cybernetic hand, the same knife that he had used to torture the two of them a year ago. "I do believe that on Feros you were the one that robbed me of an eye. It is time to return the favor.

Desperately, Tali reached down to her boot and grabbed the knife sheathed at her ankle. With a single flick of her wrist, she threw it at Sukron aiming for his throat. The organic eye of the Jiralhanae widened in genuine shock as he reached forward and managed to grab it. As his fist closed around the blade, a smile of satisfaction spread across his face, only to be interrupted as he winced in pain. A stinging sensation was originating from the palm of his hand and a thin line of blood was trickling down his wrist.

Despite the pain that she was in, Tali managed to form a defiant smirk. "Careful, I think you cut yourself," she taunted.

Sukron snarled in rage as he dropped the knife, switching his own knife from his synthetic arm to his organic. His metal arm reached forward, grabbing Tali's face and forcing the back of her head to the ground, two of his fingers keeping her right eye open. Raising his knife in his organic arm, he began to slowly lower it to the Quarian woman's silvery eye, which glared back at him with content through the shattered visor.

However, before he could cause any damage, a blur of purple smashed into the ground directly in-between Tali and Sukron, forcing the Jiralhanae to stumble back a few steps. Taylor panted where he stood, glaring at Sukron with pure hatred. "You still have a little fight left in you I see," Sukron said, anger vanishing from his voice. "Odd, I was not aware that you could preform a charge."

Not responding, Taylor charged forward, biotic energy swarming around his right fist. Sukron felt the urge to laugh as the Human charged at him, he was trying this tactic again? As Taylor attempted to punch Sukron, the Jiralhanae reached forward and grabbed the biotic fist in his mechanical arm. Sukron let out a slight grunt as he was forced back an inch. That was odd, it was as if this punch had been stronger than the last one.

Ignoring that, Sukron thrust his knee forward, intending to hit Taylor in the gut again. There was a sudden jolt as it came to a sudden stop in midair. Looking down, Sukron felt his jaw open in surprise. Taylor's left had had reached out and was holding his knee in place. For a second the two struggled, neither gaining an edge of the other. At that point, Taylor pushed off of the ground with both of his feet, propelling himself into the air. He tucked his legs back in as he rolled backwards ever so slightly before kicking out.

Sukron didn't even have time to blink before a pair of combat boots smashed into his face. The Jiralhanae let out a roar of pain as he released his grip on both Taylor's fist and his own knife, staggering back, clutching his face. Taylor landed gracefully on both of his feet and took a step forward, stopping when his foot hit something. Looking down, he saw Sukron's knife lying at his feet. Bending down, he grabbed the hilt and raised it up to eye level. It was around the size of a Human machete, bigger than what he was used to, but right now he needed a weapon.

Sukron lowered his hands from his face, blood squirting from both of his nostrils. "You dare Human?" he whispered in a dangerous voice, glaring at the Human. "YOU DARE!" he bellowed, grabbing his grenade launcher and firing all six shots at Taylor. Holding one hand out in front of him, Taylor conjured up a barrier in front of him, which all six of the grenades slammed into, failing to pierce it.

"What is this?" Sukron hissed, "your biotic abilities were never this strong before-" Sukron stopped mid-sentence as he noticed something about Taylor's biotic aura. At the beginning of the fight, it had been a standard purple, but since he had stepped in-between Sukron and Tali, it had slowly been growing darker and darker until it reached the shade that it was now. Pure black, the same as Xeron's.

"Coward," Sukron hissed "hiding behind artificial strength instead of the strength that you were born with, there is no lower-"

"Oh can we skip the whole honor and respect bullshit and get to the part when I shove this thing into your FUCKING THROAT!" Taylor shouted, irrational hatred and anger pulsing through him as he brandished the Jiralhanae combat knife that he held.

"T-Taylor?" The ODST glanced behind him and saw Tali staring at him, her visible eye wide with either terror or shock, it was hard to tell. "What...what happened to you?"

"I'll explain later," he said gruffly, turning back to face Sukron, who was reaching another belt of ammunition for his grenade launcher. He did not find any, he had used it all. For a moment, he stood still, looking at his empty grenade launcher. Letting out a roar, he took it by both hands as he charged at Taylor, swinging the blades weapon. Taylor in turn also began to sprint at the Emperor of Jiralhanae, massive knife in hand. Their blades met in mid air.

Author's Note: I imagine some of you are wondering why I'm exactly having Taylor and Tali going through all of this pain. Actually it's because of a philosophy that I have with writing that I can't talk about at this very moment due to spoilers. Remind me to tell you about it when the story is over. Ah, I do love a good Chekov's Gun.

Yeah it's a little shorter than usual but frankly I realized that I needed to let the Marauders catch up a little bit so that the three climaxes wouldn't be a little on the inconsistent side. Also, think of it as my way of saying "this is to make up for the April Fool's joke. I totally did not do this to keep people from tearing my door and pissing on my carpet.

EDIT: Sorry about the mess in your inbox today, I messed up and had to move things around so that people could actually review this chapter.


	99. Just Who the Hell do You Think We Are?

Chapter 98

Just Who the Hell do You Think We Are!

Author's Note: Now that the whole April Fools thing has blown over and people have calmed down from me putting up an actual chapter, I'm back from the emergency room with a couple of stitches and ready for the next chapter. Let's get right to it.

Tali gaped as Taylor swung Sukron's combat knife at it's former master, the Jiralhanae actually stumbling back as he blocked it with his bladed grenade launcher. Taylor fighting Sukron hand to hand? "How is he doing this?" she whispered, "his biotics were never this strong, even after the L4. The one time he tried to do a Charge he threw up right afterwards, he just couldn't spike high enough. How-" she trailed off as she spotted something on the ground in front of her in-between the blades of grass.

Reaching forward, she gently grasped it and lifted it up to eye level. It was a used syringe, a drop of black liquid still in it. She recognized it immediately. "S-Serum 16?" she stuttered. "He, didn't, wouldn't," she glanced back at Taylor, just in time to see him duck a vicious swipe from Sukron and smash his elbow into the Jiralhanae's stomach, causing him to gasp in pain and stumble back before regaining his balance.

"He did," she whispered. "That...that stupid, BOSH'TET!" she swore, "is he trying to kill himself?" she hissed as she attempted to get to her feet. This proved to be pointless, for the second she attempted to put weight on her broken leg, unbearable pain shot through her and she fell to her knee. "Damn it," she swore, trying to stand up again only to receive the same results.

She swore under her breath as she glared at her legs. She wasn't going anyway with both of them broken, in other words she was completely helpless. She hated it, she hated being reduced to a bystander while Taylor put his life on the line. Somewhere in the back of her head she wondered if he had felt the same way when she had been the one fighting the cybernetic Jiralhanae back on Feros. 'I'll have to ask him if I- no WHEN I get the chance,' she thought, but she quickly pushed these thoughts to the back of her head, they could come later.

"I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here like a helpless little girl!" she hissed, trying to get to her to he feet for a third time, gritting her teeth in pain as weight was forced on her legs again. This time, she was actually able to maintain balance, the pain dulling slightly after the initial impact, although it still hurt like Hell. Experimentally, she took a step forward and another pang of agony shot through her, causing her to collapse to her knees.

"Ok," she whispered to herself, "I can still walk...kind of," she hissed. "I might be able to pull of running if I'm willing to feel like someone is sawing my leg off, but even then I'll probably only last ten seconds. What I need is one of my guns." Her eyes began to scan the area, looking for either her shotgun or her pistol. She couldn't find either of them, they must have gotten hidden in the grass and she didn't have the time to find them.

"There must be something I can do with what I have," she hissed, "Think Tali think!"

Not far away, Taylor raised the Jiralhanae combat knife in his hands, just in time to intercept a blow from Sukron. The two blades clashes as their welders glared daggers at each other. "What do you think of yourself Human?" Sukron growled. "Do you believe that you are a warrior of a high caliber? If so you are deluding yourself, you are a expendable grunt, while I am the Emperor of all the Jiralhanae! You cannot possibly compare to me!"

'Fucking Hell this guy loves the sound of his voice,' Taylor thought dryly. He spotted that Sukron had taken one hand off of his blade and had aimed his scorcher at Taylor's face. Deciding that he would be better off not seeing if his barriers could protect him from the flames, Taylor took one of his own hands off of the Jiralhanae combat knife, and drew his own standard issue UNSC knife. With his strength augmented through a combination of his armor and his biotics, he stabbed at the flamethrower, puncturing the fuel tank and causing orange fluid to leak out.

Sukron was so surprised by this turn on events that his grip slackened on his grenade launcher. Taylor did not hesitate to take advantage of this, leaving his own knife buried in the scorcher and putting both hands back on Sukron's former weapon. With a grunt, he swung his blade upward, forcing Sukron's grenade launcher upward. With his opponent's guard gone, Taylor thrust forward. The combined force that was driving the knife forward was so great that the knife drove through the armor that Sukron was wearing and into his stomach.

Sukron let out an ear splitting shriek at the knife was driven into him and swung his grenade launcher as hard as he could at Taylor, not even bothering to line up the blade. Taylor didn't have enough time to maneuver out of the way and the dull body of the weapon smashed into his side, sending him flying several dozen feet, the knife that he was holding being forcefully ripped out of Sukron as he did.

Taylor panted as he got back to his feet, holding the stolen knife in front of him again in a combat stance. He could feel a dull ache from where Sukron had smashed his weapon into him, but he was uncertain of exactly how bad the damage truly was, not knowing how much of the pain that he was really feeling was being drowned by adrenaline.

At that moment, he suddenly doubled over as he descended into a minor coughing fit, his grip on his Jiralhanae combat knife loosening for a second as he covered his mouth. Pulling his hand away and looking at it, he saw that there was a smear of bright red blood on it, larger than the last one. 'Serum 16 or internal bleeding?' he wondered before putting both hands back on his new blade. 'Doesn't really matter I guess.'

To his surprise, Sukron had not charged at him while he had been weakened, and he now knew why. The Emperor was clutching the wound in his stomach before holding it up to eye level and looking at the blood that coated it. "Human," he growled, "I will redefine your definition of pain, I will make you watch as I inflict every pain that my mind can create on the Quarian, forcing you to-"

"Oh, bitch bitch bitch," Taylor said mockingly, "suck it up princess." Taylor's voice was cocky and confident, but unbeknownst to Sukron, Taylor was actually hiding something with it. He did not show it but he was scared to death, of Sukron AND himself. He could still feel the raw energy behind each one of Sukron's blows, and knew that it would only take a couple of well placed ones to snap his neck, and that was assuming that he wasn't already doomed to die. And then there was the simple fact that his biotics had been magnified to the point where he was knife fighting with a member of one of the strongest races in the galaxy. It was empowering and terrifying all at the same time, and it took all of his self control to keep his hands from shaking.

Something in Sukron's mind snapped at the taunt as he let out an animal like roar and began to charge forward. He crossed the distance between him and Taylor within seconds, swinging his grenade launcher without putting much conscious thought into it, letting his anger guide his movements. Taylor ducked his head back, barely avoiding being decapitated by Sukron as the Jiralhanae viciously swung his blade before raising it over his head and bringing it down with a roar, attempting to split his opponent in half.

Taylor sidestepped the attack, the blade of the grenade launcher burying itself in the dirt. Not hesitating, Taylor swung his knife at Sukron's side, the blade ripping through the Jiralhanae's flesh and causing blood to pour out. Tearing his weapon out of the dirt Sukron swung at Taylor again, the ODST raising his oversized knife just in time to block it.

Focusing his biotic energy, Taylor purposefully ducked down as Sukron was still pushing forward, causing his arms to lurch forward. Ducking under the Jiralhanae's massive arms, the biotic raised his knife over his head and slammed it down into the center of Sukron's chest, burying it up to the hilt. Not hesitating, Taylor drew the blade out and drove it back in before pulling it out and stabbing the Jiralhanae a third time.

Roaring in agony as blood poured down his chest, Sukron drew back his grenade launcher, using the center of it to block a fourth stab. Letting out another screech, the Jiralhanae took his cybernetic arm off of his weapon, closed it into a fist, and brought it smashing down on Taylor's still outstretched arm.

The ODST felt a pang of nausea as a sickening snapping noise filled his ears. Not letting Sukron press his advantage, Taylor raised the arm that Sukron had struck and fired off a Warp at Sukron's artificial one. The black blast impacted as Taylor desperately preformed a Charge, putting distance between him and Sukron. He landed clumsily a safe distance from Sukron, stumbling and falling to all fours, gasping for breath.

Forcing himself onto his knees, he looked at the arm that had been hit and gave it an experimental nudge. He grit his teeth as a pang of agony shot through him. It was broken. "Fuck," he hissed, getting to his feet, still holding the knife in his good arm and looking at Sukron. The Jiralhanae was nursing his mechanical arm and Taylor was pleased to see that his Warp had done some damage. Sparks were flying out of it and when Sukron attempted to flex his fingers, only half of them moved and those that did only moved halfway. Forcing his cybernetic hand under the grip for his weapons, he grabbed the fingers with his organic hand and bent them down, forming a rather loose grip around it.

"What's the matter, did I break you?" Taylor said, hoping that Sukron hadn't noticed the way that he was gingerly holding his arm. Sukron growled and stepped forward, only to stumble slightly, clutching at his chest with his organic hand. Apparently the wounds that Taylor had inflicted on him ran deep, Sukron seemed to be in a great deal of pain.

Taylor allowed himself a smirk, even though his heart was hammering against his ribcage. The Warp that he had sent at Sukron had indeed damaged his arm, but Taylor had half expecting it to be completely blown off. What was more, his landing had been sloppy with him not being able to keep his balance. To top it all off, the pain in his chest and arm were becoming more and more pronounced and sharp. Taylor was able to draw one conclusion from this. Serum 16 was starting to wear off.

'Damn it' he thought, 'not yet, just a little longer. I need to finish him.'

"What is the matter?" Sukron hissed, slowly making his way to where Taylor stood. "Is your liquid salvation failing you? Have you begun to realize the futility of hiding behind created strength, have you realized that that is nothing more than an illusion?"

'Should I point out that he's around one third cybernetics or will that go over his head?' Taylor wondered.

"That is why you will die today, you and the Quarian, the Jiralhanae are a superior species, and we will take our rightful place as rulers of this galaxy!"

'Oh yeah, it'd go way over.'

"So tell me Human, do you have any preferences as to how you wish to see the Quarian suffer?"

Taylor's smirk faded away to be replaced by a grimace of hatred. "You've done enough to her," he hissed.

"Ah, I see that you are rather protective of her," Sukron said, his anger fading away and his usual sadistic smile reappearing as he continued to limp towards Taylor. "I guessed as much back on Feros when you were infuriated with me when I refused to tell you about her. I admit, I fail to see the benefit of such attachments, and why they exist in the first place confuses me to no end. However, I have found that they are most enjoyable to exploit. I will have a particularly good time exploiting yours."

While Sukron was busy talking, Taylor was wracking his brains, trying to come up with a plan. He was in bad shape, but on the flip side, so was Sukron. If he could get in fast he might be able to hit one of Sukron's vital spots, not enough to kill him instantly but enough to make him bleed to death. The madman might have enough time to kill him but frankly a quick death was preferable to the twisted ideas that he knew that the Jiralhanae thrived on.

Subconsciously, he found himself glancing to the side where he had last seen Tali. She wasn't there. His head jerked to fully look to the side, scanning for signs of the Quarian woman. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Sukron for a second since the fight had began, and if he hadn't done anything to here, then where was she?

Sukron noticed Taylor's movement and looked in the same direction that he was. He took Tali's disappearance significantly less well. "WHERE IS SHE HUMAN!" he roared, glaring at Taylor, "I WILL NOT BE DENIED MY VENGEANCE!"

"Oh ok, I'll tell you," Taylor said dryly, "she's got a timeshare on Europa, nice little place up in the mountains, she probably went there, it's pleasantly warm this time of year."

"You test my patience Human," Sukron growled, moving forward again, his working hand tightening around his weapon. He had taken no more than three steps when he heard a faint sound, like something was moving through grass. Taylor's eyes focused on something behind Sukron and his eyes widened in surprise.

Before Sukron could turn around to see what the disturbance is, he felt a three fingered hand grab his left elbow before pushing upward. A slender arm then slid around his throat and he felt a body slam against his back. Tali grit her teeth as she tightened her grip around Sukron's neck, raising her free arm and flicking her wrist. Her omni-tool burst to life and a blade shot out of the end. It glowed brightly and unless Taylor's eyes were mistaken, it was also on fire. Tali said nothing as her hand tightened into a fist and she brought the blade down, driving it towards Sukron's back.

XXXXX

Marton's hand instinctively hovered over the hilt of his blade as the platform that he and his team were on continued to move forward. The others were double checking their weapons one last time, making sure that they were as prepared as they could be.

"So, we have no idea what we're getting ourselves into?" Jack asked, looking at Rutherforae.

"We can expect the Gravemind to be down this path, but apart from that, yes we lack intelligence on what we face."

"Well, at least it'll be a surprise," Jack grunted. "Still, I'd like to know exactly what my odds of coming out of this alive are. I do have plans for the future you know."

"What kind of plans?" Elizabeth asked. It wasn't a harsh intruding question, but a gentle curious one.

Jack looked at Elizabeth, clearly trying to decide if she should answer or tell the blonde to fuck off. After much deliberation, she chose the former. "All right, you got me. I don't have any ideas for what to do after all of this. I usual just wing it. What, are you telling me that you have ideas?"

"Kind of," the sniper said sheepishly, "I was thinking that maybe I would try and settle down on an outer colony and try and find some work. Maybe I could be a teacher, I don't know."

"Teacher huh?" Jack snorted, "you'd never catch me dead teaching a bunch of fucking snot nose brats."

"Much to their pleasure I imagine," Rutherforae said dryly.

"And what do you have planned grandma? Sewing circle?"

Rutherforae scowled at Jack but spoke calmly. "I will return to Dosiac. No doubt the political turmoil that will follow the end of this conflict will need all of the hands that we can muster to bring it under control. I imagine that I will be deeply embroiled within Jiralhanae politics for years to come."

"As will I," Marton added.

"I've got to whip Tuchanka into shape myself, make it so that those idiots stop killing each other for five seconds. I'll probably have to head butt half of them into submission, heck, my idiot blood-brother Wreav will probably be a problem. That is if he hasn't gotten himself killed yet, he's probably been the one who was herding the clans into Tritus' hands."

"From what I heard he was still alive," Marton said.

"Good," Wrex said, grinning widely "something tells me I'm not going to get Saren's skull as a forget me not for this whole thing, his will do."

"This unit will most likely return to Geth controlled territory to add the data that we have collected to the Geth mainframe," Legion stated. "However, there is a chance that this unit may be assigned to negotiate peace with the Alliance. That would be...acceptable."

"Out of curiosity, will you give the Quarians their homeworld back?" Marton wondered.

"Considering the creator's cooperation with true Geth units at the Citadel, it is not unlikely."

'And what about you?" Jack said, looking at Tesueg, "you gonna be part of damage control too?"

"Oh no," the Jiralhanae said warmly, "I am no good at politics, when I was a Supreme Commander I just smiled and waved, No I think that this conflict will be the last that I have to do with my life as a warrior, I think that I will start fresh."

"Start fresh?" Rutherforae said, sounding surprised, "what in the name of the spirits are you talking about?"

Tesueg shrugged. "I have been curious about the other species that populate the galaxy for some time now. For half of my life I was confined to a war torn planet thinking that planning for the next attack and preparing for the next invasion was all there was. Even after the Covenant found us, our lives were dedicated to making the Covenant stronger by conquering those who stood against it, wiping out Humanity, and then when Tritus' time came, building up our forces to conquer the rest of the galaxy, and even after we defected we were solely focused on tearing the Empire down. I wish to explore other aspects of life."

"Such as?" Marton inquired.

"During my browsing of the extranet, I discovered a most delightful form of music that originated from the culture of Humanity. I wish to study it and perhaps practice it. I believe that it was called...techno."

Jack burst out laughing. "You? A fucking DJ?"

"Is that the title of a person who profession involves working with it?" Tesueg asked, practically bouncing on of the balls of his feet.

"Wow," Jack said, "just...wow. That has got to be one of the craziest things that I have ever heard, a fucking Brute wants to be a DJ."

"That'd certainly make the galaxy a more interesting place," Elizabeth pointed out.

"Tesueg," Rutherforae said "you are without a doubt the biggest fool that I have ever encountered in all of my years...when your plans eventually crash and burn, you will know where to find me. I will help you."

Tesueg smiled, "thank you Adolas."

"Only Marton calls me that."

"Sorry."

Jack rolled her eyes as she looked away from the two, trying to hide the small smile that was spreading across her face. Marton smiled himself and was about to speak when he realized something. The platform was slowing down. Marton made a gesture as he drew both of his pistols, the others raising their weapons as well.

"Be prepared for anything," he whispered as the platform slid to a halt connecting to a massive ring of platforms that were hovering in the middle of the air, completing said ring. Looking up, Marton saw a massive wall in front of him, gigantic tubes hanging idly in the air, looking as if they had intended to be connected to something monstrous. There was no indication of exactly what that thing was and he had a feeling that he didn't want to know.

"There does not seem to be anything living here," Rutherforae remarked.

"Good, let's set this mother to blow and get the fuck out of-" Jack began, but was cut off by an ungodly wail that was a cross between a scream and a roar that came from the ceiling. Weapons were pointed upward and the group saw that the ceiling was coated with Flood biomass, growths and tentacles pulsing ominously. A single form sped through the air, aiming straight for Marton.

The Jiralhanae ducked as a bladed arm swung at his head and the figure shot off, Marton raising both of his pistols and firing after it. "You have come I see," said the same voice that they had heard earlier. Looking up again, the seven of them saw a massive creature that was attached to the ceiling by countless tentacles, all of which connected to something that resembled the head of a venus fly trap.

The Gravemind thrust one of it's tentacles out, aiming for the platform that the Marauders were standing on. Marton threw himself to the platform to the left while the others jumped onto the platform to the right. All of them cleared off of the platform just as the massive appendage smashed into it, causing it to snap in half, the ruined pieces falling into the blackness below them.

"How the Hell are we supposed to kill this thing when it can just crush us whenever it feels like it?" Jack shouted as the tentacle was pulled back.

"This unit will attempt to seize control of the platform," Legion said, activating it's omni-tool and hastily typing in a series of commands into it. Almost instantly the platform swerved suddenly to the right, narrowly avoiding another one of the Gravemind's massive tentacles.

"We will attempt evasive remote maneuvers," Legion said, lowering it's omni-tool before grabbing it's anti-material rifle, "but probability of eventual destruction if hostile is not eliminated is high."

"A language I fucking understand would be nice!" Jack shouted.

"If we don't kill that thing soon we're screwed!" Elizabeth shouted.

"Well why didn't you just say that!" Jack replied as she extended her hand outward, sending a Warp at the Flood hive mind. Rutherforae in turn fired her railgun and Tesueg let loose a hail of slugs, Wrex firing his assault rifle and Elizabeth drawing and firing the Collector particle accelerator while Legion fired his own rifle. Massive gapping holes were torn in the massive parasite, but it did not seem to be phased, sending out another massive tentacle, the platform dropping down and narrowly avoiding it.

Meanwhile, Marton had gotten to his feet on the ring of still stationary platforms. Upon seeing the Gravemind swiping at the platform that his comrades were on, he holstered both of his pistols and grabbed his plasma cannon, aiming it at the massive creature. He was about to fire when he heard a faint flapping noise which was quickly followed by blinding pain as two bladed arms tore through his back, causing his arms to jerk and his weapon to fire harmlessly into the ceiling, far away from the Gravemind.

Gritting his teeth in pain, Marton saw the Acolyte flapping it's wings as it slowly landed in front of him, its arms crossed in front of its chest. "_I know your face from the memories of Flood that have lived before Marton,_" it said, "_You and your kind barely survived a fledging strain, dealing with you now will be underwhelming._"

Marton barely registered what the Flood was saying, his mind was preoccupied with two things. The searing pain originating from his back and an overwhelming anger that was slowly seeping through him. Pushing these feelings away, Marton dropped his still overheated plasma cannon and drew one of his pistols and his sword. He then charged at the Acolyte, firing off half a dozen rounds as he did.

The second in command of the Flood raised it's arms and blocked the bullets, it's body sagging slightly under the strain. As Marton closed the distance, he swung his blade viciously, intending to bisect the creature that stood before him. The Acolyte spread its swings and gave a powerful flap, avoiding the powerful stroke and flying over Marton, swinging at the Jiralhanae's face.

There was an explosion of sparks as the solid green line of light on Marton's helmet exploded as the Acolyte flew by. He ripped the damaged helmet off and aimed his pistol at his assailant, firing the last of the bullets in the magazine at the fleeing creature.

Marton found himself inhaling and exhaling particularly hard as he slid a fresh clip into his handgun. His opponent was like none that he had ever faced before, and it was proving to be quite a challenge. What was more, he felt his savage side clawing away at his inside, lusting for blood and slaughter. He grit his teeth. 'A blood frenzy would no doubt aid me in this battle, but there is no guarantee that I will be able to stop once I have begun,' he thought as the Acolyte arced and began to head back to him. 'I could end up slaughtering all of my allies.'

Glancing to the side, he saw the platform desperately dodge another strike from the Gravemind before rapidly ascending, it's passengers still firing everything that they had. He let out a defeated sigh. 'In the end, I simply do not have the time to deal with this beast if I wish to assist them. I appears I have no choice.' And with that, Marton did something that he never thought that he would do. He willingly let his anger consume him.

Within seconds, he felt the sensations that he had felt before. Heightened senses, tensed muscles, his fur standing on end, everything that he had come to expect. But...there was something different, the steel resolve that he had formed when he had given his speech, the resolve that had been the backing forced behind everything he had done since he had first rebelled against his brother remained, suppressing his urge to charge forward without conscious thought.

He wasn't sure if it was because he was dealing with an enemy he wasn't sure that he could beat, he wasn't sure if it was the pressure of just how much hinged on the outcome of this battle, and he wasn't even sure if it was because the lives of his comrades were in jearpordy, and his foe stood between them and him. All Marton knew was that he was in one of the deepest berserker rages that he had ever felt. And he was in control. All of the same fury and the enhanced strength that had come before, but now it was his to direct.

A grin of satisfaction and impressment spread across his face. 'I did not even know that this was possible,' he thought with the slightest bit of awed disbelief as the Acolyte charged at him again. 'Now we shall see how effective this can be!' he concluded, swinging his sword at the oncoming abomination of life.

XXXXX

Jane barely had time to blink before the mass of metal that a few moments ago had been Saren Arterius landed on the ground, firing both of the weapons that it held in it's hands. Even as her shields were riddled with bullets, she raised her ravager plasma rifle and fired an anti-tank blast at Sovereign. The construct gave a powerful thrust of its legs and propelled itself onto the wall to the side, continuing to fire both weapons.

A rocket flew towards the automaton, impacting on it and causing its shields to weaken. Sovereign's head swiveled to look at Garrus, who was the one who had fired the rocket, and aimed both of its arms at the Turian. However, instead of simply firing its weapons, what appeared to be orbs of red energy shot out of Sovereign's wrists, forcing the Spectre to take cover behind the staircase.

Sovereign propelled itself off of the wall as a trio of projectiles from Thel's fuel rod cannon impacted where he had been mere seconds before, landing on the far side of his opponents. Jane was about to open fire when she spotted the still active control panel, what it said clear even from this distance thanks to her enhanced senses. The symbols on it were of a language that she had never learned, yet somehow she could still understand what it said.

"Saren may have done enough already! The power up sequence is already starting!" she shouted.

"What!" Garrus shouted, looking at Jane with wide eyes.

"I need to get to that control panel, cover me!" Without another word, Jane vaulted out of cover, flat out running towards the glowing yellow panel. Without missing a beat Sovereign raised both of its wrists and was about to fire another barrage when a rocket from Garrus smashed into it, forcing it back. Jane thundered up the steps, sliding her ravager plasma rifle onto her back but keeping the Cain in one hand as she reached the controls.

Her eyes flew across them, hastily reading them. "It looks like Saren just opened the door for Sovereign, it's the one doing all of the work."

"Can you shut him out?" Thel shouted as he and Garrus slowly backed up the stairs with their weapons facing outward. Sovereign lunged forward, heading straight for Jane, only to duck down and fall back as Thel and Garrus fired the last of their shots, ejecting used clips and inserting new ones.

"I don't think so, even if I had a Smart A.I. with me that had the processing capability I'm not even sure that this thing was designed to have an emergency shutdown once it started!" she shouted, her free hand dancing along the controls, "if I were a Reaper I wouldn't give anyone who happened to stumble along this the chance."

"Can't you do anything!" Garrus asked, firing another rocket at Sovereign, who propelled itself onto the wall to his left, firing red orbs of energy out of its wrists as it did. Garrus was forced to take cover behind a railing as the balls of energy grazed the top of his shields, Thel returning fire at the demonic like construct. "I'm not sure how much longer we can hold this thing off!"

"I'm looking!" the SPARTAN said, viciously typing in. "I think I got something. It looks like I can open on the arms of the Citadel, if I do that the Alliance ships can open fire on Sovereign, taking him out! I need a little time though!"

"Do it!" Thel shouted before taking one hand off of his fuel rod and putting it hastily to his COM unit. "Rtas! The arms of the Citadel are about to open, I need you to take as many ships as can be spared and destroy Sovereign at any cost! It is...WHAT! When did that happen? Are they friend-" Thel broke off as he saw Sovereign leap again "I must go!" he shouted, putting his hand back on the fuel rod and opening fire, Garrus doing the same.

Sovereign fired more red orbs out of his wrists, pushing him back slightly and causing the projectiles to miss him ever so slightly. Landing on the ground, the shadow of Saren charged up the stairs, heading for Jane. As he charged, he swung out with both arms, slashing at both Garrus and Thel, forcing them over the sides, gashes in their chests. Jane heard it coming and turned around just as it lunged forward, swinging its claw at her face.

Her free hand grabbed it by the wrist as it flew towards her face, managing to stop it. Undaunted, Sovereign flicked its claws and Jane's body tensed in pain as all three of them shattered her visor dug into her face, missing her eyes by some miracle. Blood trickling down her face, the SPARTAN let out a roar as she turned on the spot, raising the arm that was holding onto Sovereign over her head and throwing the creature as hard as she could. She then raised the Cain in both hands, charing and lining up a shot with the husk of a Turian as it flew through the air.

The heavy weapon bucked as it fired a high speed slug at Sovereign, the construct's shields collapsing under the strain that it had been under and its chest collapsing slightly as it flew non too gracefully through the air and smashed into the ground.

Dropping the Cain, Jane ripped off her helmet and punched in one last set of commands and felt the station shudder as the arms began to slide open. Looking out of the massive window that decorated the far end of the Council chambers, Jane saw the massive arms sliding open around Sovereign's main body. Her jaw dropped. Slender slipspace ruptures were opening in-between the Alliance fleet and the Citadel, and from them bright golden starships were emerging. Forerunner ships.

Sovereign raised one of his appendages, and a beam of superheated metal shot out of it, aiming at the lead Forerunner vessel, a massive dreadnaught. The thanix cannon blast impacted on the dreadnaught's shields, which flickered slightly, but held, even as the blast dissipated. In return, the forward bulkhead of the dreadnaught shifted apart into two separate sections, revealing a glowing ball of white energy. A massive beam of energy, pure white in color, fired from the dreadnaught, aiming at Sovereign.

The Reaper never stood a chance, even with its upgrades, the beam tore through its shields and armor, reducing the vanguard of the Reapers into little more than a dead relic as its core was breached, causing it to explode. Saren's body let out a screech as its eyes flashed brightly before dying, falling limply to the ground.

"Jane," Garrus gasped, prompting the Captain to look around to see him and Thel making their way up the stairs, still carrying their heavy weapons and clutching their sides. "Are you all right? That thing-"

"Please, this is just a scratch," she said, wiping the blood from her face before looking back at the window. "Where the Hell did they come from."

"You don't think...you don't think that the others did this do you?" Garrus asked.

"Son of a bitch," Jane chuckled, "they did didn't they?" She was about to continue when her COM unit beeped, as did Thel's and Garrus'.

"If I am correct, then whoever is receiving this transmission is within the Citadel control room," a synthesized voice said. "It is a pleasure to speak with you, I am 00 Clarifying Atom."

"And I am Vigil," a second voice spoke.

"We are grateful for your assistance in destroying Sovereign, now we must assist your kind in the destruction of the...oh dear."

"What is it?" Jane asked.

"I am picking up readings from the Citadel...it is still powering up!"

"WHAT?" Jane bellowed, "how! Sovereign is dead!"

"It appears that a Reaper signal is being sent from the Coalition fleet from one of the ships that fall under the command of the species that you refer to as 'Collector'. It is completing what Sovereign started now that Saren has initiated the needed manual proceeders."

"But if that is true-" Thel began, but was cut off as the station shuddered. On the far end of the Citadel, where no signs of battle existed yet, a single black ship appeared, and then another, and another and yet more. Countless ships poured out of the Citadel, dropping out of faster than light travel in formation, the Citadel being the only thing that separated them an the other ships that were present. Within a minute, so many ships had been gathered than Jane simply couldn't count them.

The Reapers had arrived.

"Oh dear," Atom said, "It is even worse than I imagined, they have upgraded themselves with the technology of my creators. My ships may be more advanced, but they have far superior reserves...victory here is not guaranteed. I was hoping that we could have avoided confronting them directly so soon, but I see we have no choice."

"Atom, it would be wise to retreat and counterattack when battlefield conditions are better in our favor. I calculate the odds of us being victorious in this battle at-"

"Vigil, I understand that you are trying to be helpful, but I do not need to hear that."

"Very well."

Atom spoke again, but this time his voice was broadcasted to every ship that was present around the Citadel. "Warriors of the Alliance, warriors of the Coalition, the ships that you see before you are Reapers, highly advanced machines that desire nothing more than your total destruction. If you wish to survive, you will rally behind my ships and put your petty grudges aside. This very war was fabricated in order to weaken your defenses for them, if you wish to survive, THEN STAND BY ME!"

As Atom spoke, the body of Saren stirred. Jane's jaw dropped as the creature got to its feet again, the red glowing replaced by a sickly yellow. "**ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!**" Harbinger said as the three present raised their weapons and opened fire, the Forerunner and Reaper fleets opening fire on each other at the same time.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Still a little too early to talk about that personal philosophy that I was talking about a little while back, but I do promise you that we'll get to it next chapter, at a time when I can talk about it without firing off obvious spoilers. Yes I gave Tali the flaming variant of the omni-tool blade, I thought that it would be more fitting considering that she is an engineer and rule of cool. In the next chapter I'll probably hand wave it by saying that she found a setting for it or something.

Also an update on the ending fiasco. Bioware has come out into the open and said that they're releasing an extended cut DLC, basically it's going to be an epilogue of cinematic and cutscenes, stuff like that, that are supposed to give better closure on the ending...which they are still sticking with. "sigh" I really just don't know what to feel anymore, ME3 was an amazing game for the most part but the ending just sucked all of the joy out of me.

I really don't get what the big problem about having a normal ending is, I know that some people say that bittersweet and even downer endings make for good and memorable stories and in some cases they're right but parts of a story aren't interchangeable. An ending where everyone is screwed in a game series that spent the entire time hyping up how the impossible could be done and the Reapers could be defeated although at a heavy price feels REALLY inconsistent and it feels like they were trying to be dark simply for the sake of being dark. DARK DOES NOT EQUAL GOOD, A ENDING IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY GOOD SIMPLY BECAUSE IT IS DEPRESSING! If I made it so that everyone survived the events of this story and had them all go to a party, only to be killed by a suicide bomber that had never even been hinted at before, it would feel like a cop out wouldn't it?

Red Dead Redemption downer ending = Good, the entire game had a depressing tone to it with many a shaggy dog being shot and it was actually FITTING!...and then john was a zombie (sorry had to say it, my point still stands)

Mass Effect 3 downer ending = NOT GOOD!

Moral, I really really hate contrived depressing endings that come right the Hell out of nowhere. Sorry I know that I said that I would stop ranting.


	100. SPARTANs Never Die

Chapter 99

SPARTANs Never Die

Author's Note: Well, there's not a lot longer to go. I gotta say that its been really crazy, I've been doing this for around a year and a half. There's a good reason that this chapter took a little while to get up. First of all there's Easter, this has got to be one of the longest chapters that I've ever written and I found that the words came out very slowly, and then there's the fact that I've been working on a little side project. I've started writing From the Ashes, working on it a little bit here and there. For the five of you that have actually been looking forward to it I'm sorry to say that nothing is going up anytime soon. I need to finish New Origins so I promised to myself that nothing will go up for From the Ashes as long as New Origins is still in progress and we still have a few chapters to go...sorry.

XXXXX

"Joker, are you sure that you know how to fly this damn thing?" Rebecca shouted as she jammed down on the trigger to the turret that she was manning, spraying the Jiralhanae below with bullets.

"If you don't like it Frost you try to fly it!" Joker shouted as he hastily pulled back on the controls, causing the Falcon to reverse and narrowly avoid a series of fuel rod blasts. "I'm doing the best that I can!" he continued as he fired the last of the gunships missiles, sending a dozen limp Jiralhanae flying through the air before falling back onto the main guns, "these conditions aren't exactly ideal!"

"I seem to recall you saying something along the lines of 'I am the best damn pilot in the UNSC, I can make the Normandy dance if you ask me to,' was all of that boasting little more than empty words?" Liara questioned as she fired her own turret.

"Oh sure, pick on the cripple," Joker muttered. He swerved again as the three of them continued to fire on the hoard of Jiralhanae, killing several but not stemming the flow as they continued to push forward towards the Normandy. "Damn it, I'm going to try a low pass, if we get up and close maybe we can-" he was cut off as he controls in front of him began to flash fred. "Aw crap, INCOMING!"

One of the Jiralhanae below had fired four shots from a plasma launcher at the Falcon that were now homing in on the airborne vehicle. Joker spun the controls and jerked the Falcon to the right, desperately attempting to avoid the incoming projectiles. As he did though, a single fuel rod blast smashed into the bottom of the gunship, causing it to spin slightly and allowing one of the spheres of plasma to stick to the Falcon's right propeller.

There was a deafening explosion as the propellers were blown off, the Falcon beginning to spiral downward. "HOLD ON!" Joker roared as the VTOL drew closer and closer to the ground until it finally impacted. The vehicle tore through the ground, the still functioning propelling sending up a storm of soil and crash as it moved forward before slowly coming to a halt, smoking slightly.

"Ow," Joker moaned as he pushed the cockpit open "There go the rest of my ribs." Readjusting his cap, he poked his head out of the cockpit and looked at the rear section of the ship. "You two ok?"

"I'm fine," Liara called out, getting up from where she had been thrown out of the Falcon, a thick biotic aura surrounding her. "Rebecca?" she called out, sprinting back to the Falcon to find the silver haired woman still forcing herself into a sitting position by the edge of the gunship. "Are you alright?"

"For the most part," she hissed, "but I think that the crash bent some of the Falcon and...well," she gestured down to her right leg that she was holding gingerly. A long thick piece of metal was firmly lodged in her calf, crimson blood trickling down it.

"Oh Goddess," Liara whispered. "We need to get you to Chakwas, she can treat you properly."

"Sounds like a good idea, I-" Rebecca stared but trailed off as she attempted to but weight on her injured leg, causing her to hiss in pain.

"That's not going to work," Liara whispered, gently pushing her back against the Falcon. "Oh Goddess, how am I supposed to get you and Joker out of here?"

"Well, you haven't forgotten about me, that's nice to know," Joker said, "I think we might need to get Jacob out here, his Scorpion should be able to-CRAP!" Liara's head whipped around to see three Metal Fist Operatives approaching them, weapons raised.

Without putting conscious thought into it, Liara grabbed the nearest weapon that she could see, which happened to be Rebecca's shotgun. Leveling the weapon out, Liara fired two blasts at the nearest Jiralhanae, taking down his shields with the first and killing him with the second. The surviving two aimed their scorchers and let loose massive tongues of fire, aiming at Liara.

Taking one hand off of the shotgun, the Asari raised a palm in front of her, conjuring a biotic barrier to protect herself and Rebecca, the fire glancing off of it. The Metal Fist operatives did not let up, continuing to spray fire at the barrier, Liara not daring to drop it for even a second, even to return fire. Thirty seconds of this passed before Liara could begin to feel the early signs of exhaustion seeping into her muscles. The faintest feelings of panic began to leak into her as she wondered how she was supposed to fight back without dropping her barrier.

Both of the operatives continued to press down on their scorchers when bullets impacted on the shields of the one to the right. His head twisted in the direction of the shots and saw Joker leaning out of the side of the cockpit, holding a magnum in his hands. Caught off guard, the operative attempted to wheel around to aim his scorcher at the pilot, but he didn't have enough time.

Before he could even take once step his shields had fallen and bullets were tearing into his side. Joker lost count of how many times he fired the handgun at the Jiralhanae, even as he fell to the ground with blood pouring from his wounds. The remaining operative, however, was not as slow. In the blink of an eye he turned on the spot and fired his flamethrower at Joker, fire leaping from the nozzle.

Joker pushed himself down into the depth of the cockpit as the fire licked overhead, the tip of his cap igniting. The operative's teeth gritted in anger as he continued to aim his weapon at Joker, not realizing the fatal mistake that he had made. A Warp him in the chest, causing him to stagger back, his shields weakened. Glancing up he saw Liara aiming Rebecca's shotgun at him before firing it.

Liara ran to the cockpit as the corpse of the Jiralhanae fell to the ground, looking in. "Joker! Are you alright?"

"Shit shit shit shit shit!" Joker swore, his head popping out of the cockpit, ripping his hat off of his head and viciously whipping it through the air, putting the fire out. "Aw damn it," he said, looking at the scorched top of the hat, "I was going to give this to my little sister when I got back home."

"You have a-never mind are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, holding up his pistol to eye level and kissed the back of it. "I'm never letting go of this thing."

"Hold on," Liara said, grabbing Joker but his armpits and pulling him out of the Falcon, even as he hissed in pain.

"Watch it," he hissed as she placed him down by the Falcon, "I've lost track of how many bones that I've broken today."

"Don't worry, you didn't break anything important," Liara said. "Liara here!" she said, standing up and putting her hand to her COM unit, "Our Falcon is down, we need support!"

"Damn it," Ashley said over the lines, "I saw it, first Tali and Taylor go off the radar and now your Falcon gets downed? We're falling apart...screw it, help is already on the way, hold on!"

"Got it!" Liara said before lowering her hand. "You two, help is on the way."

"Good," Rebecca hissed, taking her grenade launcher off of her back and holding it in both hands, sliding grenades into it. "How long?"

"She didn't say," Liara said. "We just need to hold out until help gets here." She looked away from Rebecca and Joker and felt her stomach drop. The main body of Jiralhanae was making a massive push forward, heading towards the Normandy, and indirectly to them, as they were positioned between the hoard and the wreckage of the ship.

"Ashley!" Liara shouted into her COM unit, "now would be a good time!"

"Hold on Dr. T'Soni! Help's here!" the Jacob roared over the COM unit. A tank shell tore through the air, sending bodies flying as it impacted and exploded, sending half a dozen Jiralhanae flying. The Scorpion tank rolled in front of them, firing it's main cannon again along with its turret.

"Everyone! Climb on! We can't stay here for very long, too many Brutes are going to be shooting at us at once!"

"Come on!" Liara said as she grabbed Joker, using her biotics to enhance her strength and placing him on the edge of the tank's tread, before hastily running to where Rebecca was lying and grabbing her as well, placing her on the tank right next to Joker. She smashed the side of the tank with her fist, shouting "GO!" as loud as she could.

Instantly the Scorpion shifted into reverse, firing it's main cannon again even as a storm of plasma came down upon it from weapons of all calibers, the combined strained causing sections of the tank's armor to buckle and trickles of smoke to leak out. Another blast from the main canon flew at the Jiralhanae as the tank continued to wheel back towards the wreckage of the Normandy.

A stream of bullets flew from the husk of the ship at the Jiralhanae as the tank neared it. "How bad?" Neriena asked, dashing out with Crystal and Damon to the tank.

"Nothing too serious, but neither of them aren't going anywhere anytime soon," Liara said as she grabbed Joker and Neriena grabbed Rebecca, both of them running back towards the ship as Crystal fired her sniper rifle and Damon his rocket launcher. Both of them hopped through the gapping hole in the cargo bay, heading to where Chakwas was crouching in the corner. She was stooped over Kelly, who had a spike sticking out of her shoulder, the doctor holding a can of biofoam in one hand as she placed her pistol on the ground.

"This is going to hurt," she whispered before yanking the spike out, causing Kelly to yelp in pain as Cakwas instantly plugged the wound with biofoam. "For the pain," she added, injecting her with a syringe of morphine.

"What happened?" Liara asked as she and Neriena both gently placed Joker and Rebecca on the ground.

"Brute got close, shot at me with his spiker," Kelly said nervously, rubbing her arm before putting on a weak smile. "I managed to get him in the stomach though, I think it might have even killed him."

Outside, Damon fired another rocket as his wife knelt down into a crouching position, firing her rifle again. As Crystal lined up another shot, she saw something that made her stomach drop. She shot the Jiralhanae that she was aiming at in the head, but he had already fired his weapon, a fuel rod blast that was aimed directly at the Scorpion. "MOVE!" she shouted, looking at the tank, but it was too late. The blast impacted on the main canon of the Scorpion, completely blowing it clean off. The rest of the tank was still intact, but it had effectively been defanged.

Seeing that the last UNSC vehicle had been disabled, the hoard of Jiralhanae let out a collective roar as they began to charge forward. "Damn," Jacob said as both he and Sarah climbed out of the tank, holding their rifles. "There's still hundreds of them, and that was the last of our heavy support...I think...I think this is it."

Sarah gulped as she looked at the approaching Jiralhanae. "Aw well, look on the bright side," she said, "we managed to activate the Forerunner fleet, and fighting a couple hundred Jiralhanae isn't the worst way to go, especially after we shot down their ship."

"In a way," Ashley said, walking out of the ship, reaching up with one hand and removing her helmet, letting it fall to the floor. "Look..." she said hesitantly, looking very tired, everyone's eyes turning to face her. "I'm...I'm sorry I couldn't get us out of this. Jane left me in charge and I couldn't keep you all alive."

Almost absentmindedly, she reached towards the bun that she kept her hair in and pulled out the needle, letting it fall down to her shoulders, where it came to a stop, looking slightly mangled. "I messed up, I don't see any way out of this, but this isn't the time for me to feel sorry for myself," she continued, pulling her battle rifle off of her back. "We may have lost this fight but we've done far more harm to them today then they can possibly do to us, I say we push it a little further. Let's kill as many of these bastards as we can, let's make them remember the day that they fought us." She raised her scope to eye level speaking her last sentence not with a mighty roar, but with a powerful whisper. "Let's make Jane proud." Everyone, in and outside the Normandy, raised their weapons, aiming them at the oncoming tide, ready to fire.

Then, out of nowhere, a hailstorm of plasma came crashing down on the approaching formation, sending countless bodies flying. Everyone's head snapped up at the source of the projectiles and saw a CCS-battlecruiser flying at an angle that suggested that it had emerged from the hole in the artificial sky. "This is Shipmistress Iasa 'Cirate of the Steel Resolve to the crew of the Normandy. We are here to provide support in any way that we can, what is your status?" a voice said of the COMs as Phantoms launched from its sides.

"No way, no fucking way!" Jacob swore.

"This is Major Ashley Williams, current commanding officer of the Normandy. What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Truth be told, I was originally sent to track you down, but when I saw the opening on the planet's surface, I understood that your Captain spoke the truth and that your actions were not in the wrong. I will not take you into custody, you will come about my vessel as honored guests. I will vouch for you and your crew and do everything in my power to protect you."

"I would think that you would piss a lot of people off by doing that," Ashley pointed out."

"It is an art that I have had much practice in," Iasa said, "I am already providing combat support, is there any other way that I can assist you?"

"Two of my people are MIA, I sent them to take care of some flankers near the lake and I haven't heard from them since."

"Very well, I will see to their safety."

"Thank you," Ashley said, "for everything."

"The honor is all mine Major," Iasa said before the line died.

"Does this mean-" Sarah started as her mother squealed in delight as embraced her husband, kissing him deeply.

"We're gonna be all right," Ashley whispered, her legs giving out and falling into a sitting position, a smile slowly breaking across her face, "we're gonna be all right."

XXXXX

Marton felt a gust of air as the Acolyte soared past him, the Jiralhanae barely maneuvered out of the way of the creature's attack in time. With his heightened sensed, Marton's eyes swept around and followed the Acolyte as it began to dive towards him again. With a single swish, he raised his blade and intercepted the Acolyte's arm just before it could rip his head off.

"_You are faster than you were a moment ago,"_ the Flood commented on, "_Interesting, it appears that your body has begun to massively produce hormones to increase your reflexes and strength. It will not be enough to win this fight though._"

As if in response to the Acolyte's comment, Marton raised his pistol over his blade and fired a .50 caliber bullet into the abomination's face at point blank range. It was thrown back by the sheer forced of the impact, but it showed no visible signs of pain.

Flapping its wings viciously, the Acolyte attempted to fly away but Marton leapt forward, driving his sword into the creatures gut, forcing it to lose it's balance and land on the ground. With his mechanical hand, Marton formed a fist and smashed the hilt of the sword with all of his strength, driving it into the Acolyte even further and pinning the Flood spawn to the platform.

Drawing his second pistol, Marton aimed both handguns at the Acolytes head, or at least it's equivalent, and opened fire. He shot round after around, the bullets tearing away massive chunks of flesh from the second in command of the Flood's body. Soon, both of the guns clicked empty and the Acolyte lay motionless, yellow liquid leaking out of the wounds that now coated the upper half of its body, which was practically mutilated. Marton made a motion to reload his pistols when the Acolyte charged forward, the blade tearing at its body until it broke free, leaving a massive tear in it's body.

With both of the pistols empty, Marton was left with no means of defense as the Acolyte tore at him. Dropping his weapons, Marton raised both of his arms in front of him as his foe slashed at him. Deep gashes were opened on both of them, his organic arm spewing out blood while his cybernetic one expelled sparks.

Before the Acolyte could draw its arms back, Marton's organic hand darted out and snatched it by the neck. Heaving greatly, Marton smashing the smaller creature into the floor, holding it down and fighting through the pain with his anger and will. His free hand seized a handful of the Acolyte's wing at the stem and pulled as hard as he could. There was a wet tearing noise as the right wing was ripped out of the back of the being.

Despite this an entire part of its body being ripped out, once again the Acolyte did not respond to the attack in the slightest. Instead, even with Marton still pinning it down, it lashed out with one of its bladed arms, slicing one of Marton's calves. Even with his berserk rage dulling the pain, Marton still winced and his grip slackened. The Acolyte did not hesitant to press its advantage, pushing off of the ground with all fours and forcing Marton to stumble back.

Turning around to face him, the Acolyte sliced at him again, barely missing as Marton jumped back to avoid the blow, landing next to his sword, which was still buried in the ground. Grabbing the blade with one hand, he pulled it out of the ground as he grabbed his last ranged weapon, his screecher, and leveled it at the Acolyte, firing it.

A sonic wave shot out at the Flood, but it sidestepped it partially, the blast only nicking its torso, a fair chunk of which was blown off but it didn't even register it. However, pain shot through Marton as he winced slightly and dropped the weapon. In his need to find a weapon to use against his foe, he had forgotten that he was not wearing his helmet, which was specifically designed to protect him from the harmful side effects of his sonic weapon. Even now trickles of blood were beginning to flow from his ears.

The Acolyte charged at him again, even though there was now a massive amount of yellow fluids seeping from his accumulated wounds, he did seem hindered at all. 'This thing does not feel pain, any normal creature would have collapsed at this point. I need to do enough damage to kill it, but it does not seem to keep it's neural mass in the same place that most organics do, I will have to be thorough.'

The Acolyte bore down on him and both of them swung their blades. Marton hissed in pain as the Acolyte's arm tore through his side before thrusting his sword through the center of the Flood. It did not so much as flinch as it tore a massive gash in his upper chest with both blades. Marton threw his head back and let out a deafening roar before throwing his entire body at the Acolyte, flattening it.

Getting to his knees, he let out another roar and raised his blade above his head before bringing it crashing down on the Acoylte, before repeating the process over and over and over again, making sure to stab a different area of the creature's body each time. The Acolyte realized what Marton was trying to do, and attempted to raised both of its arms to stab him again. They didn't respond, Marton had done too much damage.

The Acolyte felt a sliver of shock run through him, but it only lasted for a second. _"So, you have defeated me. An admirable accomplishment but a hollow one. This victory will accomplish nothing for you, strike down a single Flood and a thousand more will rise up in its place, for unlike you, numbers mean nothing to-"_

"SAVE YOUR SPEECHES FOR SOMEONE WHO CARES!" Marton bellowed as he repositioned his blade and swiped horizontally through the Acolyte's midsection, which had been weakened tremendously from the constant abuse that it has sustained throughout the entire fight. The swipe bisected the Acolyte in half, killing it.

Marton panted as he got to his feet, watching the body before him with a wary eye, unsure if the top section still had enough life in it for one last attack. As the seconds ticked by and it made no movement, he decided that the creature was dead. But now was not the time to celebrate, he still had work to do.

Activating his omni-tool, he did a quick scan of the area and a checkpoint appeared on the holographic map that was floating in front of him, marking what he was looking for. Walking to where the omni-tool had indicated, he found a handle on the ground, which he grabbed. Pulling it up with a grunt, a hollow cylinder came up with, a control panel on the inside.

Hastily, he began to type furiously on his omni-tool, punching controls into the panel. He knew that his allies were still fighting the Gravemind, and he had a very bad feeling that the hivemind of the Flood knew that its second in command had just been defeated. He allowed himself a faint sigh of relief as he typed in the final commands, they had succeeded, he had just rigged the reaction of the entire station to overload, all they needed to do now was wait. "All Marauder forces!" he shouted into his COM unit. "The objective has been completed! Evacuate this station at once, I am ordering a full retreat, I repeat, a full retreat!"

Lowering his hand, he looked up. The platform that his comrades were on had suddenly jerked back to avoid being smashed by another one of the Gravemind's tentacles. Everyone on board was firing everything that they had at the Gravemind's tentacles, specifically the ones that were embedded in the ceiling, keeping it rooted in there. It seemed to understand what they were trying to do and it's tentacles that seemed more designed for combat were constantly shielding the ones designed for support, preventing them from being damaged.

Glancing around him, Marton spotted his heavy plasma cannon still lying on the ground. Sheathing his sword, he grabbed it with both hands and brought it to bear, aiming at a support tentacle that was currently unguarded and pulling the trigger. An orb of green energy shot out of the barrel of the cannon and rocketed through the air, slamming into the tentacle and exploding.

The Gravemind seemed to jolt at the sudden impact, as if it was not expecting it. The plasma had done enough damage so that the charred tentacle's grip on the ceiling vanished and it hung limply. Pressing on the weakened state of the hivemind. A barrage of projectiles, particle beams and Warps rose up and impacted on another tentacle, the combined strain tearing completely through it.

Marton fired one last blast as his comrades tore through another tentacle, and he watched with the slightest look of satisfaction as the Gravemind fell. However, the tentacled monster spotted him as he fell, and with one last swing, tore through the platform that he was standing on.

Marton felt his knees buckle as the platform began to descend, its anti-gravity system having been damaged. Dropping his plasma cannon and letting it fall into the void, he drew his blade and drove it into the ground as the platform began to tilt, descending into the abyss at a growing rate. Marton barely had time to blink when he saw the ground rushing up to meet him before he heard a sickening crashing noise and the nerving endings of his body roared in pain.

Opening his eyes, he found himself lying face down on the ground, with his cybernetic arm still locked around his blade like a vice grip. Gingerly getting to his feet, he pulled the blade out of a massive chunk of the now shattered platform and looked around him. He seemed to be on a cliff of some sorts, and judging by the position that he had found himself it, he was half certain that he had blacked out from the impact.

"MARTON!" a voice roared over the Battle-Net that he recognized as Rutherforae. "Are you there, MARTON!"

"I am fine Adolas, what is your status?"

"You did not reply for ten minutes Marton, Flood stormed the chamber that we were in, we were forced to make a tactical withdrawal. We are on board the Salvation now, as are most of the Marauders. There seems to be an opening not to far from where your signal is coming from, head there, transport will be waiting. Hurry Marton, you do not have much time until the reactor overloads!"

"I will do that," Marton said, but before he could make a move, he heard two thumps. Turning around, he saw two Human Combat forms charging at him. Swinging his sword, he managed to cut the first one in half before stabbing the second through the chest. However, even as he drew his weapon back, he saw more Flood emerging from every last nook and cranny looking at him. Marton then became very away of how much every last one of his wounds stung and burn and did the only sensible thing to do. He ran, he turned and ran as fast as his legs would allow him to go, the Flood right behind him.

"_You have fought with skill, but in the end you accomplish nothing" _the Gravemind said, speaking into the mind of Marton as the Jiralhanae continued to run as fast as he could, not daring to glance behind him. _"We do not know time, we do not know age, we are patient and we are resilient. Though we may have been defeated today, so long as a single spore of the Flood exists, we will rise again."_

Marton rounded the corner and saw a massive breach in the hull of the station, a force field barely keeping the room pressurized. Outside, he saw the massive form of the Eternal Salvation, one of its many air locks open and waiting for him. Taking a deep breath, he headed towards the opening as projectiles began to whiz past him, and jumped.

He found himself floating through the vacuum of space, with no way to direct himself, heading towards the air lock. Marton tried with all of his might not to focus on the complete lack of any sound, his inability to direct his movements, and the slightly panicky feeling as the air in his lungs was used up. After what seemed like an entirety, he floated into the air lock, which slid shut behind him.

Instantly, the room was flooded with oxygen, and Marton opened his mouth in a deep gasp. "Jump to slipspace now!" he shouted into his COM unit, and the crew of the Eternal Salvation was quick to respond. A massive rupture opened in front of the massive ship, which swallowed it up before closing in an instant. Just as it did, the Collector base exploded with the force of multiple nuclear warheads being detonated. Fire roared out of the station and consumed every in it and around it, the surviving Flood Ship Forms dying in the blink of an eye. They had been defeated.

Marton collapsed to the ground, his back to the wall, and let out a sigh of relief. They had done it, they had won. A slight smile lit his face. He had seen the strength of the Gravemind when it had smashed the platform the had was standing on, it would have taken a single blow for it to crush him into dust. He never would have succeeded if he had faced the creature without his allied and dear friends. Rutherforae, Tesueg, Urdnot Wrex, Elizabeth Conner, and Legion, they were the reason that he was still alive. "Oh right, I guess Jack helped too," Marton joked to himself.

XXXXX

Taylor didn't have time to blink as Tali drove her omni-tool blade into Sukron's back, the tip actually piercing through the front of his armor, the burning blade licking at his flesh. The Jiralhanae roared in agony as the pain of being stabbed and his insides burned at the same time. With his good arm, he reached around to his back, viciously grasping at the Quarian. Tali ducked her head and narrowly avoided the first lunge, but seconds later, she felt a four fingered hand close around the arm that was wrapped around Sukron's neck.

There was a sickening lurch in her stomach as Sukron pulled her forward viciously, swinging her over his head and slamming her on the ground. As the breath was forced out of her lungs, Sukron raised his bladed grenade launcher over his head, intending to cut her in half. Before Tali could even consider a plan of escape, a dark aura covered her and she felt herself being pushed forward, between Sukron's legs, by an unseen force. The Jiralhanae's weapon smashed into the ground behind her.

As she slid between the Emperor's thick legs, she saw the one that was still organic and swung her omni-blade at it. The flaming blade tore through the back of his heel, tearing through the Jiralhanae equivalent of the Achilles tendon. Another shriek of pain tore through the air as Sukron's organic leg gave out, forcing him to fall to his knee. Gasping heavily as his wounds bled, he looked up to see Taylor charging at him, knife in hand. His eye narrowed in anger as the ODST drew closer, and without putting any intelligent thought into what he was about to do, he pushed off of his mechanical leg and threw himself at Taylor.

The Human realized too late what his foe was doing and barely had time to brace himself as Sukron slammed into him, forcing them both to the ground. Sukron's organic arm shot down and closed around Taylor's throat while his other arm raised his grenade launcher once more. Taylor grit his teeth as he kicked out with both feet, catching Sukron in the stomach and one of his stab wounds. His body contorted in pain, causing his arm to jerk slightly and miss Taylor by inches.

Raising his knife, Taylor stabbed at the arm that was closed around his neck, forcing the blade halfway through it before it withdrew. Gasping for breath, he forced himself to his knees as Sukron opened his organic hand, intending to slash Taylor with his claws. Forcing himself forward, he swung the blade as hard as he could. Sukron's eyes widened as it imbedded itself into a section of his body that had remained unharmed in the battle. His throat.

Taylor panted as blood poured down from the massive gash in the Emperor's neck. For a second, he began to relax. This, however, was interrupted by Sukron's hand darting forward, his claws ripping at the arm that Taylor was holding his knife in. He hissed in pain as two claws dug deep gashes in his arm as Sukron clenched the ODST's arm, either trying to rip it off or get the knife away from him. Once again Taylor focused as much biotic energy as he could, and put the last of his strength into whipping his arms through the air, moving them forward even as Sukron attempted to hold him back.

He felt an impact and something giving way to his knife. He looked at Sukron, knife buried deep in this throat and, his eyes not believing it, saw the Emperor's head slowly tilt to the side and fall, rolling away from its former owner. The rest off his body slumped forward and fell to the ground, fortunately avoiding Taylor. The last of the black aura that surrounded the Human faded away as he slowly lost his balance and fell onto his back becoming aware of simply how much pain he was in. His chest was on fire, pangs of agony were tearing through his broken arm and Sukron's claws were still buried in his other one.

He wasn't sure how long he had started at it, wondering how he was going to get them out when the Jiralhanae's dead arm was still locked around him like a vice grip. He was about to see if he could work the Jiralhanae knife with his broken arm when he felt a three fingered hand gently grasp his arm and a soft voice whisper "Hold still." Looking up, he saw Tali reaching towards Sukron's scorcher and pulling out the UNSC knife that was still buried in it. Judging by the way that she was sitting next to him with no weight being put on her legs, she had crawled over to him.

Carefully, she began to cut through Sukron's fingers one by one, slowly working her way through the tough tendons and bone until finally all of the digits lay on the ground and Taylor's arm was free. "Thanks," he said.

"It's nothing," Tali said, before glancing at Sukron's corpse. "He...he's really dead isn't he? All this time and he's finally gone?"

"I know the feeling," Taylor said, "I cut his freaking head off and even I'm having a hard time buying it." He gave a weak chuckle, "well look on the bright side, there's no way that he can come back from this one." Tali smiled, before trying to get to her feet, only to fall back to her knees and gritting her teeth in pain. "What are you doing?"

"The others need our help?" Tali said, looking at Taylor as if the answer had been obvious.

"Tali, your legs are broken, exactly how do you plan on getting up there? You're in no shape to be fighting anymore. Stay here I'll head back to the Normandy, I'm better off than-" Taylor's sentence died as he began to cough violently a splatter of blood spraying across the grass.

"Better off than me huh?" Tali said dryly. "You're the one that used Serum 16 and got into a brawl with the physcopath. We both got hurt pretty badly but if anything you're worse off then me, I'm actually half convinced that you were TRYING to get yourself killed." She gently dope slapped the side of his head. "What were you thinking?" she asked in an annoyed tone that one would expect from an exasperated mother.

"Had to improvise," Taylor grunted. "I really couldn't...couldn't...oh God," Taylor said, staring at something behind Tali. She turned to look at it and felt something jump in her stomach. A CCS-battlecruiser was emerging from the opening the artificial sky. It soared through the air and within seconds dropships were pouring out of its sides and plasma torpedoes were being fired from its front.

"This is Shipmistress Iasa 'Cirate of the Steel Resolve to the crew of the Normandy. We are here to provide support in any way that we can, what is your status?"

The two vaguely registered that Ashley was responding but her words were drowned out by an overwhelming realization. "The RSN is here?" Taylor said silently Tali nodded, a bright smile visible through her broken visor. "Oh thank Christ." It was at that moment that the two of them realized just how tired they were. They relaxed their muscles and both of them gently fell onto their backs, lying right next to each other.

Annoyed by her view only being half covered by her visor, Tali reached up with both hands and pulled her damaged helmet off and dropped it on the ground before pulling her hair out of the back of her suit where it was normally held and compressed during combat, letting it flow freely. "That's better," she said, glancing at Taylor.

As she did, he made eye contact and blinked as he looked at her face. He had seen it countless times before but after the ordeal that the two of them had just gone through and as the massive adrenaline rush was wearing off, he felt like he was seeing it for the first time in years. In many ways it was a Human face, but upon closer inspection it was very obvious that she wasn't. Her cheekbones were more pronounced and were slightly higher up, her forehead was more narrow, her lips were thin, and her ears were pointed. Most of her skin was a shade lavender but there was a dark purple line above each eye that stretched to her hair line. He wasn't sure if it was a birth mark or if that was normal for Quarians.

All around her features were far more elvish than a standard Human, but her eyes are what really drew his attention. Anyone who had seen a Quarian's eyes through their visors would assume that they were solid silver. They were half right. The whites of her eyes where indeed a bright silver, but her irises were a beautiful shade of dark yet soft blue. A mix of alien and Human.

She blinked as he continued to stare at her. "What?" she asked.

"I...nothing," he said, "I just feel like I'm seeing things for the first time."

"Funny, I kinda feel the same way." As Tali spoke, she raised up her hand and looked at it, flexing her fingers. "I think it's our minds trying to register that we're still alive even after everything that we went through. We appreciate everything that we've come to take for granted."

"That's surprisingly deep coming from someone who spends a lot of time tinkering with engines," Taylor said teasingly.

"Screw you Winters," she said, lightly bopping him on the head. "You're the one that injected yourself with unstable chemicals, it's a miracle that you're still alive and you're criticizing me for actually being deep? You're about as deep as a puddle, don't complain that I actually think about things."

"Ouch," he said, smiling slightly, "that's cruel. There's nothing quite like a woman with a serpent's tongue."

"Getting cocky are you?" she asked, "you're something else."

"So are you." Tali smiled. Slowly, she leaned in and gently pecked him on the cheek.

"I'm not complaining, but what was that for?"

"That's for saving my life...again. If you hadn't pushed me out of the way he would have killed me, and now that I think about it he probably would have drowned me and cut my eyes out if you hadn't stopped him. I really should be fair." Leaning towards him and kissing the side of his face again.

"Hey, I have to point out that I would have lost to the ape if you hadn't cut his foot and he would have gutted me if you hadn't distracted him. I guess that makes us even."

"Uh...not quite," the alien woman replied, smirking slightly and lightly tapping the side of her cheek.

"Quarians ARE crooks," he said, leaning in and lightly kissing her. She coughed loudly. "Fine," he said, repeating the deed.

"Now was that so hard?"

Taylor smiled, "I'll get back to you on that. By the way, I guess I should be fair with you. I wasn't staring because I felt like I was seeing everything for the first time again...ok I was but that was only part of it. I was staring at you because...well, you're beautiful Tali."

"Trying to get me to loosen up after calling my kind crooks? Not happening Winters," she said, despite her face darkening.

"I'm serious. It's almost kind of eerie how Human you look."

She narrowed her eyes in an almost comical manner. "Give me some credit Taylor, I'm more than just a run of a mill Human girl with purple skin, silver eyes and three fingers, there is a gap between our species, even if I kinda of look like you. Then again so do the Asari, although they have those scalps instead of hair." She paused, running her fingers through her dark purple locks, "it's kind of weird that our kinds are the only ones in the galaxy that actually have hair."

"Well the Jiralhanae-"

"I said hair, not fur. There's a difference." Both of them chuckled.

The two of them relaxed into the grass, even as their wounds throbbed. As the seconds ticked by, a humming noise filled the air. Looking up, the two of them saw a Phantom descending to their position. As it touched down, the side door opened and two Sangheili jumped out, one in bright gold armor and holding dual plasma rifles and the other in silver and holding a needle rifle.

"Are you with the Normandy crew?" the Sangheili in gold armor asked. The two of them nodded weakly. "I am Shipmistress Iasa 'Cirate, this is Viluse 'Moramee. If we can just-" Iasa stopped mid-sentence as she spotted the body of the Jiralhanae. Her mind reeling in disbelief, she approached the severed head and kicked it over so that she could see the face. Her mandibles slackened as she started into the face of Sukron.

"I know this face," she whispered, looking at the Human and the Quarian with shock on her face. "Sukron. I fought him once, I used all of my skill and weapons, but even then I couldn't touch him. He robbed me of a good friend that day. As a Spec Ops officer, a rank that requires skill and experience, I could not even scratch him." She looked down at the countless wounds that covered Sukron, before repositioning her eyes to look at the bloody blade in Taylor's hand. "Yet you killed him Human."

"She helped," he said, pointing at Tali with his thumb, "stabbed him in the back a couple of times. Besides it was nothing special, I injected myself with biotic combat stims that I stole from the Empire. I was blundering through the whole thing, really it was just dumb luck, I nearly got myself killed."

"An Unggoy that has nearly died killing at Mgalekgolo has still killed at Mgalekgolo. You were this tyrant's end...Tyrant's End...a fitting name."

"Wait a minute...did you say that your last name was 'Cirate?" Taylor asked hesitantly.

"What does that matter?" Tali questioned.

"Yes it is," Iasa answered.

"Is...is your mother's name Isonia?"

Iasa blinked. "Yes...how did you know that?"

"Oh God," Taylor said, "I can't believe it. Did she ever tell you about a man named Damon Winters?"

"Several times. Why do you ask?"

"I'm his son."

Iasa blinked. "Truly?"

"Yeah."

The Sangheili shook her head, "unbelievable, I did not imagine that fate would put me on this path. We have much to talk about Winters, but for now your wounds must be tended to." Both she and Viluse walked forward, the one eyed Sangheili gently picking the two up and heading towards the Phantom.

While he was doing this, Iasa was trying to fight down a horrible realization in the back of her mind. Something that she had hoped would never happen that was clearly taking hold of her if the last five minutes were anything to go by. 'Rescuing a Winters, giving him a title that he earned in battle and taking hum aboard my ship to treat his wounds? I prayed that this day would never come. I am becoming just like my mother'

She glanced at the corpse of Sukron again and saw a sheath on his lower back. Craning her neck to look at Viluse, she saw that Taylor was still clutching Sukron's combat knife. "He has taken the blade of his foe...it would be a pity if he did not have a sheath for it." Bending down, she took a hold of the object and ripped it off. Even as she held it, she continued to look at the body. The politicians of the Council, the RSN and the UNSC would not believe that Sukron had been killed simply because they had a Jiralhanae weapon, they had already proved their ignorance when Jane had told them the importance of this world. The testimony of fugitives or a scapegoat would not do either. If she could prove that a member of the Normandy's crew had killed the Emperor of all Jiralhanae, it would blot out any crime that they had committed. But she would need evidence, and already an idea was forming in her head.

XXXXX

Beams of light flew from the fronts of the Forerunner vessels in orbit around the Citadel, tearing through Reapers without any resistance. Following the first volley, a second one of hyper accelerated slugs, plasma torpedoes, missiles and lasers descended upon the amassed fleet of sentient starships, actual breaking through their thick defenses and destroying a couple dozen.

The Reapers returned fire however, over a thousand Thanix cannons were fired at the amassed ships that stood before them. Most of the red beams impacted on the Forerunner ships, many of the golden ships were hit by multiple beams. The majority of them managed to survive with weakened shields, but a handful had taken too much strain and were consumed by fire.

What was more, many of the blasts had avoided the Forerunner fleet altogether and had been aimed at the ships behind them. The ships of the Alliance and most of the ships of the Coalition had formed lines behind the Forerunners, firing every shot that they could at the Reapers. However, a task force of UNSC and Separatist forces were firing at Collector and Heretic Geth ships at the back of the formation, both factions still supporting the Reapers.

The red beams tore through the allied ships, which lacked the advanced shields and armor of the Forerunners. Some of the larger ones were able to withstand the blasts, the shields of dozens collapsed and had their hulls torn away. When the last of the Thanix cannon's has dissipated, nearly a hundred ships had been destroyed by them.

The wings of the Forerunner ships extended outward, plates of armor sliding away to reveal a missile tubes that had been concealed underneath. Simultaneously, the ships fired thousands of the missiles at the Reapers, leaving streaming white tails behind them. A mass of lasers rose up to meet them, destroying hundreds of the missiles before a single one reached the massive ships.

When the first one did, it's warhead detonated into a massive white sphere that engulfed the front of the Reaper destroyer that it had hit. When the sphere disappeared, every last square inch of the Reaper that it had covered had disappeared, cleanly cut away. As this was happening the other missiles hit the Reapers, showing them exactly what kind of weapons that they were. Slipspace torpedoes.

The slipspace torpedoes impacted on other Reapers, destroying many of them as the Forerunner vessels fired their main cannons again, adding to the kill count. However, despite the heavy damage they the Forerunner ships and its support was doing, the majority of the Reapers were still active, and they had chosen now to fire again.

On the Citadel, Jane grabbed both of her weapons and threw herself off of the platform to the right to avoid another barrage of spheres that Harbinger had sent at her, rolling forward as she hit the ground and recovering her footing, aiming both the Cain and the ravager plasma rifle at Harbinger.

"**Your resistance only makes this more painful,"** Harbinger mocked as she fired both weapons, the husk launching itself upward and attaching itself to a balcony. "**You will die either way."**

"You're pretty cocky aren't you! Jane shouted, raising her plasma rifle and firing another anti-tank blast at Harbinger, forcing it to dive to the ground to avoid it. "Don't pat yourself on the back while I'm still standing and we're still fighting!" She glanced out of the window as she threw her plasma rifle in the air and ripping out the spent power cell for the Cain, slapping in a fresh cell before catching the ravager. "Your pals are dying out there by the hundreds in case you haven't noticed!"

"**Yet your kind dies by the millions**, **as does all of the other organics that stand before us.**" Harbinger retorted as it spotted Garrus and Thel in the distance. Both of them had run out of ammunition for their heavy weapons and were now aiming at it with a sniper rifle and a shocker. Pushing off with both of its legs, it launched itself into the air, jerking itself to avoid a fork of lighting that Thel had fired. However, as it began to descend Garrus fired a shot that forced Harbinger's head to snap back, pieces of metal sent flying.

Harbinger landed in front of Garrus and stuck both of its palms outward and fired three orbs each at point blank range. Garrus' shields collapsed within seconds and the Turian was sent flying back, his armor bent and charred. Harbinger registered a vicious impact and a breach on it's torso and turned to see that Thel had drawn his energy sword and skewered him. Flexing the claws on both hands Harbinger slashing Thel across the chest, leaving a deep X shaped gash as the Sangheili collapsed in pain, purple blood pooling on the floor.

Not hesitating for a second, Harbinger turned its attention back to Jane and launched itself directly at her. A Cain slug and a ravager. Its shields now completely destroyed, the remains of Saren continued forward, stabbing forward with its clawed hands. Jane realized what it was doing and attempted to move out of the way. She wasn't fast enough.

A silent gasp escaped her as Harbinger's claws tore through her armor and penetrated her stomach. Harbinger continued to push forward until its claw exited out of the other side of Jane and buried itself in the wall behind her. "**This is how it ends for you Shepard**," Harbinger taunted as Jane coughed violently, blood seeping out of her mouth and her weapons falling out of her hands. "**I know what you are, but even with all of your enhancements you are still as fragile and mortal as any other organic, but you became overconfident in yourself even though you were merely the strongest of the weak." **As it spoke, Harbinger's other hand reached up and closed around the side of Jane's head. "**Your kind had a saying, 'Spartans never die'. And yet you called Sovereign arrogant. I would expect this from your kind."**

Harbinger was about to crush Jane's skull then and there when the woman reached for a sheath and drew a vicious curved blade. She jabbed down on the arm holding her and drove the kukri through it so hard that she succeeded in tearing the limb off, which limply fell to the ground. With her free hand, she reached down to her side and drew her pistol, aiming it at Harbinger's face and pulling the trigger.

Ripping its claw out of Jane's chest, Harbinger leapt back as shots streaked through the air, barely missing it. "I wouldn't... expect you to understand...what that saying means," Jane panted, blood now trickling down her neck. "How could you? You're not a Smart A.I. And you're not a Geth, you don't think like organics or try to understand how we think. You're as complicated and creative as a fucking calculator."

"**There is nothing to understand. In your last war those like you achieved many great feats and were placed on pedestals above the rest of your race to be hailed as immortal beings of war who would act as their salvation, nothing more."**

"You don't get it, you don't get why SPARTANs were always classified as MIA, you don't get why we were created. It doesn't matter how good a handful of soldiers are, they can't win a war by themselves. There's a reason that the name every single soldier that does amazing things is etched in history. Preston Cole, Jacob Keyes, Miranda Keyes, Edward Buck, Avery Johnson, John-117, all amazing soldiers who did the impossible, and do you know why I know all of their names?"

"**You cling to microscopic shreds of hope, trying desperately to justify-"**

"Because people like them," Jane shouted, drowning out Harbinger, "because people like me give every last soldier and warrior from a Spectre to a militia trooper something that you could never understand. HOPE!"

"**Hope? An emotional, a response derived from the combination of hormones, trigged by overwhelming odds, it is the height of your arrogance and the origin of your downfall." **Harbinger said, flexing its remaining claw as it assessed the situation, planning its next move.

"I know that you wouldn't get it. It's what lets people keep fighting even in the most hopeless of situations, the knowledge that single men can tear apart entire platoons drives them to stand against the odds and fight, because there's a sliver of a chance that they'll win!" Harbinger pushed off of its legs again, charging at Jane. "We give them the will to live on! We give them a beacon to follow, and even though our bodies may die, OUR LEGACY NEVER WILL! THAT'S WHY SPARTANS NEVER DIE!" Jane roared, feeling like her throat was being torn from the inside as she raised her pistol and fired as Harbinger bared down on her.

Several shots impacted on the skeletal being, but it ignored them and continued forward. Once again, it thrust its hand forward, intending to pierce Jane through. Its claws tore into her chest, the machine having calculated a trajectory that would allow them to slip through her nearly unbreakable rips and pierce her organs. Even as Harbinger's claw buried itself into the SPARTAN, something did not seem right. It seemed like she hadn't even tried to dodge.

Before it could calculate its next move, Jane dropped her pistol and reached around Harbinger, grabbing it in a powerful one armed bear hug. **"What is this?" **the Reaper demanded, as it attempted to break free, only to have Jane's iron grip hold him in. Jane did not respond, but raised her other hand above her head, the kukri still in it, and swung it downward. Harbinger saw the attack coming and began to blurt "**Releasing dire-"** but it was too late. The jagged blade was buried up to the hilt in its skull.

Harbinger let out a deafening shriek as the husk of a body that it was controlling began to spasm violently. However, not soon after, they grew weaker and weaker and before Jane's very eyes, it turned to dust.

Out in the vast openness of space and in the very middle of the Reaper fleet, Harbinger let out a mechanical roar that was swallowed up by the vacuum of space. Yellow forks of energy coursed throughout its body as the neural shockwave that had resulted from the destruction of its puppet tore through the leader of the Reapers, disabling the majority of its systems. Harbinger desperately attempted to reboot them. A sensation coursed through Harbinger as the Forerunner dreadnaught under the command of Atom detected this and began to lock on. It was an unknown and unwelcome feeling that the Reaper had never felt before, but now consumed it as it felt itself being locked onto and was helpless to do anything as the dreadnaught fired its main weapon. Fear.

A beam of pure energy tore through the Reaper capital ship, the armor plating doing nothing to protect the ship as it was torn apart. The beam began to dissipate, nothing left but a few pieces of scorched metal. It was then that something happened to the Reapers. They had been preparing to fire another volley, but as they did, their shots went astray, the majority of them not coming anywhere close to their targets and a handful actually hit other Reapers. "Something is wrong with them!" Anderson shouted over the COM lines to every ship that was facing the Reapers, "don't let this go to waste, unload everything that you have at them.

Jane watched in disbelief and awe as these events unfolded in front of her. Somehow, killing that puppet had disabled Harbinger's shields and given away its position, and now that it was dead the Reaper fleet seemed to have fallen in disarray. Even as she looked they were breaking formation, heading off in random directions and firing their weapons indiscriminately. Maybe they had never thought that their leader would be defeated and had no backup chain of command, or maybe Harbinger's death had resulted in a the same neural shock that the leader of the Reapers had suffered, but one thing was clear. The Reapers were falling apart, they were disorganized as the allied fleets opened fire on them again and again, whittling away at their numbers.

"We did it," Jane whispered, the kukri slipping through her fingers and clanging as it hit the floor, her free hand clutching her wounds. "We did it, we one. Garrus...Thel...Anderson...everyone...thank you." And with that, Jane's legs gave as she fell forward, landing face first on the floor, a smile on her face and a pool of blood forming around her, vaguely hearing footsteps in the distance and the calling of her name.

XXXXX

Author's Note: I think that this chapter had some of my favorite moments on it. For the record, I know earlier on in my story I said that I didn't want to describe Tali's face because nothing I could come up with would be able to compare with what she really looked like...or so I thought. After seeing that...picture, I decided that Tali deserved a description that made her less...well people that have seen it will know what I'm talking about. I mainly played mix and match with all of those fan arts and fics on the internet with my own little taste thrown in, thank you guys for the inspiration.

Also some info about Halo 4 was released a little while back. Sprint is now standard, armor abilities can be bought and equipped, one of them even lets you look through walls, the Battle Rifle, AND the DMR will be available, there will be instant respawning and power weapons are now randomly dropped into a map instead of having fixed spawn points, you can join in game (FINALLY!) and firefight has been replaced with a spec ops mode a la Call of Duty. I gotta say...I really don't have a problem with any of this. I'm serious I'm actually kind of excited about this stuff ESPECIALLY that the DMR is sticking around, I just like that gun, I could live without it but I'm glad that it's sticking around. I know that a bunch of people are complaining about these changes destroying the skill gap (Translation, now people actually have a chance to get the power weapon besides me and that'll kill my obsessive MLG streak) but then again people jump up and

down about how Reach was the worst Halo game ever when its my personal favorite and was second only to Halo 3 in terms of sales, so I've learned to take the opinions of others with a grain of salt. Besides, in reality it's too soon to call, maybe these changes will be groundbreaking and maybe they'll destroy the game, like I said, it's too soon.

P.S. HOLY CRAP! 400,000 words? Jesus I never thought that this thing would be so long.


	101. Aftermath

Chapter 101

Aftermath

Author's Note: Well, the main action is pretty much over, but there's still a lot of loose ends to tie up, besides I hate it when a climax finishes and says "well, story's over, all we need to do now is half ass a thirty second epilogue and we're done. Closure? What's that?" Yeah, New Origins isn't dead just yet. By the way, there is a HUGE twist at the end of the first section to this chapter, before you all jump to conclusions and say that I'm a bad writer, this is something that I did foreshadow, I just bet that no one caught it. Don't worry, it will be explained, and hopefully you will not tear me apart for it and accept the explanation adequate.

Sore. That was the word that Jane Shepard would use to describe how every part of her body felt at the moment. Sore. She had no idea where she was, her eyelids were too heavy to open and she couldn't find the strength to speak. It felt like her armor had been removed and she seemed to be lying on something soft. She could swear that she heard voices and the footsteps as people walked by.

'Well,' she thought, 'I'm not dead...or I am dead and the afterlife is a whole lot of nothing.' What felt like hours passed by with Jane simply lying still, waiting for something to happen or for her strength to return to her. An entirety later, or at least that's what it felt like to Jane, something tickled her nose and her eyes opened instinctively.

For a split second, she was blinded by bright light, but her SPARTAN senses adapted quickly and she found herself looking at a silver ceiling. "Ow," she whispered, gingerly raising her hand to wipe the sleep out of her eye. "Where am I?"

"Huerta Memorial Hospital," a voice said. Craning her neck to the side, she realized that she was in a hospital gown and lying in a bed. She also saw a Jiralhanae in silver armor approaching her. "Rason?" she croaked, "what are you doing here?"

The Jiralhanae flashed a smile. "The Citadel had not been evacuated before the battle, so there were many wounded. They local doctors were short-staffed, so I offered the Chemical Corps and myself to provide assistance. You were a particular mess, you just came out of surgery...for the third time."

"That would explain a lot," she groaned, attempting to push herself into a sitting position and succeeding with some effort. She pulled the neck of her gown forward and glanced down, seeing bandages coating her chest and stomach. "So, how long am I in for?"

"A month and a half," Rason remarked, "I managed to stabilize you, but apparently it won't be possible to replace your damaged organs due to your...unique status. The damage to your current ones must be repaired, luckily for you they are in a salvageable state, but it will take time and regular doses of medicine, even for some time after you leave."

"Goody," she said, "so...they told you?"

"When you are operating on someone, it is important to know everything about their anatomy. It was necessary, but do not worry, I will not tell anyone."

"Good, I've too many people know already, Anderson knows, Thel knows, my crew knows, and now you-MY CREW!" she shouted, nearly jumping up and wincing in pain as she did.

"I would think that after half a dozen of your vital organs were nearly torn out, that you would not make any sudden movements, apparently I was wrong."

"No, my crew, they were still on Illos when I went through the Conduit. Where are they? Are they ok? What about Thel and Garrus?"

"The Arbiter received treatment for his wounds and left earlier this morning, Sangheili despise being confided to bed and he was no different. As for your crew, why don't you ask them yourself? After all I could not find you a private room."

"What are you-" Jane began, but the question died as she looked around. The room that she was in had a handful of beds in it and all of those beds were taken by Taylor, Tali, Joker, Garrus, Rebecca and Kelly. The rest of the Normandy's crew were all sitting on chairs, some of them near her bed, some of them near the other beds. She even saw a Quarian women sitting next to Tali and talking to her softly. She must be her mother, Sirona'Zorah.

"Oh," Jane said, slumping back into her pillow, "oh thank God."

"How are you holding up skipper?" Ashley asked, leaning forward in her chair.

"I've been better. How long was I out for?"

"Well, I had to put you into an artificial coma to that I could safely operate," Rason answered, "so you were unconscious for three days."

"So, what happened with the Reapers?"

"Whatever you did to Harbinger made him an easy target for the Forerunner fleet. Once he was gone, the rest of them fell apart and the battle was more akin to target practice."

"What's the story with everything else? What about the Empire and the war with the Coalition?"

"A couple dozen ships with Metal Fist crews fled when the Reapers arrived, while those who stayed to fight the Reapers have placed themselves under my command. I ordered them to relay the true nature of Tritus' and Xeron's death back to the worlds that they had been deployed from. Intercepted transmissions have indicated that there is a massive amount of turmoil on many Empire worlds, Metal Fist's grip on them is slipping, aided by the death of their leader and the manner of how he was defeated."

"Sukron's dead?" Jane said, sounding surprised. "How did that happen? Also how did everyone get so badly hurt? They look like...they didn't."

Rason smiled as he walked over to Taylor's bed, his parents and sister sitting beside him. "The super-carrier that you encountered over Illos was Sukron's flagship. He had apparently grown rather obsessed with hunting down your ship and was waiting for you there. However, Sukron underestimated his foe, as he was the one that died that day."

As he spoke, Taylor involuntarily let out a cough, a splatter of blood staining the sheets in front of him. Rason looked at him with a curious face, raising his right arm and activating his omni-tool. "I took care of the more serious problems, but I was under the impression that there was no internal bleeding left in you. I was about to make a second round on all of you to see if I had missed anything, it is not uncommon to miss more specific details, but I would have noticed on my first round if you were coughing up blood, the damage to your lungs would have been...there is no damage to your lungs. That is odd, it is as if you had a disease of some-wait a moment."

Rason furiously typed into his omni-tool before looking at Taylor with a stern expression on his face. "You used Serum 16. Well, that would explain how you were able to beat Sukron, you fought like an imbecile."

"Look, spare me the insults, how many years is it going to shave off of my life?" he asked, sounding frustrated.

"None."

"What?" he said, "that doesn't make any sense, I thought that this thing gave Jiralhanae ten years at the very-GAH!" While Taylor had been talking, Rason had taken a vial filled with a bright blue liquid and jammed into the ODST's neck, injecting him with it. "The Hell was that?" he asked, rubbing his neck.

"A cure for the disease caused by Serum 16," Rason grunted, "I have been researching it for years but I was only able to complete it recently. Your cough should stop within a couple of days an it will feel like nothing happened. If you wish to kill yourself in the future, I recommend that you use your pistol. Now, if you wish to use biotic stimulants, these would be much better." As he spoke, Rason reached down and grabbed a bandolier of syringes that were filled with a dark purple liquid and throwing them on Taylor's lap.

"Serum 43, it does not spike as high as Serum 16, but it is completely safe, if a bit painful."

"I...thanks," Taylor said, shock heavy in his voice as he took one of the vials and examined it.

A slight smile played across Rason's face. "You are quite welcome. Maybe one day I will meet a biotic that actually has a sense of self-preservation, because that day is clearly not today." Rason was about to continue when the sounds of shouting filled the room, coming from outside.

"What was that?" Jane asked.

"Nothing you need concern yourself with in your current state," Rason said, pausing by Kelly's bed and quickly scanning her with his omni-tool before moving onto Rebecca.

"We're caught in the crossfire of a major political shitstorm," Joker said, "some guys are trying to get in here to place us under arrest, and the Sangheili that pulled us out of the fire are kinda standing guards with weapons at the ready. I'm still waiting for someone to 'dismiss' that we're all grouped together at the heart of the Citadel and no one can get to us. I would be disappointed if they caved so easily." He smirked, "but don't worry, we don't have anything to worry about, the Arbiter talked to President Richards directly and I think he's on our side."

"Thank you Mr. Moreau," Rason hissed, scanning Rebecca as he did. "I was hopping to not tell her until she had some time to recover from the shock of what she went through, unlike you she did not have three days to do so." Shaking his head in disgust, Rason raised his omni-tool to read the results of the scan before moving on.

"How are you holding up?" Garrus asked from the bed next to Jane's, wincing slightly as he repositioned himself to look at here. "I have to admit I was kind of worried about you Jane, you were torn up pretty badly after that fight."

"I'm all right, I've been through worse. I managed to take two energy sword wounds and a couple dozen plasma burns once, and I wasn't able to get proper medical treatment for months...hey, I just realized something."

"What's that?"

"You called me by my first name. For the longest time you just called me Shepard, but all of a sudden you're calling me Jane now."

"Am I?" Garrus said, desperately trying to fall back on his dry humor, "I hadn't noticed."

"Don't bullshit me Garrus, you're a horrible liar. Why are you calling me by my first name all of a sudden?"

"I guess...I guess that it's just a respect thing you know. You told me a lot of stuff that you never told anyone else. When you reach a point where someone is good enough friends with you to entrust you with their deepest and most personal secret, calling them by their last name just seems a little rude."

"Aw, that's sweet," Jane said playfully. "What's next, are you going to show me your reach and ask me to show you my flexibility?"

"Oh shut it," Garrus said, "I knew that I never should have told you about that. Also, hate to burst your bubble Jane, but I don't have a Human fetish."

"Don't worry, I don't have a Turian fetish either, in fact I'm completely asexual."

"Seriously?"

"Yup, when a couple dozen different chemicals are pumped into you to make you the ultimate warrior, a couple of things tend to get a little messed up on the process. SPARTANs pretty much have the sex drives of Salarians."

"Damn, I didn't know that. Makes all the rumors about us being together seem even weaker."

"There were rumors about us being together?" Jane looked like she was about to burst into laughter. "Oh geez, I hope that they're not too upset that the reception has to be canceled." Garrus laughed. "All right, I told you about my total lack of a sex drive, its your turn to tell me something."

"Fair enough. Ok...I think I have something. You see, the mission to Eden Prime was the second mission I went on as a Spectre, on my first I went to Omega. I had to act as an undercover agent to get some information on a rouge Salarian spy ring. I may have unintentionally attracted the ill will of all three of the major Terminus System mercenary groups in the process."

"How did that turn out?"

Garrus grinned. "Ever hear of the name Archangel?"

XXXXX

"This is an outrage!" Donald Udina's teeth grit in range as he stood outside out of Huerta Memorial Hospital, half a dozen ONI agents behind them, their hands hovering over their pistols. Iasa, Viluse and a dozen Sangheili Spec Ops warriors stood in front of the entrance, weapons on their backs and at their sides. "There are fugitives of the UNSC in there, we are within our rights to seize them."

"With all due respect," Iasa snarled, "when the UNSC authorized my vessel to track down the crew of the Normandy, they gave me custody of them. Currently they are guests aboard my vessel, I merely transferred them to this facility as my ship was not properly equipped to tend to their injuries."

"That may be true but-"

"Furthermore," Viluse interjected, cutting over the Vice-President "Rason, the Supreme Commander of the Jiralhanae Empire, and next in line to become Emperor volunteered his services and is currently treating the Normandy crew members. Judging by the way you and your men are approaching this scenario you intent to go in with your weapons drawn. Rason will be protective of his patients and you will no doubt start a diplomatic incident that will destroy the fragile alliance that we have managed to forge with the Loyalists, resulting in counterattacks against the UNSC and the RSN."

"It is not your place to-"

"And finally!" Iasa growled, drowning out Udina, "the crew that you are trying so hard to arrest were confirmed by 00 Clarifying Atom to be the ones who activated the Forerunner fleet, which in turn destroyed the Reaper fleet, which you denounced as being nonexistent. Jane Shepard's actions during the climax of the Battle of the Citadel also disabled the leader of the Reapers, leading to his destruction, and the crippling of the Reaper fleet. While she was doing this, her crew managed to down a super-carrier, hold out against an endless onslaught of Jiralhanae warriors, and kill the Emperor, Sukron. In conclusion, you should not be attempting to arrest these individuals, you should be kissing the ground where they walk, and begging for forgiveness for your incompetence as a leader."

"Were you a Sangheili, an assassination would have been ordered on you, most likely a successful one," Viluse added, a faint smirk on his face. "For the record, I would volunteer for the duty."

"Now wait just a moment!" Udina interjected, "you're just making things up now? Killing the Emperor? You honestly expect me to believe that without the assistance of Shepard that that little rag tag team was able to take down one of the most deadly Jiralhanae that ever lived. You are going to need more evidence than that if you want to make a claim like-" Udina was cut of as Iasa idly flicked her wrist, tossing something at Udina.

Instinctively, his hands flew up and caught the object before shouting and dropping it. It was an airtight case with a see through lid that contained a single object, Sukron's head to be precise. "Is that enough evidence for you?" Iasa asked smugly.

"Th-this could very easily be a fake," Udina said indignantly, attempting to recover his poise, "it would be outrageous to say that this head is Sukron's without running so much as a simple DNA test, and even then the crimes that these people have committed against the UNSC are not negated by impressive acts, they-"

"Udina, please stop, you're embarrassing yourself." Udina craned his neck to see President Richards approaching him, an ONI agent on either side of him. "What are you doing here?"

"I am attempting to take Jane Shepard and her crew into custody. The have committed insabordination, theft of military property, desertion-"

"And they saved all of our lives," Richards said, cutting him off. "Bringing great physical harm to themselves in the process and accomplishing impossible feats. They prevented genocide on a massive scale, we owe them more than we can possibly give."

"That doesn't change the fact that they have committed countless crimes against the United Nations Space Command Issac!" Udina shouted. "It doesn't matter how impressive what they did is, it doesn't make that disappear."

"I know, that's why I pardoned them."

"And you- YOU WHAT!" Udina shouted, disbelief flooding his face.

"You didn't know?" Richards said, surprise coating his face, "I sent you a personal message five hours ago. Oh geez. You gentlemen will not be needed here," he said politely, gesturing to the ONI agents standing behind Udina, "stop by the Flux, drop my name to the bartender, he'll take care of you." The agents looked at each other uncertainly before slowly walking away, leaving Udina looking flustered.

"You pardoned them? After everything that they did, you're just letting them go? What about the RSN refusing to let me into the hospital when they are guarded our personal and not their own?"

"I asked Ms. 'Cirate to keep an eye on them after everything that they've been through. No doubt they've made many enemies among the Coalition and they are at their weakest right now. Also with a Jiralhanae doctor there's the slight chance that racism may get the best of some of our personal and things could get messy. Fortunately, she was more than happy to volunteer her services."

"It is an honor," Iasa said, bowing her head slightly to Richards, "and I see that my assistance was needed," she growled, glaring at Udina. "I knew that you were a fool, but even I thought that you knew that they had been pardoned. To neglect a message of the utmost importance from your own leader...disgraceful."

"It's not my fault," Udina snapped, "My omni-tool's been on the fritz for the past couple of days, it keeps getting flooded with spam from extranet sites that I didn't even know existed, the message was probably buried." As if it was responding to what he had said, Udina's omni-tool beeped loudly.

"Oh, what now!" he shouted, bringing his omni-tool up. A holographic sheet shot up in front of him and he began to read it. "You have received five requests on your Shooting Stars account, the galaxy's biggest dating site...WHAT!"

Iasa, Viluse and Richards blinked as Udina jammed a button on his omni-tool, opening a link to a Shooting Stars account. "Donald Udina," he whispered, reading off of the profile in front of him and not caring that people were still right in front of him. "Occupation, politician. Sexual status...biesexual! Personality...I am a vulnerable guy who needs to be held by big strong arms? Species preference...Hanar, Elcor and Krogan!"

Viluse completely lost control as he began to roar with laughter, doubiling up and clutching his sides. Iasa managed to control herself but smirked at Udina, who was turning a dark shade of red. "Well that's a shame Udina," Richards teased, "only Hanar Elcor and Krogan huh? Shame, my brother is gay and he's been single for awhile now. To be fair it's probably for the best, you'd probably just be a fling for him."

"How is this happening!" Udina said, "every since the battle of the Citadel this has been happening to me, how...ANDERSON!" Without another word, Udina spun on his heels and stormed away, putting his hand to his COM unit.

"For the record I pardoned him too!" Richards shouted after him, "you can't arrest him!"

"Oh Staliu," Viluse gasped, managing to recover his balance. "That was glorious."

"Your Fleet Admiral has a very interesting sense of humor," Iasa said, smiling as she looked at Richards. "But it is not unwelcome."

"He was always like that, even in the days when we were both just 3rd class servicemen in the navy."

"You served in the military?" Iasa asked, "why did you leave a life of dedication and honor for the work of a politican? I have done research, UNSC politics is nothing like the RSN's, skill as a warrior and past service records are rarely taken into account." She shook her head, desperately attempting to understand how such a system could exist. "Why would you even consider that life?"

Richards chuckled. "Don't get me wrong, sometimes I miss being a soldier, you really feel like you get things done. All four of my grandparents fought in the Human-Covenant War and actually managed to live through it, and I always used to pester them for stories, stories that they were more than happy to provide. So when I was old enough I finally joined up, got assigned to a frigate and after awhile met an insane son of a bitch named David Anderson."

"How did you meet?" Viluse asked.

"In a bar on leave...while we were both drunk...I think I insulted his mother and he broke a bottle over my head, I don't remember, that whole night was a blur. He defiantly had a black eye the next morning though, so we probably got into a bit of a fistfight."

"So you met during a fight," Viluse said, "an excellent way to start a friendship."

"Uh, trying to kill someone while completely wasted is a good way to make friends?" Richards said, looking a little taken aback.

"Yes, during the intensity of battle the masks that we forge fade away, and there are few who understand an individual as well as one who has faced him in battle."

"...Ok." Richards said dumbly, having no idea how to respond to that comment.

"Do not mind him," Iasa mouthed, her back to Viluse so that he could not see.

"By the way Ms. 'Cirate, I couldn't help but notice that you looked like you were ready to fight Udina and his men. I thought that Sangheili operated on a strict code of honor, although if half of the things that I read about you are true, honor doesn't appeal to you that much."

"That is not exactly true," Iasa said.

"Wait, I thought that you disobeyed orders and released the Rachni which was considered by your superiors to be-"

"Yes it was, but that day I asked myself something. What is honor? Is it a rigid set of standards passed by a figure of authority, or is it something more? You see Richards, I still believe heavily in honor, but if I merely follow the standards of the RSN council, how can I call myself honerable if I am merely mimicking those that came before me? I decided that day that I would not act as my leaders do, letting personal political motivation and vengeance come before doing not only what is honorably right, but also morally right. I will forge my own path of honor."

Richards smiled. "You sound like Thel 'Vadam in a way, willing to go against your entire people to do what you think is right. Well I hope that you don't get too carried away with it, freeing the Rachni was a big risk. What I'm trying to say is, maybe you should take your carrier away from galaxy altering events, I'm pretty sure you don't need another political shitstorm coming down on your head. Oh, I almost forgot, Thel said that you were only being sent after the Normandy to fail and be humiliated. What'll happened now that they saved the galaxy more or less, and you were the one who brought them back and gave them protection?"

Iasa grinned. "No doubt this will be a massive blow to their pride. Hopefully it will be so humiliating that they will give up on discrediting me to avoid future failures."

Richard's chuckled. "Oh, in a lot of ways you remind me of your mother Iasa, well, I need to get going." With that, Richards turned and began to walk away, the two ONI agents trailing him.

"My...mother?" Iasa gasped out, her mandibles slackening and her entire body slumping slightly as she stared forward in disbelief.

"Iasa? Are you well?" Viluse asked.

"I...I am fine," Iasa said, slowly beginning to walk forward. "Do me a favor and continue to stand guard, I need to contemplate my life."

"Oh dear," Viluse said, shaking his head but smiling nonetheless. "Her greatest fear realized."

XXXXX

Rason grit his teeth in barely controlled frustration as he approached Tali's bed, which was located next to Taylor's. Joker was loudly cracking jokes about Sangheili and the size of their "swords" and he was having a hard time keeping himself from swearing at the top of his lungs. "How do you resist the urge to kill him in his sleep?" he hissed under his breath, glancing at Tali as he began to scan her.

"A lot of self control and a work station on the opposite end of the ship," she replied.

"I suppose that that would help," the Jiralhanae grumbled as he began to read the results of the scan. "Though I doubt that I would have your...your...oh Spirits." As rason continued to read, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened at what he was reading.

"What is it?" Tali asked, noticing his surprising look.

"Either I am going senile in my old age or...just a moment, I need to double check." His fingers flew across his omni-tool as he started another scan. "It is the same," he whispered as he read the readout again.

"What?" Tali repeated, starting to sound nervous.

"It is...nothing life threatening," Rason said slowly, looking uncomfortable, as if he was unsure how to approach the situation. "But...it is a matter that I imagine that you would...how do I put this. Many races have something called a...doctor-patient...something or other, I cannot remember what it is called, but the point is there are some things that most species want to stay private between their doctors and themselves, this is defiantly one of those things."

"Well what is it?" Tali asked, sounding impatient. Hesitantly, Rason bent down and gently whispered something into Tali's ears. The Quarian's eyes grew wide with shock. "Are...are you sure?" she asked.

"I understand your shock, from what I can tell it began no more than four days ago, while you were on your way to or on Illos. That is what truly baffles me, considering your crew. Is there any chance that anything happened to you while you were on the planet? Forerunner technology is the only way that I can consider this to be scientifically possible."

"I...I don't think so," Tali said, "all that happened was that an A.I. Used some kind of beam to heal some burns that I had."

"Did he describe it?"

"He said that it was the pinnacle of Forerunner medical technology, so advanced that it could convert alien tissue into a usable form based on its location in the-" Tali's eyes widened again. "Oh Keelah."

"Well...that would explain it," Rason said hesitantly.

"What...what happens now?"

"For the most part that is up to you. Although I would like to run further tests later on to make sure that there are not any complications, there are none at the moment but that may change. With your permission of course."

"Yeah...yeah, that'll be fine."

"Good. Well...I imagine that you may need to think this through. If you need me, shout, I will not be far." Without another word, Rason turned and walked away, heading towards Rebecca.

"Keelah," Tali whispered.

"Tali dear, what is it?" Sirona asked, looking concerned as she put her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Everything ok?" Taylor asked, propping himself up in his bed and looking at her.

"I..." Tali said, hesitantly, unsure how to relay how Rason had just told her. "I'm...pregnant." All around eyes widened and Sarah nearly shouted in surprise, but managed to catch herself at the last minute. "It must have happened on Illos when Atom healed me. Remember how he said that it converted alien tissue into usable forms?"

"But that doesn't make any sense," her mother interjected, "it doesn't matter if that ray or whatever it was can turn Turian DNA into Krogan DNA, it shouldn't have done anything unless there was something already in her-" Sirona trailed off as she saw Taylor rubbing the back of his head, looking incredibly guilty. "Oh...I see," Sirona said softly. "So...you two..."

"Yeah," Tali whispered. "I...wow...I never expected this."

"Damn," Taylor said. A solid minute passed in which no one said anything. "So...what do you want to do?"

"Pardon?" Tali asked, looking confused.

"Uh...what do you want to do?" Taylor said, sounding uncertain "you know...about...yeah."

"Why...why are you asking me?"

"Well, you're the one that's carrying it," Taylor pointed out. "You're the one who's affected physically by this."

"I didn't think of it like that," Tali said hesitantly. "If I'm going to be honest I didn't really give that much thought to kids, I thought that maybe we would adopt five or six years down the line, but then this just fell into our laps. But...if I had to make a choice...we're never going to get a chance like this again...I have to say that I want to give this a shot."

"Alright," Taylor said softly, their hands sliding over the edges of their beds and gently gripped each other. "Alright. Sorry about this."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Well, I was kind of the one who-"

"Hey," she said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, "first of all you didn't exactly strap me down and take me against my will, it takes two. Second of all, neither of us could have predicted advanced alien technology breaking the laws of biology. Sometimes things just happen, what matters is how we deal with it. I thought that you would be a little upset to be honest."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, from what Atom said, your DNA was converted completely into Quarian DNA. I'm no geneticist, but I'm pretty sure most of your genetic code would have been scrambled beyond recognition. I'm not sure that it'll biologically be your child."

Taylor grinned at her. "Did I ever tell you that Damon isn't my biological father?"

Tali paused as a smile slowly spread across her face. "He had a little talk with me about that. I guess I just felt a little guilty because while this child will be half me there's no guarantee that it'll be half you."

"It being half you is all I need and I care about," Taylor said gently, squeezing her hand. "Although if my biotics somehow get through I'm not complaining."

Sirona smiled as she wrapped her arms around her daughter and gently kissed her on the forehead while Damon ruffled his son's hair. Crystal also smiled as she looked at her soon. However, a nagging feeling pulled at her and she could not help but frown. "What's the matter Mom?" Sarah asked.

"Something seems oddly familiar about all of this...but for the life of me I can't think of why."

Even since Rason had given Tali the news, the Winters and 'Zorahs had lowered their voices to avoid being heard, and they had succeeded for the most part. However, one person in the room had sharper hearing than anyone else, and managed to hear every last word.

Jane smiled wildly as she let her head fall down onto her pillow, idly listening to Garrus' story. "And I thought that I was bizarre."

Author's Note: I WAS PLANNING THIS I SWEAR TO GOD THAT I WAS! So, yeah, remember back in the Shield World when I had Tali get zapped by the sentinels and then I had Atom heal her. The whole point of that scene was to do...this. There's a reason that I had Atom go on a squeeful rant on how awesome his healing powers were, and go into great detail about it, when Taylor and Tali had finally done it for the first time the very night before. It's called, foreshadowing...although your opinion may vary on how well I handeled it. I was personally looking forward to this moment and I think I wrote it as well as I could but I can't help but wonder if you guys can buy this...aw screw it Mass Effect has come up with weirder stuff, this is a universe with a race of 1000 year old biesexual female aliens that can get pregnant by having sex with my dog...wow...I think I just gave myself nightmares.

On a side note, let's play a game, it's called find the GTA 4 reference in this chapter. Hehehe, I swear that idea just hit me while I was writing this chapter and I HAD to put it in, it was too good to pass up. Also for the record, from this point on it's mainly going to be about wrapping up loose ends and more character moments. That twist at the end was the last one in the story, you can more or less stop reading right now if you want to and not miss anything of real importance, the Reapers are dead, the Flood are dead, the Coalition is more or less gone, it's just wrapping up loose ends. So if you're here for the action, I respectfully suggest that you part ways with this story now, but if you've grown to be fond of these characters, their stories aren't done just yet. Oh yeah one more thing, I've been trying to underplay Taylor and Tali's relationship throughout the story (key word being try) but with this little twist and things coming to a close, they're going to be getting a little more attention than usual


	102. Love is in Bloom

Chapter 102

Love is in Bloom

Author's Note: Let it never be said that I can't take constructive criticism, flaming is deleted on sight, but constructive criticism is welcome, even if I do disagree, it makes me think about what I've written and make sure that I feel that it is sound. For example, I got mostly positive reviews for the last chapter, but one anonymous reviewer (that's kinda why I'm posting this here, if it wasn't anonymous I would've just PMed this to the guy) had two gripes, that I cut the battle with the Forerunners and the Reapers short, and that the Flood were squandered in this story and there should have been a Harbinger vs Gravemind scene.

While he is entitled to his (I assume it's a he) opinion, I disagree with these criticisms, allow me to explain why. For the Forerunners and the Reapers, I didn't believe that there was anything else to tell. When Jane blacked out it was over, there was nothing else to talk about. If I had forced myself to write it it would have pretty much been the same paragraph as when the Reapers were first disabled written in different ways, and it just would have dragged out. I was kind of going for the less is more approach, I'm not saying that you're wrong, it's just that I'm happy with the way it came out.

As for the Flood, a Gravemind fighting Harbinger would have been cool but I couldn't find a way to make it happen. The thing about crossovers is that people have a tendency to assume that the point of them is to see X vs Y, where as the point of a well written crossover is to blend two worlds seamlessly, and if you go down that route you're not necessarily going to get Goku Vs Superman, as cool as that may be. The truth is that I actually was planning on having the Flood head back to the Citadel with the Marauders and help fight the Reapers, or pop in mid fight...I then realized that that was a stupid idea (my idea not your idea) for two reasons. While the Flood has proven in the past that it will work with other races when its existence is threatened, it only does so when there is no other alternative, and the Reapers are a threat, but not on the same level as Halo. Even after they take heavy hits, a single Flood spore just needs to get away, infect a planet and repopulate, but let's get to my reasons.

One, the Gravemind would have had stayed behind to avoid getting killed, and then I would have had to write another arc about dealing with the Flood, and at that point the story would just be dragging on and it would have been a pain with the Normandy trashed and half of the cast wounded, or alternatively Two, the Gravemind would have had to be present at the Citadel along with all of the Flood and I would have had to kill it in the battle, which would make no sense because the Gravemind wouldn't have thrown away everything like that. To add to that, I introduced the Reaper IFF way back when, I was always planning a showdown at the Collector base, and going there was just a good strategic move for the Flood, the races of the milky way can't get there, and the Reapers will be too busy to go there themselves. However, they didn't know about Marton finding the IFF and Cerberus telling them how to get there. Also I wanted to include that thing too, Cerberus taking a break from being assholes to actually help out the Alliance, people wanted them in a Gray morality, and I delivered. That's how I view the Illusive Man, he will authorize countless brutal experiments, but if something like the Flood is on the lose, he'll help stop it, even if he wants to control it...although he was a total ponce who honestly thought that he could control the Reapers, but that's a debate for another day. And before you say that he was indoctrinated, he authorized Horizon to be used to reverse engineer the indoctrination signal, which he didn't do under the Reaper's command, on account of they attacked it.

Well anonymous reviewer, I hope that explained things for you, but there were a couple of other gripes too. One person asked why Jane's organs couldn't be replaced with flash clones because Kelly (The SPARTAN) had her organs replaced in one of the Halo novels. I admit that I don't read many expanded universe novels and use the internet to get information, I simply assumed that an indestructible, metal coated rib cage would make removing organs difficult, and even if they could I'm not sure that the Citadel has the capabilities to clone SPARTAN grade organs.

And one more complaint that I got twice, that what happened to Taylor and Tali is very similar to what happened to Aaron and Ahsoka from Fighting For a Purpose. While I can see the connection and I'm kinda facepalming that I didn't notice that earlier, that is honestly not why I did that, I swear to god it's just a coincidence. If you have the time, go back and reread the first couple chapters of this story and then reread that last couple. If you do, you might notice that there are quite a few similarities, such as a couple fighting a strong enemy, just barely winning, being rescued by someone with the last name 'Cirate, who gives the man a stupid nickname and the woman is revealed to be pregnant. That was my motivation behind making Tali pregnant, it's a little something called book ends. Also I was aiming for less "aw they're having a kid," and more "Holy crap they CAN have a kid."

Well, I hope that those explanations satisfied my readers. I think it's time for one last time skip because it's going be a tad bit boring to write about half of the cast being stuck in bed, also it'll be helpful to summarize the causalities at the battle of the Citadel and finally end the war.

XXXXX

April 30, 2635: The Battle of Illos/ The Battle of the Citadel/ Battle of the Collector Base

The crew of the UNSC stealth frigate Normandy activated a Forerunner fleet before crash landing on the interior of the Illos shield world while fighting an Empire super-carrier, taking the massive vessel down with it. The crew engaged in combat with the crew of the carrier before the RSN CCS-battlecruiser, the Steel Resolve arrived and rescued the crew, killing the remaining Jiralhanae via bombardment.

Causality report:

Jiralhanae: 658,000

During the same day, the Coalition launched an all out attack on the Citadel, with its ranks being bolstered by the Collectors. With the defensive advantage, the Alliance was able to hold back the majority of the Coalition forces, but the Reaper Sovereign was able to break through and dock with the Citadel. Sovereign was destroyed by the Forerunner fleet from Illos arriving, but not before it managed to open the Citadel and let the other Reapers through. Turning on the Coalition, the Reapers opened fire on Alliance and Coalition ships alike, the Heretic Geth and Collectors assisting them. Several dozen Empire ships crewed by Metal Fist fled from the battle, leaving the rest of the Empire forces to fend for themselves.

The remaining Coalition forces were forced to cooperate with the Alliance and the Forerunner fleet to battle the Reapers. The resulting battle resulted in the destruction in hundreds of Alliance and Coalition ships as well as the majority of the Forerunner fleet. However, the destruction of Harbinger's puppet resulted in the leader of the Reapers becoming disabled, which resulted in the chain of command of the Reapers collapsing, possibly disrupting their thought processing. With the Reapers in their weakened state, they were easily defeated. Without the Reapers providing support, the Collectors and Heretic Geth fleets were also whipped out in a matter of minutes, the Collector ships not even returning fire afterward.

Upon learning the truth of the formation of the Coalition and how the people of the Coalition had merely been used by Saren and the Reapers to weaken the galaxy, the the majority of Coalition forces present lost the will to fight. The Empire forces that had fought against the Alliance pledged their allegiance to Rason, stating that with the deaths of Tritus, Xeron and Sukron, he was the rightful Emperor, as did the Blood Pack and Krogan tribes upon learning that the new Jiralhanae government would be given control of the Krogan when the war ends, and that they would not be given a fresh strain of the Genophage. The remnants of the Batarian Hegemony that had taken part in the battle jumped out of the system the moment that the battle ended, never to be seen again, not even as pirates. In the years to come, some of the more adventurous explorers of the galaxy would tell tall tales of how they had traveled into the depths of a Mass Relay dead zone and

set up a colony on a remote planet in self imposed exile.

Causality report:

Human: 8.7 million

Quarian: 87,519

Sangheili: 10.4 million

Unggoy: 17.7 million

Mgalekgolo: 3.8 million (Lekgolo: 57.6 million)

Asari: 5.9 million

Salarian: 6.7 million

Turian: 12.7 million

Jiralhanae: 38.4 million

Kig-Yar: 59.4 million

Yamne'e: 67.1 million

Batarian: 5 million

Krogan: 19 million

Geth platforms: 68 million

Geth programs: 0

Collectors: 62.4 million

Rachni: 59.4 million

Sentinels: 84.1 million

Reapers: Entire species

While both of these battles were occurring, the Marauders launched an invasion of the Collector base, which had been commandeered by the Flood. The Eternal Salvation entered the galactic core via the Omega 4 Relay and engaged the Flood. A team led by the leader of the Marauders, Marton, struck at the heart of the base and managed to overlord the reactor core before jumping to slipspace, killing all of the Flood present in the galaxy at the time.

Causality report:

Jiralhanae: 517,185

Flood: Exact number unknown due to high reproduction rate and limited data. All Flood currently active in the Milky Way.

May 21, 2635: End of the Empire and the Rise of the Confederacy.

Amassed Loyalist, Marauder and RSN forces marched on Dosiac. When Emperor Rason gave the order for all defensive forces to stand down, the majority of them complied, but a handful of Metal Fist forces attempted to fight. The handful of ships that they controlled personally only managed to destroy three enemy vessels before being downed. Afterwards Metal fist attempted to fortify the Imperial Palace, but with the combined efforts of the Imperial Guard, the Blood Brothers, the Chemical Corps and the Marauders, it was retaken within four hours. A week later, the Jiralhanae Empire was dissolved by Rason, and the Confederacy of Allied Species was formed, consisting of the Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar, Yamne'e, and the Krogan. However, dozens of Metal Fist ships disappeared all across the Empire. For decades to come, they would harass and attack traders and settlers on the fringes of settled space as pirates.

Causality report:

Jiralhanae (Marauder & Loyalist) 6,248

Jiralhanae (Metal Fist) 12,878

June 9, 2635: The defeat of the Heretics and reclamation of Rannoch

Working together with the UNSC, the True Geth managed to isolate a last ditch effort by the Heretic Geth to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Using a salvaged Reaper data core, they had constructed a virus intended to subtly rewrite the programing of the True Geth, forcing them to think like the Heretics. A team of specialists managed to board a hidden heretic Geth station, using a Smart A.I. managed to rewrite the virus into making the heretics think like the true Geth. Upon seeing that the UNSC, and by extension the Quarians, was more than willing to coexist peacefully, the Geth announced that they would allow colonization of former Quarian territory. How the Quarian population will react to this is, at the moment, unknown, although tens of thousands are already arranging transportation.

July 18, 2635: Present day. With the Hegemony in ruins, the Empire dissolved, the Krogan pacified underneath the freedom of the Confederacy and the leadership of Udrnot Wrex and the Heretic Geth rewritten, the conflict that had consumed the entire galaxy for a bloody year, now referred to as the Galactic War, is widely considered over. Skirmish fighting between Metal Fist remnants and Blood Pack mercenaries would continue for some time, but no further major engagements took place.

"Wh...what is this? Tali whispered, sounding as if she was one step away from fainting.

Crystal sighed as she approached the Quarian woman behind. "For the third time Tali, this is my old wedding dress." The two of them were standing in the middle of a dress shop on the Citadel. Tali was swearing a long flowing white gown and standing in front of a set of three mirrors. With Tali's pregnancy, both she and Taylor had agreed to tie the knot before the child was born, which meant that the Winters family had a wedding to prepare for. That had included Crystal taking her old dress to a taylor and having a few changes made so that it would fit Tali. "Damon and I weren't swimming in cash at the time so we had to buy one of the smaller and conservative ones, I'm sorry that it isn't exactly up to your-"

"This is a small one!" Tali practically shrieked. "I-how can-but this-Look at it! Three feet of fabric! If I go any faster than a slow walk I'll trip over this thing, and it's supposed to be small?"

"I..." Crystal said. She had been to a couple of weddings into her life and knew that at just about every one the bride would throw a massive fit about something with it being one of the most important days of her life. The cake was too small, the band was playing the wrong song, there weren't enough tables, there were enough problems to write a book. But having a wedding dress that was too big...Crystal had never heard that one before. "Uh...what do Quarians do when they get married?"

"We put on specially crafted shawls and have a quiet ceremony with our families and close friends. It's barely even more than a square foot or two of fabric, and it's usually handmade from spare pieces of scrap that no one could find any use for. But you Humans...what is this!" Tali turned back to look at her reflection, horror etched into her face. "Who in their right mind uses this much cloth just to make a dress that's used once? It must cost a couple thousand credits, Keelah, I could upgrade my omni-tool with half of that and get so much more out of it than this."

"Oh, I think I get it now," Crystal said, smiling softly, "you spent half of your life on the Migrant Fleet, you're used to getting by on bare necessities, spending time and resources on frivolous things were out of the question."

"Less out of the question and more completely crushed by centuries of being forced to live on starships," Tali said, pulling on the length of her dress before letting it fall. "I don't know if I can do this."

Crystal let out an exasperated sigh, "Yes you can dear. I know that you're nervous, but everyone gets pre-wedding jitters, Taylor's probably going through the same thing right now. You're probably suffering from hormones too, right now things may seem pretty bad but once you have a couple of hours to calm down you'll be fine. I know what you're going through, I was in your shoes before, Hell I was married twice, and the second time was after my first deadbeat husband left me pregnant, after I nearly got my head blown off by the maniac who helped start this war in the first place."

"I know but...wait you fought Saren before Taylor was even born?"

Seeing that Tali's mind had been taken off of the dress, Crystal pressed forward. "Yeah, back in the Second Contact War. Damon, Mack and I were responding to a distress signal that a platoon sent out when they were attacked by two biotic Turians. We had never seen anything like that before so we had no idea what to expect. When we got there, only six marines were left and they didn't last long. We had a Warthog and we did our best to take them out, but they still managed to make us crash. Damon took my sniper rifle and managed to shoot one of them in the throat before RSN Phantoms showed up and drove the other one off, that's how he got the nickname Demon Slayer. I did a little research afterwards and apparently the one that got away was Saren, while the one that Damon killed was his brother."

"He killed Saren's brother?" Tali asked. "Wow...I didn't know that."

Crystal frowned. "Of course no one seems to mention the fact that I shot down a Turian dropship with a sniper rifle earlier that day. Everyone knows about Damon killing a Spectre, but everyone seems to gloss over me taking down gunship with a small arm. While three months pregnant I might add."

Tali laughed. "Trust me, getting on the news isn't as cracked up as people make it out to be."

Crystal grinned. "So, think you can handle wearing an overblown dress for one day?"

"I think so," Tali said, looking at herself in the mirror. "It actually looks kind of pretty, it's just that...I prefer practical clothing, something that's easy to move around it." Both women heard a dressing room door opening and saw Rebecca walking towards them, wearing her own outfit that she would be wearing upon going to the wedding. "Kind of like what she's wearing, that looks good Rebecca."

"Thanks!" the silver haired woman replied.

Crystal glanced at Rebecca. "I see what you mean, sadly though brides have to stick with these gowns when it comes to weddings." Crystal turned back to look at Tali. It was at that moment that her brain managed to process exactly what Rebecca was wearing. Her head spun to look at the ODST so fast she nearly cricked it. "Frost, WHY ARE YOU WEARING A TUXEDO!"

Rebecca frost was indeed wearing a black and white tuxedo, complete was dress shoes, handkerchief, and a black bow tie. Rebecca blinked as she looked down at her clothes. "What? Is there something wrong with it? Well this is my bad bow tie, my good one is getting cleaned, Liara's picking it up right now."

"I...you...why aren't you wearing a dress?"

"Ohhhhhhh, that's what you meant," Rebecca said, clarity filling her face. "Yeah I don't do dresses."

"I just...is there anything standard about this wedding?" Crystal said, burying her face in the palm of her hands. "The bride's an alien, she's freaking out about her dress being too big and the maid of honor is wearing a tux."

"Can't I wear one of those?" Tali asked, pointing at Rebecca.

"I wouldn't recommend it," Rebecca said, grinning widely, "it's more or less to be considered men's clothing. Kind of ironic when you think about it, I like my hair to be nice and long but I can't stand dresses. Contrast with Elizabeth, she completely lost it if her hair went past her neck, but she had this red cocktail dress that she just loved to wear." She chuckled, "god we loved to screw with people...that reminds me I should probably grab something for Liara, what do you think that she'd like?"

"Uh..." Crystal and Tali began before they were cut off.

The front door to the store had opened and a female Quarian had stepped inside. Crystal blinked as she looked at the woman. Her skin was a much darker shade of purple than Tali's, and her eyes had an icy tone to them as she scanned the two women across from her, as if she was sizing them up. "So, the rumors were true," she said coldly, "you are getting married to a Human. The son of a Human war hero isn't he?" the Quarian scoffed, "I think I understand how "Raan was able to rise to rank of Admiral so quickly, her niece was making favorable mentions."

"Tali, do you know this woman?" Crystal asked uncertainly.

"Sadly," Tali said stiffly, glaring at the other Quarian. "Crystal, meet Admiral Daro'Xen, I'm sorry, make that ex-Admiral Daro'Xen," she said, putting heavy emphasis on the prefix "ex".

Xen didn't seem to be phased by Tali's insult. "I take it you must be his mother," she said, glancing at Crystal.

"Yeah, I am," the Human woman growled, "and if I were you I'd be very careful about how you word your next sentence."

"Oh please," Xen said, rolling her eyes. "The love life of a lowly Human grunt hardly sparks my interest, but the daughter of Rael'Zorah's actions speak for all Quarians. Tell me, have you considered how what you're doing is affected the rest of our kind, or did that get swallowed up by your romantic fantasies?"

"I'm guessing...a month of media madness before people loose interest and move onto something else," she said dryly.

"Try again," Xen snarled. "You marrying someone so low on the chain of command is not only embarrassing, but I'm still high enough to access certain records that the general public are not allowed to. Tyrant's End...is that what your suitor calls himself?"

Tali shrugged, "What can I say, you tend to get a couple of titles when you behead well known war criminals in a fight."

"Oh, how impressive," Xen said dryly, "and did you ever realize that as someone who is slowly gaining more attention, him deciding to marry you could cause you to appear as a trophy wife? Quarians are subservient to Humans as it is."

"How the Hell do you figure?" Rebecca said, jumping into the conversation.

"I do not believe that I was not talking to you," Xen snapped, "but I would think that the answer to that was obvious. We live by Human laws, we take orders from Human leaders, and we follow Human policy. It could not be clearer how misguided the UNSC could be, instead of figuring out how to create more powerful A.I.s they squander billions to make mere shadows of actually living creatures live longer, things that should be nothing more than tools for us but the Humans consider their 'equal'" she said mockingly. "And now they've made peace with the Geth, our servants who turned against us, our rightful property, and the Humans want to make friends with pieces of hardware. Pathetic."

"You're awfully fond of running your mouth aren't you?" Rebecca said. "It'd be nice if you actually knew what you were talking about though."

"I do not recall asking for your opinion, furthermore-" Xen trailed off as she noticed Tali bending her head over and clutching her chest. She was making a faint noise that was impossible to make out clearly. As the seconds ticked by, it slowly grew louder and louder until Tali threw her head back and began to laugh loudly.

Xen's body tensed as Tali continued to laugh, her mostly calm demeanor faltering. "I do not recall saying anything that was humorous," she hissed.

"I know that you didn't," Tali managed to gasp out as she continued to laugh. "I just think that it's funny that after all of these centuries, we have a home, stable immune systems, strong allies, our homeworld back, and peace with our long time enemies...and you're complaining about it!" Tali managed to force out before she began to roar with laughter again.

Xen's eye twitched. "I see that I am wasting my time on you," she hissed, "in so many ways you are little more than a child, your father-"

"Oh for fuck's sake are you still talking?" Crystal questioned, folding her arms across her chest. "You're getting to the point were you just seem desperate, you were honestly planning on pulling the daddy card...seriously?"

"Just do us all a favor and get lost," Rebecca hissed, gesturing to the door.

Xen glared at all of them before turning and begining to walk away. "You will regret your actions one day 'Zorah," she said over her shoulder as she passed through the door and out of sight.

"Admiral...that woman...was a Migrant Fleet Admiral...do you want to explain to me how that works?" Crystal asked, looking at Tali, who was still laughing.

The Quarian held up her hand as she attempted to gain control of herself. "Ok," she panted, "Migrant Fleet Admirals were more politicians than military commanders."

"Oh she was a politician instead, a politician that led your entire people," Rebecca corrected, "ok, how does THAT work?"

"Oh, not today," Tali said, massaging her sides, "I'll tell you later."

"How later is later?" Crystal asked.

Before Tali could reply, both of their COM units beeped. "Hey, it's me," Jane's voice said. "I seem to recall promising you guys drinks. I'll be at the Purgatory bar in two hours. See you there."

"Now that sounds like a plan," Tali said, smiling widely.

"Hold it young lady," Crystal said, grabbing Tali's shoulder, "you may have earned it but you can't go running off and getting wasted for another six months."

"Oh right." Tali absentmindedly pressed her hand against her stomach. She felt a small lump, small enough to easily be concealed but pronounced enough for her to feel. "I guess I'll just have to drink the non-alcoholic stuff."

"Damn straight."

"Ok...can I take this off now?"

"You're hopeless."

XXXXX

"Well, that went better than I expected," Damon remarked as he and Taylor stepped out of a store on the Citadel, Liara right behind them.

"What did you expect to go wrong?" Taylor asked as he hoisted his freshly cleaned tuxedo over his shoulder.

"Well, you were getting a wedding suit cleaned, you had that snooty bitch tell half the galaxy that you're taken, and you beheaded one of the most infamous Jiralhanae of the war. I think more than a couple of people will recognize your face and make a bit of a fuss over it. It doesn't help that you're carrying around that freaking bowie knife." Damon glanced at his son's back. Sukron's knife was tucked into its sheath and attached to the small of Taylor's back.

Taylor shrugged. "Iasa went to the trouble of bringing the sheath with us back here, I thought that it would be rude if I didn't use it. She said something about taking an enemy's weapon being one of the greatest insults that you could inflict on a warrior. Come to think of it, she said that she did something to it, she took it while I was in the hospital and I only got it back today. Haven't looked yet."

"Hold on," Liara said, grabbing the hilt of the weapon and drawing it. The vicious blade glinted in the bright light generated by the Citadel, illuminating a set of alien letters that had been carved into the blade.

"It looks like it's Sangheili," Damon remarked, as the three of them stopped to stare at the weapon. "Anyone know how to read it?"

"I studied a bit of xeno-linguistics," Liara said, studying the blade closely. "I think it says...Tyrant's conclusion...no wait...Tyrant's finish, no that's not right either, it's-"

"Tyrants' end?"

"I think so," Liara said, sliding it back into the sheathe. "Isn't that what Iasa started calling you?"

"Don't remind me," Taylor grunted. "Freaking 'Cirates."

"So, any idea what they're going to name my grandchild?" Damon asked teasingly. "First it was Demon Slayer, then it was Tyrant's end, what's the next generation of the Winters family going to have for a title?"

"Hopefully none if I can do anything about it," Taylor grunted.

"Kid hasn't even been born yet and already you're being overprotective. Look at you, you're a natural."

"Thanks...I think." He sighed and shook his head, "Christ...I'm going to be a dad in a few months."

"And a couple of months before that you're going to be a husband."

"Not helping dad," Taylor snarled.

"I would relax if I were you Taylor," Liara said, taking a box of cigarettes from her side, "You two have known each other for years. If you've managed to maintain friendly relationships for this long I think you can handle living with her," she said extracting a stick before lighting it. "Want one?" she asked before taking a puff.

"No thanks I'm good," Taylor said, staring at the Asari. "When...when did you start to smoke?"

She shrugged "Rebecca introduced me to them and they grew on me. What can I say?"

"It just seems a little weird, you don't strike me as they-"

"WINTERS!" Everyone turned to see a Quarian woman storming towards them, glaring at Taylor with untamed fury. She didn't seem to be wearing standard Quarian clothing, as it had several insignias, medals and ranking bars on it. The ranking bars of a UNSC Admiral.

"Oh great," Taylor muttered, "another Quarian getting pissy about Tali and I?"

"Has this happened a lot?" Liara asked.

"Twice before, three times with Humans. I have to say it's getting kind of annoying." Taylor glanced back at the Quarian, a look of exasperation covering his face. "Look I'm not in the mood for this, if you've really got a problem with me-"

"Oh you better believe I have a problem with you!" the Quarian shouted, stopping in front of Taylor and glaring daggers at him. "Why is Tali pregnant? And how come I've heard that YOU are responsible!"

"I'm really getting tired of this...wait what?" Taylor said. He had been expecting the Quarian to accuse him of being with Tali for political reasons, barely anyone outside of the Normandy crew even knew that Tali was pregnant, much less that the child was his to a certain degree.

"You heard me! Why is she pregnant, and why is it your fault! Are you stupid! Did you not think twice about how what you're doing is affecting her?"

"Uh-" Taylor stuttered, "How do you know? We've been trying to keep it under wraps and-"

"HER MOTHER TOLD ME!" the Quarian screeched.

"I...but why-"

"Did she ever mention me to you? Shala'Raan, former Migrant Fleet Admiral and now UNSC Admiral." She grit her teeth in untamed rage. "I'm also Tali's Aunt."

'oh...oh crap,' Taylor thought, his confidence quickly leaving him as he realized exactly what situation he was in. 'I knocked up the niece of a freaking Admiral...I'm in deep shit.' "Listen-" he said uncertainly "I can explain this-"

"EXPLAIN!" Shala roared, bearing down on Taylor and actually causing the ODST to take a couple of steps back, "what's there to explain! She told me about what that A.I. Did, and you can trust that the first thing that I'm going to do when I'm done with you is hunt that little synthetic bosh'tet down. Do you know what Tali has been through in this war? Do you!"

"Yes," Taylor replied, secretly wishing that his voice was a little louder and more confident. "We've been serving on the same ship and-"

"YOU KNEW?" she screeched. "You know that her father died, you know that she was tortured within an inch of her life, and the first thought that crossed your mind was to do THAT with her? You sicken me."

"uh-," Taylor said, feeling rather naked in front of Shala, "not to interject or anything but...it kind of was her idea."

"Her...idea," Shala said slowly and dangerously, at Taylor wished that he had kept his mouth shut. Even if what he had said had been the truth, it had been very stupid to say that to an angry future in-law. "You mean to tell me-"

"Shala, STOP!" Taylor and Shala's head turned to see Sirona'Zorah sprinting towards them before coming to a stop, clutching at her side. "What...are...you doing?" she asked in-between gasps, looking as if she had just run a mile. Taylor allowed himself a tiny exhale of relief, he had never been so glad to see Tali's mother.

"What am I doing? Sirona, your daughter is pregnant! She's not even 30, she's not married and she's pregnant!"

"But she's going to be married!" Sirona said, cutting over Shala, "Tali asked him to marry her after the Battle of Haven. They're going to get married in a couple of months!"

"I...they are?" Shala asked looking surprised. Sirona nodded. "Oh," Shala continued, looking rather embarrassed. "I...I was under the impression that they only had a one night stand that resulted in Tali's...yeah."

"I tried to tell you, but you stormed off before I was finished," Sirona said, smiling weakly as she continued to massage her side. "You've been a little overprotective when it comes to Tali lately."

"Her father just died," Shala muttered weakly. Giving a reluctant sigh, she turned to face Taylor, who nearly winced. "It seems that I was wrong about you. I acted while I was poorly informed and accused you of things that were untrue." She held out her hand. "I'm sorry." Hesitantly, as if afraid that Shala was holding a knife behind her back, he took her hand and shook it.

"So...no hard feelings?" Taylor said carefully. Shala nodded and gave an nervous chuckle.

"Oh you big sissy," Damon laughed, "you think you have it bad? You should have seen what your mother's parents did when I met them for the first time, her mother didn't stick up for me."

Taylor shook his head in an exhausted manner. "I'm just glad that she didn't rip out my throat. On the flip side now I have a good reason to never cheat on Tali."

"Good," the Quarian Admiral said. An uncomfortable silence followed, Taylor and Shala staring at each other, unsure of what do say. "Well...I have duties to attend to," Shala said, slowly backing away before turning around. "Treat her right!" she shouted as she walked away.

"I'm sorry about that," Sirona said apologetically, "she's always had a soft spot for Tali. And she's been through so much, not to mention Shala has been worried sick about her ever since you left for Illos."

"Don't apologize, we've all been through rough times," Taylor said, smiling nervously.

Sirona smiled, "well I need to get going," she said as she too turned and began to head off.

"Well, that was interesting," Liara remarked. "Neriena did not appose to me being with Rebecca, in fact she encouraged it."

"Different folks, different strokes," Damon remarked.

Before anyone could say something else, all of their COM units beeped. "Hey, it's me," Jane's voice said. "I seem to recall promising you guys drinks. I'll be at the Purgatory bar in two hours. See you there."

"I'm in," Taylor said, "I need a freaking drink after all that."

XXXXX

Author's Note: I was planning on making a third section for this chapter...but I really couldn't think of anything substantial. In other words I have a bit of writers block, besides the two sections seem to stand on their own, though I suppose I could cheat and count the timeline as a section. We'll get to the drinking next chapter and hopefully by then I'll have thought of someone else to write about. Hehe, I've been waiting to write that scene with Shala'Raan and Taylor for a LONG time. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little fond of torturing the guy, he's scrapped with Sukron twice, has PTSD, saw his surrogate uncle get killed and now this (though to be fair this scene is played for laughs) Why do I do this? Well it's because of that personal philosophy I talked about a few chapters ago. I don't like boring invincible heros (something that you wouldn't be able to guess about me if you read Fighting for a Purpose) who win without trying but I don't like downer endings, I like the hero to win. So what do I do at least in this story? I make the hero suffer. I make the hero go through physical pain, emotional pain, physiological pain, every king of suffering that I can think of I inflict on him, so that when he FINALLY wins, when he finally pulls through in the end, the reader feels like he earned that victory and feels satisfied about it. On Tvtropes, we call that Earn Your Happy Ending, and I freaking love it. That's what I was doing with Taylor, he suffered a lot (in ways he still is) and so did Jane and Rebecca and plenty of other characters. But they earned their happy endings.

Also is it just me or is how I'm writing now heads and shoulders above how I started? I only asked because someone reviewed one of the earlier chapters and I can't help but remember some of the things that I did back there that make me slap my head while shouting "what was I thinking?" Anyone remember the railgun mishap? Seriously, in hindsight Fighting for a Purpose looks like garbage to me, and the early half of this story looks pretty bad too. In a way I guess that this is a good thing, it's a sign that I'm maturing as an author. It's kind of looking forward to From the Ashes, a chance to start fresh and avoid my usual potholes, a chance to try new things. Well, I'm done talking your ears off.


	103. Earned Peace

Chapter 103

Earned Peace

Author's Note: Still winding down here, this might take a couple of chapters. I have been using this time to work on From the Ashes a little bit but it's still coming along kind of slowly. Also I had an AP exam to take, which is kind of why this chapter took so long, but that's over now and school is pretty much downhill for me from here. Also I'm surprised that no one caught what I was referencing in the last chapter's title, but oh well.

XXXXX

Tali gently raised the glass of non-alcoholic Turian brandy to her lips and gently sipped it. It tasted all right, it was nowhere close to the original unaltered version, but at the moment she didn't care. She relaxed back into the chair that she was sitting in, which was placed around one of the many tables in the night Club Purgatory, gently closing her eyes.

As the many lights that the club was emitting leaked their way past her eyelids, she heard Joker poking fun at Jacob followed by the sound of flesh hitting flesh, she heard Kelly and Dr. Chakwas chatting happily in-between sips, and she heard Damon and Crystal whispering to each other so silently that she couldn't make out the words. A slight smile made its way across her face. The war was finally over and they had all made it. There would be no more fighting. None of them were going to die.

Her line of thought was interrupted as someone non too gracefully slumped into the chair next to her, causing her eyes to snap open as she jolted forward in her seat. "Heyy Tal," Taylor slurred, holding a glass of white Asari wine in one hand as he attempted to prop himself up with the other. "Hows it going? Ya look lonely over her all by ya self. Why dontcha come over with the rest of us?"

"Taylor?" Tali said, surprise heavy in her voice "are you...drunk?"

"Wha? Nah," he slurred, "I'm just a little...I'm only a little," he hiccuped, "ah, who am I kidding, yea, I'm wasted."

"You...you've always stopped yourself before you went too far before, we both did," Tali said, still feeling shocked by this sudden turn of events. What happened?"

"Well," Taylor began, raising the glass of wine to his lips and draining the last of it, but not before spilling a good chunk of it down his front. "I just got outa the hospital, I kinda thought that serum 15" he shook his head "no 16 was gonna shave a couple a years offa my life, Suky is dead and the wars over." He hiccuped again. "I guess I was kinda excited and I got carrying away. Oh and I got in...into a drinking contest with a Krogan...I didn't win."

"Carried," Tali corrected.

"Wuh? What'd I say?"

"Carrying."

"No'd I" he hiccuped, "no'd I didn't."

Tali placed her glass on the table in front of her as she felt the urge to laugh slowly build up in front of her. "I think you've had enough for tonight."

"Wha? What'd you know? I can handle...I can handle one more, I'm not that-" his sentence was interrupted as his free hand slid out from underneath him and he fell forward, smacking his head on the front of the table. "Ok, maybe you're right."

Tali covered her mouth with one hand as giggles began to leak out. "Hey, I just thoughta something," Taylor said, putting his empty glass down and pushing himself back up with both arms and some difficulty. "How'd Quarians do any drinking with the freaking evro suits?"

A little surprised by the sudden change in subject, Tali replied as she continued to resist the urge to laugh. "We had to do it very carefully. It was tripled filtered and we had to drink it through a special straw."

"An, emergencyyy induction port," Taylor said, slurring his words again.

A small squeak of laughter escaped Tali before she bit her lip. "No Taylor, just a straw with an end customized for feeding into our suits."

"Yeah, emergency induction port," Taylor repeated.

'Keelah he's not making this easy for me,' Tali thought.

"And ya know what?" Taylor said, raising his voice slightly and putting on a more serious tone...or at least trying to, "Idont care what any bitchy...bitch says about ya. Yer gonna be a great mom."

Once again, Tali was surprised by the complete change in subject, but a small smile crossed her face. "By de way, why in the Blasto the Spectre movie does the he try to shack up wiff his partnurs sis? He's a freking jellyfish n she's a elephant. How the freak does that work?"

Tali finally gave up as she crossed both arms on the table and buried her head in it, roaring with laughter. It flew completely over Taylor's intoxicated mind that she was laughing at his drunken antics. "I know right? What, does he f-" another hiccup, "freaking probe her?"

"I have no idea Taylor," Tali managed to force out between gasps of laughter.

"An anover ting," Taylor continued, his slurs becoming thicker, "What were the Reapers pissed off aboot? Why were they so pissed? I think I knows why."

'Oh Kellah help me.'

"Ya know how all of da Council people thought that A.U.s...sorry, A.I.s were the Dev...the Dev...well bad? I think dat other species wuere like that, so one race built the cuttlefish to kill orgen...orgun...fleshy people, cuz A.I.s would kill us all anyway. And the Citedel?" he exclaimed, throwing his arm around him, "Its de control center, theres an A.I., he kindu lookss like the god kid from 2001 a space odyseey, and he controls the Reapurs, nut itsss symnbolic of...of...of...Jesus how drunk am I?"

"Your IQ drops every time you open your mouth, that's how drunk you are," Tali remarked, chuckling softly. "That has got to be the stupidest thing that I ever heard, the Reapers kill us because synthetics will just kill us anyway? That's like me saying I should just kill myself because I'll die someday anyway, and besides, I think that the Geth proved that peaceful coexistance is more than possible. Honestly, who would come up with an idea that stupid?"

"I dun't know," Taylor slurred, "itud be like you and me dooing a deal with the Dev...the Dev...Satan, and hedd agree to brung yourr aunt back in echange for our marriage."

"But we're not married yet, and you mean my father right?"

"Whu? Oh yuh yuh, your pappy, hes an ok guy. He...he... He's aight"

"Wait a minute, go back, what was that about our marriage and my father? And who is Satan?"

" Hes kindu uf a evil god. I sud that hed wunt ur marriage your you're dad's life. Kindu sounds like somting outa a bad story huh?"

"That's an understatement," Tali said, stuck dumb by how absurd Taylor's idea was. "Why would a person even consider putting that in a story?"

"I dunnno," Taylor slurred, "Married peoples aren't interesting?"

"...Really?" Tali asked, her voice completely deadpan. "Married people aren't interesting...you know Taylor, you and I are going to cross that line in about three months, and let me say something from experience, the further you go into a relationship, the more intense and exciting it gets. Anyone who thinks that single people are more relatable to those who are married is a completle moron, heck, two people getting married in a story would be the height of their own personal arcs, why would you want to go backwards? It makes about as much sense as that god child you talked about earlier."

Taylor gave a low hoarse laugh. "You're a sweetheard ya know," he managed to gurgle, "sometimes I think...I think." Taylor's voice trailed off as he slumped forward onto the table with a soft thud and began to snore loudly.

Tali exhaled deeply, glad that she didn't have to hold back any outbursts of laughter anymore. "You know, were the circumstances a little different, I'd probably be sitting right next to you and drinking until I started to babble like an idiot too. Aw well," she said, chuckling softly, "this wouldn't be as funny if I wasn't sober." She gently patted Taylor on the back, "Next time Taylor." Throwing her head back, she drained the last of her brandy. "Well, I suppose I should get you out of here, can't leave you passed out in a bar...well I guess I could, but I doubt that your parents would approve." Taylor snored loudly. "Right," Tali said, grabbing Taylor's arm and hoisting it over her shoulder. "Come on 'Tyrant's End'."

XXXXX

Liara smiled widely as her fingers danced across her omni-tool, holographic images and walls of text constantly appearing and reapearing. "Liara?" The Asari archeologist shook her head and glanced to her right. She was sitting at the bar in Purgatory, a full glass of wine in front of her that she had yet to touch. Rebecca was sitting right next to her, and Neriena to the right of her. "Are you going to actually have a drink while you're here?"

"Oh, Goddess that's right," Liara said, turning her attention to the glass in front of her, "we're supposed to be celebrating aren't we?"

"Uh, yeah we are," Rebecca said, looking a little exasperated, "you've been burying yourself in your omni-tool every since we got back here. What are you even looking at?"

"The data that Atom gave me on the Ancient Human Empire."

"STILL!"

"Oh Rebecca you have no idea how amazing this is!" Liara said, positively gushing, "I have thousands of years of history and culture at my fingertips, every sentence that I read is something that has been buried for an eon. In all of my time digging through Prothean ruins, I never even dreamed that I would find something as groundbreaking as this."

Liara eagerly went back to her omni-tool, not even touching her drink. Rebecca let out a soft groan and buried her face in her hands. "You know you really should have seen this coming," Neriena whispered into her ear, "when someone her age goes into a field as complicated and demanding as archeology, you know that she's going to put her heart and soul into it."

"I know," Rebecca muttered, "she even asked me to be her assistant and get my own doctorate."

"Well then you shouldn't-wait WHAT!" Neriena shouted, "you're going to do what?"

"Crap, forgot to mention that didn't I?" Rebecca muttered, "yeah, I'm going to be working with Liara in the field for a couple of years and then write a thesis essay."

"My daughter is going to be a college girl...I like that," Neriena said, looking at her daughter affectionately.

"Did you know that ancient Humans used to have a tradition where a champion of each planet would mate with another in an attempt to create the ultimate warrior?" Liara asked.

In response, Rebecca grabbed the shot glass that was sitting in front of her and downed it all in one shot. "Another," she said, looking at the bartender. As she did, she found herself looking not at the Salarian that had been serving them when they had arrived, but instead a purple skinned Asari was standing behind the bar.

"Human whiskey was it?" she asked, her voice sounding rather dry. Rebecca nodded. "Did I hear that you and that Maiden over there are going to be hopping around the Terminus systems poking around ancient Prothean ruins?" the Asari asked as she poured Rebecca another drink.

"That's the idea."

"And I take it that you're going be keeping a watchful eye on her, right?"

"Of course I am," the Russian said, sounding taken aback, "wait a minute why do you even care?"

"Huh?" Liara said, looking up from her omni-tool. "Oh, Rebecca meet Matriarch Aethyta. Aethyta I already told you about Rebecca and Neriena."

"You know her?" Neriena asked, looking surprised.

"Yes, she tracked me down a couple of days ago. We had a few drinks and talked. She had quite a bit to tell me as it turned out...although I wish that she had kept a couple of those things to herself."

"And who is she exactly?" Rebecca asked.

"Oh, that's right I haven't told you yet. She's my father."

"I...I...wuh?" Rebecca spluttered out, glancing back and forth between Liara and Aethyta, looking completely lost. "But...that means that...her...and Benezia..."

"Ah, Nezzy," Aethyta said fondly, "Best thing that ever happened to me. She was the smartest and kindest Asari that I ever met." She grinned "And boy did she have one hell of a rack."

Liara blushed deeply, "that is one of the things that I wished that she had kept to herself."

"Sorry kid, I just prefer to remember the happier aspects of her." Aethyta's face took on a saddened expression, "I still can't believe that I thought that she actually did all of those things of her own free will. The whole time I thought that she had become a different person, but she was a slave..." she shook her head. "She's in a better place now, no one can hurt her anymore." She gave a weak smile, "thanks for telling me that again kid, it...it really helped."

Liara smiled, "Don't mention it dad."

"So, tell me more about your special lady friend here," Aethyta said, "has she had any trouble with your blood rage yet? Ever headbutted her by mistake?"

Liara turned a dark shade of blue. "I've told you before it doesn't work that way," she hissed.

"Uh, the Human is confused," Rebbeca said, "what blood rage?"

"What, Liara didn't tell you that she had a Krogan grandfather? It's in the genes you know. I was just asking if you know that every once in a while she might feel the overwhelming urge to beat the crap out of something or headbutt someone."

"That isn't how it works!" Liara practically shouted, "You're not half Krogan, you are 100% Asari, a Krogan was simply used to randomize half of your genes, all of which are completely Asari!"

"I don't know kiddo," Aethyta continued, a smug grin appearing on her face, "I had a kid with a Hanar once and I swear I had to get her more drunk than your ODST pal over there to get her to swear."

"Wait, who's drunk?" Rebecca asked, before Neriena cut over her.

"A Hanar? How does that even work, do they use tentacles to-"

"NO!" Liara bellowed, slamming her fist on the table and causing a few drops of her drink to jump out of the side, landing on the table, "we are not talking about that!" Aethyta continued to grin, while Neriena's face darkened slightly as she muttered an apology under her breath.

"So," Aethyta said, turning to look at Rebecca, "I'm not getting anything out of the kiddo, tell me a little about yourself. Is Liara your first?"

"Um," Rebecca said, rubbing the back of her neck, "second actually, a couple of years ago I was with a Human woman, her and I were pretty close but...things got complicated. We're still friends though."

"An experienced one eh?" the Matriarch said teasingly, " and one that knows how to handle a breakup well. My girl knows out to pick em Wish Nezzy and I had gotten off that easy."

"What happened between you and her?" Neriena asked.

"She was on the rise in Asari politics and that was eating up more and more of her time and energy. Also she needed to be single for that. When you're a woman or an Asari you need to be single to get people to listen to you. It gives you an aura, makes you more appealing because everyone thinks if they can play their cards just right they can get into bed with you.

"That's not true, people listen to me," Liara stated.

"There's a couple of oddballs every generation," Aethyta said dismissively. "Then again you probably get that from me. I'm not a very good Matriarch, I tried to tell people what they needed to hear instead of what they wanted to hear. I said that we should've built our own Mass Relays and forged our own path through the stars, instead they laughed at me." She gave a laugh, "and what do you ya know, it turns out that the Mass Relays that we were using were pass produced by a race of sentient machines that want to kill all organic life for no known reason." She gave a sadistic grin, "Sooner or later, I'm going to have to report to the Matriarchs about what happened here. Oh, this is gonna be fun."

"Sounds like you're looking forward to it," Neriena said.

"You should know how stuck up our leaders can be, for centuries they told me how stupid my ideas were, and now I've gone uneniable evidence that they were wrong? You but your sweet blue ass I'm going to enjoy it. Of course they'll probably try to 'dismiss'," she made airquotes with her fingers, "it, but the looks on their faces will be pure gold. I imagine that your Captain will be having a similar session with the UNSC's vice president. He's just as bad as they are, and he doesn't even have the 'I'm 1000 years old, therefore I automatically know best' bullcrap."

"Makes you wonder what would happen if you stuck them in the same room as a Krogan Battlemaster."

"Lock an Asari Matriarch in a room with a Krogan Battlemaster," Aetheyta said slowly. "Well there's something for the bucket list. Speaking of which, I heard that you two jumped on that ship of yours and took off to Illos without authorization from the UNSC, Hell, without authorization from any government."

"Sometimes can talk your way out of problems, but sometimes you need to use less...subtle measures."

"Wow," Aetheyta said, chuckling slightly, "you really are my daughter. But then again you are a quarter Krogan."

"You're doing that on purpose." Liara said defensively.

"What? Noooooooooo, I'm doing it by accident," Aetheyta said dryly.

"Goddess," Liara muttered, instinctively grabbing her drink and taking a sip.

"There you go," Rebecca said, giving her an encouraging pat on the back. "Loosen up a little bit, we did the freaking impossible and we're here to celebrate."

"Can't help but wonder if you're trying to get her to loosen up," Aetheyta said, winking slyly at Rebecca. "Trying to get my girl so drunk she has no idea what you're doing with her?"

"What?" Rebecca shouted, her face turning a dark shade of red "I would never even...how could you even think!"

"Oh don't get your panties in a bunch, I was just playing," Aethyta. "Yeesh, sometimes I forget how sensetive some people can be when they're not a hundred years old yet."

"Tell me about it," Neriena sighed.

Aetheyta turned to look at the Matron, an interested look in her eye. "What did you say your name was again?"

"NO!" Rebeca shrieked.

XXXXX

"You ok?"

"For the tenth time Garrus, yes. You can stop asking me now. No offense but I was killing vicious alien warriors with my bare hands before your father was even born, you don't need to check up on me every five minutes." Both Garrus and Jane were sitting on a couch in the corner of Purgatory, each of them holding a glass in their hands.

"I guess you have a bit of a point, I guess I've just been a bit worried about you ever since Virmire. You took Jun dying pretty hard."

Despite what Garrus was talking about, Jane smiled. "Thanks for thinking about me, but I'm all right Garrus." A mischievous look crossed her face, "after all, I have a new Noble Team backing me up now." As she spoke, she took her right hand off of her glass and raised it up to eye level, showing the back of it to Garrus. The gray symbol of Noble Team had been tattooed onto the back of it.

"When did you get that done?" Garrus asked, looking surprised.

"Not that long ago," the SPARTAN replied, raising her glass and taking a sip, "today in fact. I just thought that since all of you guys got them just to cheer me up, getting my own was the least that I could do."

Garrus grinned, "well I'm sure that the others will aprreciate it once they see it. When were you planning on showing them?"

"Not today, I prefer to tell them when they're all a little less intoxicated. Also every purchase they're making here is coming out of my wallet, that's enough presents for one day."

"Fair enough I guess, they can-" he trailed off as he looked more closely at the drink Jane was holding in her hand as she raised it to her lips and took another sip. It was a light green and Garrus knew he had seen it somewhere before. "Jane," he said uncertainly, "is that...ryncol?"

"Hm?" Jane said, glancing at her drink, "oh, yeah it is."

"I...but...how are you handling that stuff?"

"Uh, hello?" Jane said, raising her right hand and waving it in front of Garrus' face. "I think we just discussed this."

"But...that damn stuff was made for Krogan. Are you saying that SPARTANs can handle that?"

"Yup," Jane said bluntly before tilting her head back and draining all of the ryncol in one gulp. "We really can't get drunk, our metabolisms are through the roof. We'd die of too much fluids before we died of alcohol poisoning. Besides, it's not that bad once you get used to it."

"Lucky," Garrus grunted, sipping his own drink.

Jane smirked and was about to reply when the two of them heard a voice. "Are you...Commander Shepard?" Both of them turned to see a man in his mid thirties with blonde hair and a beard standing in front of them, looking eager.

"It's Captain, but yes, I'm Jane Shepard," the SPARTAN said warmly. "Can I help you?"

"Can you help me?" the man asked, sounding incredulous, "can you help me? More like can I help you! Oh my God it is such an honor to meet you ma'am, I've been following the Normandy's story ever since you stopped Eden Prime from being glassed, evacuating Feros, saving tens of thousands of lives on Haven, stealing vital intel at Galnu, striking at the heart of the Coalition at Virmire, and ending some of the galaxies greatest threats at Illos and right here on the Citadel."

Garrus raised an eyebrow but Jane smiled in amusement at the man's ramblings. "Well, I have to say it's nice to meet a fan Mr..."

"Verner, Conrad Verner," the man said excitedly. "Oh man, I still can't believe that I'm talking to you in the flesh, and with Garrus Vakarian too, the Spectre that told the Council where they could stick it."

"I don't recall that happening," Garrus remarked, "still, it'd be an interesting way to retire."

"Listen, Shepard, I don't want to waste too much of your time but now that I've found you I need to talk to you about something."

"You've got my attention Conrad, fire away."

"Ok, listen. No one in power has admitted it but everyone's talking about what you and everyone else on the Normandy did. Millions if not billions would've died if that Forerunner fleet hadn't stopped the Reapers. The galaxy needs people like you."

"Your point?" Jane asked, looking slightly confused.

"I heard that a RSN Assault Carrier got the Normandy to a dry dock. They'll have to completely replace the engine and do other major repairs but it should be space worthy again in six months." Conrad grinned widely, "I was hoping that you could let me join up with your crew, I could do some real good on your ship."

Jane looked interested. "I'll think about it, have you served with any Spec Ops units?"

Conrad's grin faltered, "ah...no."

"ODSTs?"

"No."

"Marines?"

"Nope."

"Army?"

"No."

"Militia?" Conrad shook his head. Jane stared at him. "Do you have any combat experience at all?" she asked, despite having a good idea what the answer was going to be.

"I...no."

Jane sighed as she placed her glass down and got to her feet. "Conrad, why do you want to join up with us?"

"Because you're doing things that no one else can, I want to be a part of that, I want to make the galaxy a better-"

"Conrad," Jane said, holding her hand up in front of him, earning silence from him. "You don't have to be a soldier to be a hero."

"What are you talking about? I hear guys bragging about what they did in against the Coalition every day I walk around the Citadel. I want to be like them, I want to be like you."

"Conrad, that's very sweet," Jane said honestly, "but I don't think that you're thinking this through very throughly. I've been serving for more years than I care to count and I can tell you that it isn't easy. It's a tough demanding duty that requires you to put your life on the line and even if you live it can very easily break even the toughest of men. You tend to hear it glorified a lot but it's nothing like what you see in the movies or hear in stories."

"But...I go everywhere and I keep hearing people bragging about the badass things that they've done. I want to be a hero like them."

"Conrad, I'm going to be blunt with you," Jane said, "those people? They aren't heroes."

"But, the stuff that they've done, it's amazing Shepard, I've only heard more impressive things from you."

"I didn't say that they weren't good soldiers," Jane corrected, "I said that they weren't heroes. Men and women that dive into the depth of battle for the sake of glory and fame aren't heroes, they useful and valuable but I would never credit them with that title. Real heroes don't kill for personal satisfaction or to get their names on the news. Real heroes kill to protect their families and their people, even at their own expense, and they exercise one trait above all others. Humility. I've had the honor of serving on a ship fill of heroes, and none of them are full of themselves like the pretenders."

Jane gave a small smile. "So many people misinterpret army life and the concept of war. Every generation you get a under layer of idiots who think that joining up, getting a rifle and shooting people that look at you funny is their sole purpose in life. There are so many people that do great and amazing things that save thousands that have never touched a weapon in their lives. There are hero soldiers, but they're hard to find, there are plenty of them, but you have to dig through the ordinary soldiers and the ones that place their achievements on their shoulders for the world to see and joined up simply to prove how awesome they are. Some of them aren't even soldier material and get crushed under the pressure of military life, simply because their heads will filled with adolescent level delusions."

"I'm...I'm not sure what you're trying to say," Conrad said, sounding confused.

She gave Conrad a comforting pat on the shoulder. "I'm trying to say that joining up with the armed forces isn't a decision that you should make lightly, you need to do it for the right reasons and you should only do it if you're ready to handle it."

"I...oh you're right," Conrad said, sounding defeated. "I could never be anything."

"That's not what I said," Jane said comfortingly, "everyone has something that they're good at. Concentrate, there must be something that you're good at doing. Anything?"

"Well...I did write my doctorate on xenotechnology and dark energy integration," he said hesitantly.

"See? There you go, you can...wait what?"

"You're a doctor?" Garrus asked, disbelief heavy in his voice.

"Yeah?" he asked offhandedly, "why?"

"I just...never mind," Jane said. "Xenotechnology and dark energy integration huh? You think that you could work with the Mass Relays?"

"I...I think so. Why?"

Jane gave a grin as she brought up her omni-tool, typing out a message. "With the whole Reaper mess the Council will be scurrying to figure out exactly how the Mass Relays work, maybe even how to build new ones. They'll probably ask for the help of just about every galactic power that's willing to lend support. You should get a message from ONI in a couple of days asking for your professional help on the matter."

"I...work with...Captain Shepard recommended me...YES!" he shouted, "You won't regret this I'll do the best job that I can. Damn, I better hit the books and refresh my memory." Without another word, Conrad turned and sped off, the biggest grin you would ever see on his face.

"You know, if a Mass Relay explodes it takes an entire star system with it," Garrus pointed out, "you sure you want that guy playing around in one?"

"He'll be fine," Jane said, "ONI will run a background check to make sure that he was telling the truth, and even then they'll start him out in non-volatile areas." She smiled, "besides, he seems like a nice guy. I'm glad that he's off doing research instead of signing up to be cannon fodder. Even with the war over I doubt that we would rise to much. He's putting his talents to good use this way."

"He's a doctor...a freaking doctor," Garrus muttered, draining his glass. "What's the galaxy coming to?"

XXXXX

Author's Note: For the record when I wrote Taylor's lines for this chapter, I just did everything that I could to butcher the English language, I didn't try to give him an accent or anything, if you saw that, it was just a coincidence.

Also I want to talk about something, I saw the new Call of Duty trailer recently...hm. It looks like they might actually be changing things up, bringing innovation into the series to keep it fresh. I've heard a couple of promising rumors, but sadly that's all they are, rumors. I have no idea how good Black Ops 2 will be, maybe it will completely revive the Call of Duty series or maybe it will be the same stuff that we've seen before, nothing new. I don't know, all I know is that with Halo 4 being released a week before hand, EA losing millions in stocks and there being countless angry Mass Effect fans, with a possible revolutionary Call of Duty coming out things are going to get interesting. It may be a long shot...but if Activision plays their cards right, JUST RIGHT, they might be able to deliver a killing blow to EA. The Battlefield series has been a long time enemy of theirs and I don't think that a lot of people are happy with EA right now ... November is going to be interesting.


	104. Extra Chapter: What Could Have Been

Extra Chapter

What Could Have Been

Author's Note: I have had a lot, and I mean A LOT of ideas for this story. Sadly I did not get a chance to use all of them. The story is simply massive and I couldn't find a place for all of them, realized that they wouldn't work, or I came up with ideas that I was thought were better. Since I find myself being very lazy, the chapters are coming out very slowly, so to break the ice I'd thought that I share this with you, think of it as filler. Well, here you go, what could have been, in no particular order.

There was originally going to be another faction, the New Covenant. It was supposed to be a faction that started when a massive UNSC and a massive Covenant fleet got caught in an ion storm and crash landed on a remote isolated planet, with regular ion storms blocking all communications from going off world and there is too much damage to their ships to repair their slipspace drives.. They two sides were forced to work together to survive, establishing agriculture and industry on the planet. Eventually, the hatred between the species began to fade away and a new generation began to spring up. Eventually they managed to redevelop slipspace travel and get off planet only to discover the modern state of the galaxy. They would welcome members of all species to join them, but still had the smallest armed forces of all of the factions.

Originally (this is where the original new origins was going) the Empire was supposed to be covertly supporting Saren's operations, only to be revealed halfway through.

Marton was supposed to be Tritus' father and not his brother, what is more Xeron was originally going to be Tritus' son.

Xeron was originally supposed to be little more than a wild animal that had to be put in a cryopod in between missions. Only Tritus could control him.

Tritus was originally a far less complex villain, I planned to originally make him a standard Jiralhanae villain.

Marton was originally supposed to follow the Normandy crew on their journey from a distance, subtly helping them until revealing himself in a climatic fight.

I had originally toyed with the idea of a Marton/Samara pairing, due to their dark pasts and being forced to kill their children. It would've been a very asexual one though to avoid...size issues.

Sukron was almost a one shot villain, I nearly killed him off in his infancy on Feros.

Originally Taylor was going to be captured by himself, and he was going to spend an extended period of time cut off from the rest of the Normandy crew. He was going to manage to escape from the ship he was being held on and grab an escape pod and escape to the planet below...which was in the middle of an ice age. The arc that followed would juggle Taylor evading Sukron as he obsessive hunted him and trying to survive in the winter wasteland.

I had toyed with the idea of Tali or Liara getting raped/nearly raped. I dropped this one when I realized that I was nowhere near talented enough to write such a serious thing.

Originally, Elizabeth was supposed to find a 17 year old boy on the Cerberus station. He would be a SPARTAN created by Cerberus, with all of his memories wiped to make him more susceptible to brainwashing. He would have his own personal arc of jumping around the galaxy trying to find out who he is while Miranda was given command of five other SPARTANs to hunt him down. He would form a Mother/Son relationship with Jane.

Originally there was going to be a final battle with the Flood at Halo, but that really didn't work out when I started planning out the final battle, it would suffer from arc fatigue among other things.

An ONI agent introduced on Sanctuary was originally planned to be a major character.

Originally Liara was going to be the one that took Serum 16 to fight the Acolyte, but then in became clear that I was going to have a showdown between Taylor, Tali and Sukron, so I moved that idea.

Originally the final battle between those three was going to be an inversion of the first one, with Tali cutting off a body part to help Taylor.

I had planned on there being a confrontation between 00 Clarifying Atom and the Catalyst in which the Catalyst entered the computer system of Atom's dreadnaught and Atom trapped the thing onboard and detonated the dreadnaught. I decided not to because I shouldn't have to kill off one of my characters to deal with another one that MAKES NO SENSE!

I had planned on Cerberus attempting to assassinate President Richards and him being killed/wounded and putting Udina in charge. Canned because I couldn't really find a way to make it make sense.

Originally Ramos was going to have a complex backstory involving his involvement in the Human-Covenant war, namely the thousands of Humans that he killed.

I had an idea where the Reapers would try to attack Earth, only for Empire forces to defend it with everything that they could. The point of this would have been to smooth out interspecies relationships and prove that they could work together.

Originally Sukron was going to be a generic Jiralhanae grunt.

I had an idea where Tritus would redeem himself by sacrificing himself to wipe out the Reapers, using a Forerunner weapon of mass destruction.

Originally the shield was going to have the last surviving Forerunner (I CAME UP WITH THIS IDEA BEFORE JAVIK WAS ANNOUNCED!) He and millions of Forerunners were put into status so that they could launch a counterattack once Halo had been fired. The A.I. In charge of the facility was given two directives 1. Do not let any outside forces harm any Forerunners, 2. Do whatever is needed to keep the Forerunner race alive. The A.I. Interpreted these directives in a very twisted way. It shut off the life support of all but the one Forerunner, reasoning that if it had to spread out its sentinels to protect a million pods, there would be a higher chance of hostile forces being able to slip through. He would also plan on never letting the one Forerunner leave, reasoning that that way the Forerunner race would never go extinct. Jane and co have to break him out.

Originally I had planned on making Sarah get together with Kal'Reegar.

I had planned on making Sarah die on Galnu, but I decided that it was a tad bit cliche, and that Taylor's emotional breakdown would be even more shocking if he did it even though his sister was still alive.

I had planned on killing either Crystal or Damon on Haven, but as Yahtzee once said (in fiction couples only seem to get together at the end or exist so that one of them can get killed off) and I decided that it was too cliche, so I killed his surrogate uncle instead.

I had planned on making Mornith attempt to seduce Rebecca, only to be saved by Samara and Liara.

As a said in an earlier chapter, I had planned on making an enemy mine between the Flood and the Alliance, but I dropped it when I realized it didn't make much sense.

Originally Taylor and Tali were supposed to get their daughter mid story because Rason used blood samples from Sukron's knife because he was bored and decided to try and preform cross species reproduction, trying to replicate the Asari method. He would be forced to abandon the child early in its growth and Taylor and Tali would find it and adopt it. I canned it because I said it out loud and realized how silly it sounded.

There was originally going to be a character on Feros who was in his 80s wore a cowboy hat, drank, smoke and was a freighter pilot. He would have given off vibes of Dizzy from Gears of War and would have helped in the evacuation of the colony.

Originally Rebecca was going to have a Sole Survivor background (people who read the first version of this story should already know this)

Originally I had planned on killing Garrus, I bailed on this idea when I realized that killing Jun would work better.

Originally the UNSC was going to work with a crime ring that operated out of Sol's asteroid belt.

Originally there was going to be another married couple, a hyperactive 5'2 woman and a mute 7'0 man with a taste for heavy weapons and a tendency to snark silently (hand gestures). They would have awkward moments but overall would be very loving.

I came up with a bizarre idea for a mirror universe (this was for a sequel) where the Jiralhanae Empire is the last bastion of freedom against the tyrannical UNSC, RSN and Council. The Batarians, Geth and Krogan would all be slave races fighting for their freedom, most of the good guys would be bad guys, Taylor would be an asshole autocrat and Tali would be his personal slave/bodyguard (They loved each other but in a really fucked up way) Rebecca and Elizabeth were bounty hunters, Garrus was a ruthless Spectre who enforces the Council's brutal laws, Jane would be a brainwashed super soldier, Damon, Sarah and Crystal would be dead (Taylor killed them for the family fortune) Marton and Tritus would be Bash Brothers, their sister would still be alive and be a beloved public speaker, Marton's girlfriend would also be alive and be a kickass Action Girl, Saren, TIM and Benezia would all be freedom fighters. But my favorite part about this mirror universe that made me really REALLY want to write it? Sukron, CHAMPION OF JUSTICE! He overacts, suffers from Chronic Hero Syndrom, is kinda goofy and reads bedtime stories to orphan children.

I had an idea where after Taylor used Serum 16, he more or less launched a suicide attack on Sukron, badly hurting the guy but taking heavy damage himself. Tali would then try to help him, preventing further damage to him and actually killing Sukron, but not before he mortally wounded her. Taylor managed to get her to safety only to be informed that she wouldn't make it. Tali only smiles at Taylor and whispers that she's just glad that he's still alive. Taylor bites his lip and just nods stiffly, swallowing the truth. After she passes away he starts to cry, saying out loud that she died for nothing. When someone berates him for saying that, pointing out that he was still alive, he shouts them down, roaring that his organs felt like that they were tearing themselves apart from the side affects of Serum 16. He would shout that he KNEW that he was going to die the very second he felt the affects of the drug and was going to sacrifice himself to protect Tali, only to have her sacrifice HERSELF to protect him. He had been putting on a strong face so that she wouldn't know that he was dying. He then collapses to the ground, puking up blood, and dies on the spot. I canned this because DAMNIT I LIKE HAPPY ENDINGS! I'll level with you, this is a form of escapism for me, I get depressed sometimes and writing cheers me up. Writing HAPPY stuff cheers me up, writing and reading depressing stuff gets me even more depressed, which is why I don't like reading or writing depressing stories/endings.

Author's Note: Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. I may add more later on. I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible I promise.


	105. Consequences

Chapter 104

Consequences

Author's Note: Well, I'm glad to see that the last chapter was fairly well received. I am kinda making the transition into humor and character development, with a bit of fluff here and there. I'm still kind of working my way towards an end goal, but it's coming up. This story (sadly) isn't going to be around for much longer. Well, let's get going

XXXXX

Tali let out a sigh of content as a stream of hot water hit her, soaked every part of her naked body. She was standing in the shower of one of hotels on the Citadel, which the UNSC had paid for. With the Normandy out of commission for half a year, her crew had needed a place to stay until a new deployment or a new ship could be found for them. It was not very clear which one would happen, the UNSC had not decided exactly what to do with them yet, so for the moment all of them were staying at hotels, assisting in the restoration of the Citadel when they had the time, helping repair the damage done in the battle. In reality though, there was not much for them to do, so this deployment felt more like a vacation, and a well deserved one at that.

Tali blinked as she looked up at the nozzle that was still spraying water at her, a smile breaking across her face. 'We could never do anything like this on the Flotilla,' she thought to herself, 'it'd be such a waste of water. We had to use scrubbers in our suits to get clean. It wasn't that bad but…Keelah this feels good.' She reached forward and turned a handle in front of her, causing the jet of water to die as she pulled back the curtain and stepped out of the shower.

"We really have come a long way," she remarked as she picked up a fluffy white towel and began to dry herself off. "If I had done that ten years ago, I would've received a demotion and three days of extra work. Now it's just plain insignificant. We've finally reached the point where we don't need to keep track of water and ration it out as a species. I feel so...so free."

A silly grin crossing her face, she wrapped the towel around her waist and slid open the door to the bathroom, walking into the hotel room that she shared with Taylor. As she crossed the room to find a fresh pair of clothes, she spotted Taylor lying face down on the bed, still fully clothed and moaning slightly. "You all right?" she asked, stopping by the bed and crouching down.

Taylor winced at her voice before pushing himself up into a sitting position. "Not so loud," he whispered, rubbing the side of his head.

"Ah," Tali said, understanding in her voice. "Hangover."

"Yeah," Taylor whispered, "feels like there's a steel pipe sticking out of my skull."

Tali gave a small shrug. "Well you did do a fair bit of drinking yesterday."

"No kidding...a freaking star child? What was in that stuff?"

Tali laughed. "Oh I remember that. Makes me wonder how many of your brain cells are dead right now."

Taylor winced again. "Please Tali I'm begging you, keep your voice down," he pleaded.

"You really went overboard didn't you?" she asked, respecting his wishes and speaking more quietly. "How much did you drink last night?"

"Hell if I can remember everything's a little on the fuzzy side." He gave a slight groan as his head throbbed in pain and began to massage both of his temples. "Never again, never freaking again."

"Drink some water, it'll help," Tali said, spotting her clothes neatly folded at the foot of the bed. She reached down and grabbed them, her grip on the towel slipping as she did, causing it to fall to the ground. Taylor blinked as he was granted a full frontal view of Tali. "What?" she asked as held up her clothes, "it's not it's nothing you haven't seen before," she said teasingly.

Slowly, Taylor reached for Tali's with his right hand, causing her to roll her eyes in slight exasperation. However, he did not touch the part of her body that he was expecting. Using his thumb, he gently traced a thin white circle on her chest. The scar from where Sukron had pressed his flamethrower nozzle into her. Taylor found his eyes drawn to the rest of the scars that matted Tali's body. "I'm sorry," he whispered hoarsely.

She blinked. "For what?"

"I was in command when we were told to take out that plasma cannon. It was my job to keep everyone safe, including you. Instead I got six good men killed and I forced you to go through this." He hung his head slightly in shame. "I'm sorry."

"Taylor," Tali said, sliding a finger under his chin and gently lifting his head up. "You're honestly as bad as me when it comes to blaming yourself for everything."

"I know but I-"

"You did everything that you could," Tali said comfortingly, "nobody blames you for anything that you did. Thousands of people were saved when we destroyed that turret and we were ambushed by something that we couldn't possibly see coming. Men die in war Taylor, it's a sad truth. All we can do is make sure that their sacrifice counts, and we sure as Hell did that. Sukron's dead, the Empire is gone, the war is over."

"Besides," she said, touched Taylor's face and gently traced the thin white lines that coated it. "Everything he did to me he did to you too, you're so concerned about what he did to me that I sometimes think you forget what he did to you. Don't blame yourself. You don't need to apologize to me for anything, you don't need to apologize to anyone."

"Thanks," Taylor rasped out managing a weak smile. "Sorry about that, the booze loosened my lips a little."

"Didn't I just say that you don't need to apologize to me for anything?" Tali said playfully as she sat down next to Taylor and gently pulled him into a hug, which he happily returned. For a minute they simply sat there, enjoying each others presence. The moment ended when someone knocked on the door.

"Just a minute!" Tali called out, quickly dressing herself. "I'll get it," she whispered to Taylor.

"Good," he mumbled, crawling to the end of the bed and burying his face in a pillow. "You do that," his muffled voice said, "I'm going to sleep this hangover off."

Smiling, Tali crossed the room to where the door was and slid it open. She found Ashley standing on the other side, her cybernetic eyes glowing a bright blue. "Oh, hi Ash, how can I help you?"

"Actually your parents asked me to come by and drop off a message," she began, before noticing a fully clothed Taylor lying on the bed. "He had a few too many?" she asked, earning a nod from Tali. "Nice going Winters!" she called across the room, causing him to wince again.

"Voices, down please," he rasped, raising his head up and craning his neck to look at Ashley.

"Anyway," the Major said, turning back to face Tali. "You know that place where you two wanted to tie the knot? That nice hotspot on Sanctuary?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Turns out it's a little more booked than we thought, so we had to move the wedding to an earlier date so that you wouldn't have to wait a year.

"How soon?" Tali asked, not certain that she wanted to hear the anwser.

"From today?...two weeks."

Tali had been expected the date to be soon, but she had not expected that it would be THAT close. "T-two weeks?" she stuttered.

"I know, I know," the other woman said, putting her arms up, "but there was no other time available. Besides, we were able to make all of the arrangements, everything should go off without a hitch." She patted Tali comfortingly on the shoulder, "besides, all proceeds go to UNSC veterans remember? You two are supporting a good cause."

"I know," Tali whispered, "it's just...nerves."

"Just remind yourself that what you're feeling is an irrational impulse created by hormones. The second everything is said and done and you're standing in front of that altar; you won't even remember why you were so worried."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. I gotta say this is going to be one weird wedding with you two splicing together a Human and the Quarian ceremony. And is it true that the minister is going to be-"

"Oh yeah," Tali said, grinning widely, "I'm having a hard time believing it myself, but it barely took any convincing."

"That'll be a sight to see. Well, catch you later Tali, try giving drunky over there a prairie oyster. His taste buds won't appreciate it that much but his head will." With that, Ashley left. "By the way, don't forget to write your wedding vows!" she called over her shoulder.

Nodding and closing the door, Tali turned and walked back to the bed, sitting down on it next to Taylor. "Did you catch all of that?" she asked gently. Taylor grunted and pushed against the bed, repositioning him so that he was on his back, nodding stiffly. "Wow...I didn't think that this was going to come so quickly."

"Nervous?" he asked, his voice still hoarse.

"Yes, but not as much as I was. I'm a little worried that something might get messed up but for the most part I've accepted it." She flashed a smile, "I was the one that asked you after all."

"Do me a favor and try not to mention that to anyone else. Like I said, when Humans propose the man tends to do it to the woman."

"And that STILL makes no sense. Seriously? Women never propose to men in your society...ever?"

"Men TEND to propose to women. It's not unheard of for it to happen the other way around. It's just uncommon and weird...not to mention it's a little embarrassing for the guy."

"Awwwwww, are you embarrassed that I had to be the one to propose?" Tali asked teasingly."

Taylor managed a weak grin. "I admit that part of me wishes that I had got there first, but I'm ok with the way that things turned out. Besides, if I wanted to propose to you I would have had to fork out a couple thousand credits for a ring."

"What is it with you Humans and spending so much money on the most trivial of things when it comes to weddings? Thousand credit dresses, thousand credit rings, what's next? Thousand credit cakes?"

"The cake will probably only cost a couple hundred credits."

"Oh for the love of Keelah!" Tali exclaimed, "WHY!" Taylor winced as she shouted. "Sorry," she hastily apologized. "Why?"

"Mainly because it's supposed to be the most important day in a couple's life, they day that they become bonded to each other for life. People tend to not hold back with stuff like that, in fact they tend to set aside money for occasions like this."

"I guess I can respect that. I disagree with it to an extent, but I can respect it. Although I have to say for some people that would be the most important day, I have to say it's not really for us?"

Taylor blinked in confusion. "How do you figure?"

A gentle smile crossed Tali's face as she gently rubbed her stomach, the faintest of bumps visible. "Our's isn't going to come for around six more months."

Taylor mirrored her smile. "You're really growing into this whole parent thing aren't you? Wish that I was as confident."

Tali shrugged, "I guess that when I had time to sit down and really think about it, the pros completely dwarf the cons. I've been getting regular checkups and everything is going smoothly, no complications. So frankly, I'm glad this happened to us." A mischievous look crossed her face, "I still spammed Atom with Joker's porn collection though."

"You're evil."

"I know."

XXXXX

Rason let out a low groan as he hunched over a terminal in a dimly lit room in the Imperial Palace, black skies and stars visible out of a nearby window. With Tritus and the rest of the Supreme Commanders dead, and with Marton, Tesueg, and Rutherforae having being out of the picture for a decade, he was the only one who had a core understanding of the status of the inner workings of the people of the Empire, or rather the Confederacy as it was called now. Marton was busy piecing together the new democratic government, and while he and the others were doing that, Rason had volunteered to put out fires and do damage control that needed to be done as a result of the end of the Empire. He had regretted this choice almost at once.

Growing in thinly veiled anger, he continued to type, causing another document to pop up on the screen. "Request to establish brothels on Kalnar, will greatly increase revenue, moral, and create a new tax that will greatly assist in reconstruction, further positives include...WHAT IS THIS!" Rason roared, nearly smashing the terminal in rage. He had been picking away at the massive amount of requests, petitions, bills and complaints for months, but even in all of that time he had barely been able to put any dents in it. He would not have minded it that much but so many of the topics that were brought to his attention were just so STUPID!

"A brothel?" he hissed, "we nearly avoided extinction, and someone's main concern is legalizing prostitutes!

"You sound as if you are having some troubles." Rason turned in his chair to see Marton approaching him.

"I am starting to think that you started your revolution simply to avoid politics. If so, it is not exactly something that I can blame you for," Rason growled, turning back to the terminal. "I swear, everything that I have read in the last six hours is positively dripping in idiocy."

"You sound like you could use a little time off," Marton remarked.

"I would love nothing more than to do that, but if I leave this the way that I found it I will never finish it," Rason replied, quickly signing off approval for the brothel before bringing up another document.

"When your mind is tired your judgement is dulled and you began to make questionable choices. Resting now will beneficial to both you and to the Empire, it is basic-"

"I know how the body works Marton," Rason snapped, "I was conducting surgery on wounded veterans before you were even born." He gave a sigh, "I suppose that you are right," he said, turning off the terminal and getting to his feet, "it will be counterproductive if I break something while I am supposed to be working, and my temper is certainly reaching that point.

Marton chuckled as Rason got to his feet. Gesturing with his cybernetic hand, he headed to a thick wooden door, Rason right behind him. They two of them stepped out into a balcony of the Imperial Palace, thankfully on one of the lower sections where the oxygen was at a healthy level. It was overlooking a massive city that the Palace was at the middle of, a massive sea of bright lights and barely visible people.

"When I left, Capital City was half this size," Marton remarked, gazing at the urban jungle below him. Turning his head to look up, he stared at the Imperial Palace, which stretched upward toward the heavens. He couldn't see the top from where he stood. "And construction on the Palace had just started. I always told Tritus that it was a waste of resources and that he would never finish it."

Rason chuckled, "You were not the only one. The day he presented the idea to the rest of us I nearly laughed. A starscraper, not even the Covenant built something like that."

"They built High Charity," Marton pointed out, "and it dwarfs the Palace."

"That was different, High Charity was a starship and operated within the confines of space where it was not restricted by gravity. Besides, the Prophets used a massive chunk of their homeworld and a Forerunner keyship in the construction of High Charity, both of which we lack."

"You have a point," Marton remarked, "still, he managed to build all of this."

"He did. He did so much for our race, he took us so far from what we used to be, bands of tribes fighting over every last resource."

"He did not take us far enough though," Marton remarked sadly. "He ruled through oppression and military force. The only way the he could make our kind safe was to declare war on the galaxy." Marton shook his head in shame, "He thought that he was saving us all, but he was just a pawn being used by the Reapers. He did not even know."

"Do you think that he would have acted differently if he had known?" Rason asked.

"Yes, though I must admit I do not know how. He would have joined forces with the Alliance to fight off the Reapers, but it might have only been a temporary truce."

"His time has come and gone," Rason said, the faintest hint of regret in his voice, "dwelling on the past will only bring pain and suffering, we can only learn from our mistakes and move forward. The two of us know that better than anyone." He looked at Marton, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Tesueg and Rutherforae, the other day...they...they told me what happened all those years ago...why did you not tell me?"

"How could I?" Marton replied, "Back then what I did was standard, the only thing that separated me and other warriors is that I broke after the battle. Besides...you taught me everything that I had known back then."

"Marton, if there is one thing that I have learned over this past year, it is that even those with the most brilliant of minds can be wrong, wrong in very serious situations. You should not believe everything that you are told, question everything."

"So if you were to tell me the color of the sky I should question that?"

"Fakon," Rason said as they both chuckled, "Very well, question any action that affects your life in a major way, are you happy now?"

"To a degree." The two of them continued to look out into the city, a massive freighter flying overhead to a nearby dock. "Why do you think the Reapers wanted to kill us all?"

"I do not know," Rason answered honestly, "Geth and Smart A.I.s are as different as day and night and they were both built within the last millennium. The Reapers were easily millions of years old, I am not sure anyone could understand the thinkings of something that ancient and that alien."

"It does not make much sense. Machines are not supposed to be affected by things such as anger and hatred, they act out of logic, unless they are Smart A.I.s, and from what I know of the Reapers they do not seem to be like that."

"I understand your confusion, the Geth only attacked the Quarians out of self defense and I suspect that Sovereign did something to tamper with the programing of the Heretics. The Reapers lived in comfortable isolation and attacked species that did not even know of their existence, some of whom even embraced synthetics as equals." Rason shook their head, "Perhaps their motives were so complex they were beyond our understanding or perhaps they were pathetically simple. I suspect that we will never know."

"That may not be a bad thing," Marton remarked. A moment of silence passed between them before he continued. "We have a rather daunting challenge ahead of us, the Krogan are under our rule now, with no Genophage restricting their birth control rates, we must find other ways to keep them from rampaging across the galaxy. I think I may know a way."

"Really?" Rason asked.

"A person conquers to acquire what he wants but does not have, I suspect a primary motivation for the Krogan attacking other planets is the poor state of their homeworld. If we can dedicate enough resorces to its reconstruction, with Wrex's help we may be able to pacify them. We will have to build entire cities on the surface though, we will need the finest architects that we can find though."

"I may know someone who is up to the job. He is young and a little naive, but I think that he can get it done."

"Can he?" Marton asked, sounding interesting, "what is his name?"

Rason was about to reply when a delicious scent reached their noses. "Is...is that...Thornbeast?" Rason asked, his mouth beginning to water in spite of himself.

"It most certainly is," Marton answered. The two of them glanced to the far end of the balcony, which was fairly long, and spotted two Jiralhanae sitting at a massive table, a steaming Thornbeast in front of them. Marton and Rason quickly crossed the balcony and saw that the two sitting at the table were Tesueg and Rutherforae.

"What are you two doing out here?" Rutherforae asked, looking at them in surprise.

"Admiring the view," Marton replied, "what about you?"

"Having dinner," Tesueg replied, pouring himself a tankard of ale, "although we have enough beast and drink for two more if you wish to join us," he remarked, pouring two more tankards as he did.

"That sounds...very pleasant," Rason said honestly, as both he and Marton sat down.

"Wonderful," Tesueg said, putting down the jug of ale and reaching for the thornbeast, grasping for the ball of muscle located under the smallest thorn on its back. It wasn't there.

Looking up, he glanced at Rutherforae, who flashed a toothy grin as she held up the ball. "Not this time," she said, tossing it into her mouth and quickly chewing and swallowing it.

"A pity," Tesueg said, "but there will be other days."

"There are more important things right now. For the first time in a decade the four of us stand beside one another again," Marton said. "We have put our dark past behind us, now let us move forward," he raised his tankard, "to the future."

"The future!" three other voices called out as their tankards collided with his before all four were tilted, the refreshing liquid trickling down thirst throats.

XXXXX

Lotan grunted as he lifted up a metal beam from a pile of wreckage, heaving it onto his shoulder. Turning around, he walked to a Pelican that was hovering near a ledge, stopping in front of it. With a grunt, he slid the metal beam off of his shoulder and into the open bay of the Pelican, two Marines in Victory class armor helping. "Ok," one of them said, looking at the inside of the Pelican, which was packed with rubble, "we're not going to get any more in, we'll have to have the rest for another trip."

"Could we not use another dropship?" Lotan asked, "we had five at the start of the day."

"They all used, they got pulled because the Council prioritized getting the Presidium fixed up.

"But they are already overstaffed."

The Marine grunted, "Don't remind me. I swear, sentient machines from beyond the rim of the galaxy pop up and the damn politicians still can't pull their heads out of their assess. They're too obsessed with how things look instead of how they work. The Presidium is a glorified office, that's all."

"What am I supposed to do then? It will take you at least half and hour to unload all of that rubble and return, what am I to do until you return?"

Both of the Marines looked at him in surprise. "Dude, you've been working non-stop since morning, I think you've earned a break. Grab a bite to eat or something. Hey, buy the way, are you Lotan? Guy who infiltrated Metal Fist and leaked the coupe?"

"I am, why do you ask?"

The Marine looked uncomfortable and rubbed the back of his neck. "Never thought I'd say this to a Brute but...thanks for everything."

"Pardon?"

"My wife and son were here on the Citadel when the Coalition hit. We didn't know that that was going to happen and I couldn't get them off in time. Loyalist forces stopped Coalition forces from getting to the section that they were in. They're safe and sound on Reach right now but if you hadn't done anything they-"

"They would have been fine," Lotan interupted. "Rason would have been able to piece together what Sukron had done and would have allied himself with the Alliance anyway. You should be thanking him."

The Marine grinned, "still, I heard that you might have saved his life."

"I wounded a single operative, Rason had killed countless more just like him moments before hand."

"Jesus man you need to learn to take a compliment," the Marine said, hitting a button and causing the door to the Pelican to close. "We'll be back in 45 minutes, get something to eat while we're gone!" he called before it closed and the Pelican turned and took off.

Lotan frowned as he raised his arm and activated his omni-tool, activating a holographic map of the Citadel. He, along with countless others, had volunteered to assist in the reconstruction of the Citadel, which had taken a large amount of damage during the Coalition's attack. He had spent the last couple of weeks cleaning the wreckage in the lower wards, occasionally putting up a new bulkhead, but for the most part focusing on disposal.

"I am not sure if there are many restaurants that will serve me," he muttered, "and even if they do, the Citadel is still recovering from the battle, especially this area. They may not be willing to satisfy a Jiralhanae's appetite." Shaking his head, Lotan spotted a nearby restaurant on the map. He deactivated his omni-tool and began to walk.

As he did he he passed other workers repairing the damage that had been done to the station, only a few of them Jiralhanae. Many of them looked up at him as he passed. Most of them went back to their work without a second thought, a couple of them waved at him, but several of them jeered at him, cussing and making a gesture that he was certain was meant to be insulting. He could not honestly say that he was surprised, even if the Jiralhanae had assisted in fighting the Coalition and the Reapers, the hatred between species was too deep to simply disappear overnight.

"Stop!" a voice shrieked. Lotan wheeled to a halt and saw that a massive section of wall was being held up by a biotic field. Glancing in the direction of the origin of the voice, he saw a woman in a naval uniform with a biotic aura around her hands. "Sorry!" she shouted apologetically, moving the massive piece of metal into a massive pile that she had been forming and letting it fall onto it, "I didn't want to accidentally hit you with it."

"It is quite all right," Lotan said politely.

"So what are you doing down here? Helping out with the reconstruction? I thought that most of the Jiralhanae were heading back to their home territory. I heard that putting down Sukron's grab for power left a lot of damage, structural and economic."

"It is true, it did," Lotan remarked, "but I cannot help but feel that I should not be so quick to return to the safety of the core territory just yet. I have never seen alien culture up close before besides that of the Kig-Yar and Yanme'e and I do not feel like passing up this chance to observe new and interesting things so quickly. By the way I do not believe that I know your name yet."

"Ensign Oriana Wells," the woman said warmly, "you?"

"Lotan, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"You too Lotan. Hey, you said that you were sticking around to get a look at alien cultures, were you looking at anything speceific?"

"Architecture," the Jiralhanae remarked, looking up and catching a glance of the ring at the center of the Citadel that bound all of the arms together. "I hope to one day become a well known architect," Lotan looked slightly embarrassed as he continued to talk, "it is partially a life long dream of mine to build entire cities. There is something...appealing about the prospect of bringing massive structures to life."

"Well, that isn't exactly a goal that's easy to reach, you would need a good deal of education before you could even-"

"Oh, I am a university graduate," Lotan remarked, "I studied architecture and engineering."

"I...what?" Oriana asked, looking shocked.

Lotan allowed himself a faint smile, "I suppose not many aliens even knew that the Jiralhanae had an education system. Truth be told for the longest time we did not, it was one of the changes that came about during the reign of Tritus."

"Fair enough," Oriana asked, still sounding surprised, "but it sounds like it's really difficult to major in two different subjects, unless you feel like studying for a really long time."

"From what I understand, us Jiralhanae do things rather differently from Humans. Your institutions teach you a variety of things no matter which field you base your career around, history, biology, mathematics, all sorts of things. Jiralhanae education tends to specialize, we focus completely on one or two subjects. It has its benefits considering that we can manage enough time to complete our studies in two subjects in a reasonable amount of time, but on the other hand we tend to only be good at what we learned and are usually useless at everything else." He gave a sour grimace "And that is if a Jiralhanae even makes it that far in their education, many do not due to a lack of money or because they wish to peruse an early career, or because they wish to join the military. I suppose that I myself was prey of that particular pitfall."

"Why did you join the armed forces anyway? Were the Jiralhanae desperate enough to throw whoever they could spare at the Alliance?"

"No, I was not a conscript, I volunteered. I was working at a power plant on Altena...when the Alliance attacked. I...I helped in the fighting, I even helped drive them off planet. After...after that I felt...awful. I...I had never killed before."

"Are you ok?" Oriana asked.

"I am fine. I...I do not like to think about the people that I have killed. I...I do not like violence."

The young Ensign's eyes widened. "I...well that's a first," she whispered. "But if that's true then why-"

"I ask myself that same question," Lotan interrupted, "I witnessed horrible acts that day being committed on both sides of the conflict. But...many of my friends lost their lives that day, along with countless people that I never knew and now never will. I...I could not simply walk away after seeing that, I could not simply hide away while brave warriors sacrificed themselves to protect our homes." He gave a weak chuckle, "That probably sounds silly."

"No, no it doesn't" Oriana said sternly. "In fact I think I know what you mean. Every day since the Galactic War started we just got more and more bad news, a planet got glassed, a ship got blown up, a family was massacred. Left right and center people were dying no matter how hard we tried to stop it. My day job could hardly have been considered important, and I was always on the sharp side if you don't mind me bragging, so I joined the navy."

"It appears that we have some similarities," Lotan remarked with interest. "Tell me more about yourself."

'Sharing my life story with a Jiralhanae, there's a sentence I never thought I'd string together,' Oriana thought as she opened her mouth and began to share more about her experiences in the war with Lotan.

Author's Note: I want to hijack this AU to speak directly to my fans. Recently I was browsing along the web when I came across a page about a guy called the Amazing Atheist. I'm probably behind the times with this guy but bear with me. I read the page and what I found wasn't pretty. The guy uses foul language, insults everyone that doesn't agree with him, and flat out made rape threats to a rape survivor during a particularly heated argument. Seriously! It's people like this who give other Atheist bad names and I hate people like him with a passion, the only difference between him and religious fundamentalists are which side of the debate they're on. But this isn't about him. Reading about this guy made me think about another person that has gone too far and needs to learn some self control. Myself.

I don't really treat you guys with the respect that you deserve. You're the best fanbase that a writer could ask for, you put up with my badly revised schlock, my half self insert characters living out my stupid juvenile fantasies involving kicking ass, being a hero and getting together with my favorite LI Tali, my just plain silly stories, my infrequent updates, and my temper. I swear way too much in my Author's Notes, I go on way too many rants, I lack self control and overall I'm kind of an asshole. I just wanted to say sorry for all of the crap that I've put you guys through and thanks for putting up with my nonsense. If you think that I haven't been treating you very well, leave suggestions for how I could improve my behavior. Sorry for everything.


	106. Long Awaited Day

Chapter 105

Long Awaited Day

Author's Note: Just want to explain about From the Ashes. 1. Yes the Reapers will not be the antagonists, I got really lucky with this story and was able to find a way to fit thing together smoothly and make it a true crossover. If we had the Reapers for enemies From the Ashes, it would have degraded to a team up crossover, which doesn't provide much for story. Also it's kind of like Master Chief in that shoehorning them into the story seriously limits my options. 2. The Lone Wanderer did not find Mothership Zeta nor do the Coalition have it. Frankly, Zeta was...well it was kind of silly and combining its technology with that of Fallout and Mass Effect would have been a pain, and introducing an entire new race would have messed up my plans for the plot. The thing about crossovers is that if you make one side too powerful, things get boring, and that's what would have happened if I gave the Coalition Zeta tech. I plan on working it in later where I can properly explain things, but for the moment, no one has made contact with it. 3. The first chapter is just a rough glance at the universe of the story, I didn't cover everything that is going to be in the story. I can't give you everything at once, so to everyone wondering about artificial Humans and A.I.s and robots, calm down, we'll get to those topics later. And...that's it.

Oh just a second "Reads reviews for the last chapter" Have I mentioned that I've got the best damn fanbase on ? I did?...screw it I'm gonna say it anyway, I couldn't ask for a better fanbase than you guys. Seriously, you are what made writing this possible, your words of encouragement are what makes me keep booting up pages and adding a couple thousand words to this beast. Thank you, thank you for sticking by me for so long. All right, enough of the sappy stuff, we need to move on to...more sappy stuff.

XXXXX

"So...it's finally come to this," Taylor remarked, gently tying off a piece of lace at the back of Tali's dress. The Quarian woman was wearing his mother's pure white wedding gown while he himself wore a dark tuxedo.

"Yeah," she said softly, turning around to look at him, it has, hasn't it?"

Taylor nodded, "You scared?"

"A little bit. You?"

"Drop dead terrified," he answered honestly.

"I know the feeling," she said, rubbing her arm nervously, "I feel like we should be confident, not worried about anything but...I can't help myself."

"Like something is going to go horribly wrong even if you can't think of a way that's even possible?"

"Exactly...I don't know it's impossible to explain why but...this feels too good to be true. After everything that happened, the war, Sukron, the Reapers, all of the horrible things that happened, it...it just seems impossible that it's in the past now. Is that how you feel?"

"There's a couple of other things but that's defiantly at the top of the list." He gave a nervous sigh. "You know, just sitting in here stewing in our own sweat is only making this thing worse."

"I know...let's...let's just get it over with all ready."

"Yeah," Taylor said, gently leaning in and pecking her on the lips. "Love you."

Tali managed a weak smile. "Love you too." She allowed herself a slight smirk, "and Human weddings think that the bride and groom shouldn't see each other before the ceremony. We would both be blithering messes if we had gone with that idiotic idea."

"Let me tell you, this is a Quarian tradition that I don't mind at all...well...they're waiting for us." Taking a deep breath the two of them approached the door to the room that they were in and pushed the door open. They door opened to a wide green meadow on Sanctuary on a bright sunny day. There was a brown dirt path in front of them that let straight to an white archway where the minister was standing, rows of seats on either side of the path.

The ceremony was a hybrid of Human and Quarian traditions, as apposed to most Human weddings where the bride walked down the aisle by herself or with her father, Quarian weddings didn't even have an aisle to walk down, the couple simply presented themselves to the minister, never being separated from one another. They had compromised here as they had in many places, both of them walking down together.

The air seemed heavy around them as they continued forward. Out of the corners of their eyes they spotted the faces of their friends and families, all of them focusing on the young couple. They spotted Sarah flashing them a thumbs up, Crystal dabbing at her watering eyes with a tissue while Damon held her, and Sirona looking on with a wide smile on her face.

After what seemed like an eternity, they came to a stop in front of the minister, who glanced back and forth at them, looking nervous. "Are...are you sure that you want me to be the one to do this?" came a barely audible whisper.

"Of course," Taylor replied, "it's one thing that we both didn't have to think twice about."

"Besides, you look good in a navy uniform Jane."

The SPARTAN grimaced at the two of them, glancing down at her pure white dress uniform. "I feel like I'm naked," she whispered.

"It's...pretty conservative Jane," Taylor remarked.

"That's not what I mean I'm not used to being out of my-" a loud cough reached the ears of the three of them, sounding as if it was coming from Garrus. "Oh crap that's right, I'm supposed to be marrying you two," Jane said, her face turning the same shade of red as her hair.

The two of them nodded as they turned to face each other, their hands finding each other. Jane began to recite the speech that the she had written before the ceremony, having been given the blessing to do it herself. "We have all gathered here, as brothers and sisters, to celebrate the union of two of our close friends, Tali'Zorah and Taylor Winters. They walked the same barren and brutal path that most of us did but they did it leaning on each other for strength. They endured trial after trial, experiencing the loss of loved ones and agony that far too many of us are familiar with. They looked death in the eye and did not walk away from it unscathed."

"But now, those days are behind us, they are behind these two that stand before me. The time of despair and mourning has passed, it is now the time of joy celebration, the time of new life. We now cast off the shackles of pain and misery to as two of our own pledge themselves to one another."

Even when the legions of the Coalition rained down fire on all who opposed them, these two managed to find something more. Over time, it slowly grew as they gently nurtured it, a faint ray of light in an endless void. But it now dwarfs what it once was, and what barely cut through the darkness now blinds me with its radiance. This is the day that their relationship reaches its highest point, with us, friends, parents, siblings, brothers and sisters in arms, all here as family, watching two of our members become one."

Jane felt the heat that her face was emitting. She had no idea if the speech was giving was good or awful, she had never been to a wedding before, although she did have a feeling what she was saying was rather on the short side. "The bride and groom will now give their vows," she said, glad to have the attention redirected to someone else.

"It's...it's next to impossible to completely convey how you feel about someone, but I'll do my best," Tali said. "Taylor, you've always been there for me, you've always given me a shoulder to lean on when I needed it, even when you hadn't even known me for a full day. From when we met, every single time I was going through a rough patch in my life you helped me through it. You treated all of it like it wasn't a big deal, everything that you did meant so much to me and it was just second nature to you."

As she continued to speak, Tali felt herself slowly beginning to water up. 'No, oh Keelah please no, not now,' she thought as she forced herself to keep speaking. "I...I always felt so comfortable around you, I could talk to you about things that I couldn't say to anything else and you would always listen. I know you must be tired of me saying it over and over again but y-you have no idea how much that means to me," she continued, her voice cracking ever so slightly. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me Taylor, I love you."

As she finished speaking, Tali bit her lip as her emotions betrayed her and a tear leaked from her eye. "Damn it," she whispered, lifting her hand and wiping the tear away, "I'm sorry, It's just that-"

"Don't," Taylor said silently. Raising her head, Tali looked at him and saw that a pair of tears were trickling down his own face. "Tali, I've met plenty of women in my lifetime, and none of them compare to you. You're kind, sweet, funny, smart and above you're caring. Not so long ago you thought that A.I.s could never coexist with organics, and you had every reason to considering what your race went through, but you were able to admit that you were wrong. That takes a special kind of maturity that not many people have."

"You're the most loyal and dedicated person that I've ever met, you never turn your back on the people that you care about. You don't let people push you around, you stand up for yourself no matter how grim the situation is. You're the strongest and most beautiful woman that I know and for some reason I'll never fathom you gave me the light of day. I love you Tali."

A smile spread across Jane's face. "Tali, do you take Taylor to be your wedded husband? To be with him for the rest of your life? To stand by him and be loyal to him no matter what hardships you encounter?"

Tali honestly thought that she was going to choke, but she still managed to give her answer in a strong clear voice "I do."

"And Taylor, do you take Tali to be your wedded wife? To be with her for the rest of your life? To stand by her and be loyal to her no matter what hardships you encounter?"

"I do," Taylor said, barely stopping himself from croaking the words.

"If there is anyone who has a reason for why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." Jane fell silent, scanning the amassed crowd in front of her, as if daring one of them to actually speak up. "Very well," she said, turning back to the young couple in front of her. "It gives me great pleasure to say this. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss."

Taylor and Tali did not need to be told twice. Slowly, they began to lean towards each other. Tears were now running freely down both of their faces, but they were both wearing bright smiles as they closed the distance. Their lips gently brushed together as they sunk into a soft and gentle kiss. Breaking away, they turned to see the crowd in front of them getting to their feet and aplauding loudly. The Normandy crew, family members, close friends, all of them clapping loudly. Uncertainly, they slowly raised their hands, waving to the crowd, still holding hands with their free limbs. It had been a rather short ceremony, but that had been the way that they wanted it, they had not wanted their special day to be bogged down with purple prose, they had wanted it to be short and to the point.

"Hey, you two feel alright?" Jane asked, stepping up behind the two of them, "you both look a little weak in the knees."

"I...I feel a little dizzy," Taylor admitted.

"I feel a little numb," Tali added.

Jane grinned, "Maybe we should get to the reception then, some food and a dance should help calm you newlyweds down."

"I'd like that," Tali muttered, glancing at Taylor, "you?"

He managed a weak grin. "Sure thing. Tali'Zorah vas Winters." The Quarian blushed at her new legal name. That too had been a bit of a compromise, but one that had left everyone happy. The Quarian word "vas" had meant "of crew" even before the Mourning War. Afterwards, when they had been confined to ships, Quarians had started using the starships that they were living on as a second family name as they were forced to work together for survival, becoming closer as they did. As they did so, the word "vas" began to mean "of family" just as much as it meant "of crew" It had been Tali who had suggested this idea, as her new name would identify her as both a 'Zorah and a Winters.

Still, her new husband's comment earned a slight glare from her, her flushed cheeks ruining the effect slightly.

"All right you two, time to mingle, everyone wants to congratulate you," Jane said, pushing the two of them forward, a wide grin on her face.

XXXXX

Iasa deeply breathed in the cool air that surrounded her before exhaling gently. She was standing in the middle of a grass field on Sanghelios, staring up at the night sky, the two moons, Qikost and Suban, glowing brightly. Behind her stood the 'Cirate manor, a tall impressive building with massive wooden double doors that stood before a massive courtyard. Iasa had been given a leave of absence after the Galactic War was declared official over. She had decided to return home.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Iasa turned her neck to see her mother approaching her.

"I suppose I am," she answered as the older Sangheili stopped next to her and also looked up at the night sky.

"What is troubling you?"

"I am not exactly sure," Iasa said honestly, "I suppose with everything that has happened recently I am having a hard comprehending it all at once. It is a little scary, we have explored the stars for over three thousand years and there are still ancient mysteries that we only uncovered recently. Both times nearly leading to our extinction."

"I cannot argue with you there, the galaxy is far vaster than any of us could have ever predicted," Isonia replied, "nor could we anticipate that we would encounter so many other races, none of them even remotely comparable to another one."

"And we keep finding more and more," Iasa said, her eyes darting from star to star. "It's overwhelming, all of our advanced technology and progress...and we still haven't even explored one percent of the galaxy. There could be other races out there colonizing new worlds as we speak, fighting wars just as vicious as they one that we were just in and we wouldn't know. Races untouched by the Reapers for millions of years.

"You are being oddly philosophical. Is there any reason for that?"

"The...the Rachni made me think about things," Iasa admitted, "it made me think about a lot of things." She gave a weak chuckle, "I suppose you only need to shatter a single fact that is taken for granted in a person's life to make them look at everything differently."

"It is not the first time it happened to a well known Sangheili, and I doubt that it will be the last. I suppose that is a way of life, we break our limits and push forward, establishing new ones before breaking them again. It is how we advance as a species, it is how all species advance."

"It is a little disturbing to know that one day every last ideal that you hold close will be shattered and used as a foundation for a future generation."

"It is a necessity. Look at the brutal lives that we lived during the era of the Covenant. If we had not cast off those savage ways then we could not have reached the more peaceful way of life that we now enjoy."

"I did not say that it wasn't needed, simply that it is rather unnerving. Everything that you and I have ever worked for, all of the blood that we have spilt and the trials that we have endured...in a hundred years we may have been doing it for an unjust cause." She shook her head, "We are one of the oldest races in the galaxy, yet in many ways we are still so young."

"Rather philosophical thinking for one so young." Isonia turned to look at her daughter, "meeting the Rachni didn't just make you think about things a little more deeply, it completely changed you didn't you?"

"I...I think it did," Iasa admitted.

"What were they like?"

"It is...nearly impossible to describe. They don't even talk the way that we do, they communicate through song, talking normally was awkward and uncomfortable for them. It is like how the Asari describe their mind meld but stretched over their entire species. They are many...but at the same time they are one."

"You talk about them like you don't truly understand them."

Iasa shook her head. "In many ways I don't. It as if I caught the glimpse of something far beyond my comprehension and I am trying to put the pieces together." She looked at her mother. "Have you ever felt like this?"

"A few times, when I was born the Human-Covenant War was in it's waning days. I still remember being a child and trying to comprehend how the race that we had been trying so hard to kill was now our greatest ally."

"And not even a century later, the Jiralhanae are reforming, the Geth are peaceful, and the Krogan are pacified. How do you handle so much happening at once?"

"I don't," Isonia said slyly. "I don't let everything overwhelm me because I don't try to take everything in at once. I prefer to focus on the smaller things in my life, such as the successful mission that was just on, or that my crew is preforming above expectations." She gently reached out and put a hand on Iasa's shoulder, "Or how very proud I am of my brave, wonderful daughter." Iasa smiled as she turned to look at her mother. The two of them leaned forward into a brief hug before pulling back again.

"First thing tomorrow morning, we will begin work on the 'Cirate family's Battle Poem. I would say that a couple of your deeds have earned a place on it. So, what should we call you? The hero of the Rachni? The warrior that will always be remember in song? She who defied all who stood around her?"

"Mother," Iasa snarled slightly.

Isonia chuckled, "I am only playing my daughter. Now then, come inside, it is late and a proper warrior does not intentionally deprive them self of sleep."

"Very well," Iasa said as the two of them turned and began to walk back towards the 'Cirate manor. "Those species that I mentioned, those that we have never met...do you think we will ever meet them?"

"Someday, without a doubt," Isonia replied, "our kind will continue to explore the stars for generations to come. And one day, they will write history, just as you have."

XXXXX

With the main ceremony over the reception to the wedding had begun. Tables ladened with a mixture of levo and dextro amino-acid food had already attracted a small crowd of people picking away at it. Speakers were playing gentle synthetic music, creating a pleasant dancing atmosphere. Already a space had been cleared to act as a dance floor which had attracted a handful of people. Rebecca and Liara were dancing, as were Damon and Crystal, even Taylor and Tali were doing a slow waltz that was more of a close hug where they simply swayed to the music, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Jane watched all of this from one of the many tables that had been set up, a smile on her face. "How are you holding up?" Garrus asked, sitting down next to her with a glass of water in his hand.

"Pretty good. No booze?" she asked, glancing at the clear liquid.

"I had my fair share of victory drinks back on the Citadel," the Turian remarked, "besides, it's rude to get drunk at a wedding, especially when you know the bride and groom personally...and when the bride has a shotgun."

"Noticed that didn't you?" Jane said, glancing at the dancing newlyweds. The faintest of bumps could be seen on the small of her back, mostly concealed by her massive dress. Just big enough to be a weapon. "A little paranoid if you ask me, but I can understand her reasoning. They've been getting a fair chunk of negative press, they wouldn't want anyone to crash their special day with the intention of causing trouble."

"What do you mean they?"

"Taylor brought his magnum too. There's the faintest of lumps in his breast pocket. Not to mention even if he didn't bring it he still would have had his biotics. But then again, like I said," the Captain continued, grabbing her right pant leg and pulling it up a couple of inches, "I can't say I blame them," she finished as the material was pulled back far enough to reveal a magnum strapped to an ankle holster.

"I'm starting to feel a little underdressed," Garrus remarked as Jane let the pant leg fall back down, obscuring the weapon. "Well I did bring my sniper rifle but I left it in the car. Can't really hide something like that on you."

"Oh sure you can, you just didn't try hard enough."

"Screw you," Garrus remarked, taking a sip of water. "I draw the line when concealing a weapons means that I have to shove things up my-"

"We're at a wedding," Jane hissed.

"Uh...nose."

"Better," Jane remarked.

"Though I have to admit I just brought it along out of habit. I don't think that we're actually going to need our weapons, I mean who is actually going to try to crash this wedding, even if it is just to be a pain in the rear and-you're going to get a call in the next five seconds about a trespasser aren't you?"

As if on cue, Jane's COM unit beeped. "I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut," Garrus groaned, Jane smiling slightly as she responded to the transmission.

"Shepard, what do you need?"

"Uh, miss Shepard, there is a woman at the front gates who is trying to get in, but she is not on the list you gave me. She is threatening us and you with legal action for 'obstruction of the press' as she claims."

"What's her name?"

"I do believe that it was...Khalisah al-Jilani. Should I let her in?"

"I would prefer that you didn't. Do me a favor and keep here where she is, I'll be there in a minute." Reluctantly, she got to her feet. "If anyone asks I just went for a stroll, no point in running this wedding because of some bitchy reporter."

"I could get my rifle," Garrus offered, "hit her with a concussive shot and stuff her in the trunk."

"I'll keep that in mind, but for the moment I prefer the forward approach," Jane replied as she headed off for the building that was behind them. Walking through the doors, she hastily crossed the expanse of the structure before coming out another door. Iron gates enclosed the meadow that the wedding had taken place in on all sides, the only way to get through was the building that Jane had just exited.

Khalisah al-Jilani was standing out front, her drone floating above her head, three men in suits blocking her way into the building. "Ma'm I'm sorry, we have a strict invitation only policy and you're not on the guest list, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Do you have any idea who I work for? Adam Westerlund owns the fifth largest media company in the UEG, and this is a major story, the son of a war hero and the daughter of an Admiral getting married, we stand to lose millions if we miss out on this, and our lawyers will not hesitant-"

"Thank you gentlemen," Jane said loudly as she walked down the steps in front of the door, eyeing Jilani with a steely gaze, "you've done an excellent job providing for us, I'll take it from here."

"Are you sure?" one of the men asked, turning to face Jane. "Ms. Shepard, dealing with trespassers like this is part of our contract, you don't need to pull yourself away from the ceremony to-"

"Trust me I've got this one," Jane said, "you've done more than enough to uphold your end of the bargain."

"If...if you insist." All three of the men walked past Jane and began to head inside, "just shout if you need us Ma'am and we'll be there in a jiffy."

Jane nodded as the crossed the threshold and closed the door behind them. "What are you doing here?" the Captain asked, folding her arms and glaring daggers at Jilani.

"Captain Shepard, I'm a reporter, it's my job to go where significant events are and report on them, you're doing the general public a disservice by keeping them in the dark," the dark skinned woman said, putting on a fake smile.

"Uh-huh," Jane replied, looking unconvinced, "care to tell me how you knew that this was taking place here? We went out of our way to make sure that people didn't know when and where this was happeneing. We wanted to avoid a media circus and until you showed up we were doing a pretty good job."

"When you've been in the trade as long as I have you learn a couple of tricks."

"Who did you bribe?"

Jilani's face darkened as she changed the subject. "Anyway, as I was saying before you showed up, I am well within my rights to conduct a report on this event, I demand that you let me in."

"Yeah, no," Jane said bluntly, "this is a wedding, it's a private event, I'm under no obligation to let you or anyone else in under any law, local or otherwise."

"But the freedom of the press-"

"Does not equal the freedom to go wherever you want, it's the same reason you can't break into someone's house during the middle of the night, it's trespassing and harassment, both of which are illegal."

Jilani recovered quickly, "Well then, now that you are out here, perhaps you can give me a personal interview," and before Jane could interject, the light on the bottom of Jilani's drone had lit up and it began to record.

"Son of a bitch," Jane swore as Jilani went through her usual introduction, giving her name in location. "I'm going to murder her when this is over."

"Now then, Jane Shepard, Captain of the Normandy I have received reports that you were the minister of this wedding. I must ask, how can you be so eager to support a marriage that is little more than an obvious political ploy in an attempt to strengthen ties between Quarians and Humans on account of the parents of these two being-"

"You know, I had a talk with Tali last week, a Quarian woman with a god complex stormed in on her while she was getting fitted and threw the exact same argument at her." Jane shook her head in disgust, "not only can intruding people like you not come up with good arguments, but the arguments that they can come up with aren't even original."

Jilani flushed slightly but her voice remained steady. "You didn't answer my question Captain."

"I didn't answer your question because I don't like to waste my time on stupid questions," Jane retorted, "but if I really need to spell out the obvious for you then I'll say it. There is nothing political about this wedding, these two met before the Quarians were even annexed by the UEG and even then I could see something sprouting in between them. So unless you want to keep running conspiracy theories by me, I suggest you ask about something else."

"I...certainly," Jilani said, attempting to regain her composure and doing it a little too quickly for it to be natural. "Is it true that the bride is pregnant? I would have thought that if she was getting married that she wouldn't be fooling around with-"

"Yeah, stop right there," Jane interrupted, "I hate to break it too you lady but Tali hasn't been fooling around. That child was conceived by her and her new husband."

A slight smile flashed across Jilani's face, thinking that she had Jane cornered. "Captain, please do not insult my intelligence I-"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"I may not be a science major," Jilani continued, trying to ignore Jane's comment, "but I know that unless a woman is an Asari, she can only be impregnated by someone of her own species. Do you honestly expect me to beleive-"

"Hold that thought," Jane said, holding up a finger with one hand and putting her other hand to her COM unit. "Atom, could you come out front please? Thank you."

"Captain, I am going to have to ask you to be straightforward, why is it that you feel the need to bombard me with obvious lies when the truth is right in front of-" Jilani was cut off as a bright silver orb flew over the fence and came to a stop next to Jane.

"You requested my presence Jane?" Atom asked.

"I...what is that?" Jilani asked, starting wide eyed at Atom.

"I am 00 Clarifying Atom, former caretaker of a Forerunner shieldworld and currently I am an advisor to the leaders of the Galactic Alliance, mainly assisting them in understanding the history of my creators better, as well as attempting to help them understand the workings of the twenty Forerunner starships that survived the Battle of the Citadel." Atom was positively gushing, as if overwhelmed with pride at his accomplishments. "I was requested to attend this bonding ritual, and I must say I was simply overjoyed to have a chance to-"

"Atom, not to be rude, but I need you to explain something to this woman here."

"Oh, of course, what is it?"

"Could you please explain what happened in the shield world when you tried to heal Tali?"

"Ah...yes," Atom said, sounding embarrassed before turning to face Jilani. "You see, the young Quarian woman had been inflicted with a fairly painful burn. I used a ray that I posses to manipulate the cellular structure of her body, causing the cells near the damaged area to multiply at an accelerated rate, healing the damages tissue. However, one of the properties of this process is that any alien cells that were inside the body are converted into a usable form based on the area that they're in. As such, due to events that had taken place the night before, I inadvertently caused Tali's current condition." Atom sounded rather guilty. "I apologized to her but thankfully she did not seem particularly upset with me over my mishap. I am quite glad that we are on good terms now, especially as I was asked to attend this ritual. Admittedly two weeks ago I did receive a large amount of...never mind."

"I...I see," Jilani stuttered. "I...well...Jane I suppose that I should ask about one more member of your crew," she said, trying to make another attack but failing to mask her faltering voice. "There have been numerous rumors about Garrus Vakarian, mainly that he is involved in a romantic relationship with you. I must say-"

"Oh for fuck's sake I have had it with you!" Jane snapped, causing Jilani to flinch and take a step back. "Let me ask you something Jilani, do you viewers know that you seem to make a career off of hunting down a person with the slightest shred of dignity and trying to destroy their reputation by pilling on a couple metric tons of bullshit? You're coming up with the most bizarre and half-assed accusations that I've ever heard in my life, frankly its pathetic, like you're not even trying. I don't know how you can classify this, I guess some people are guess pathetic enough to watch other people fifteen lightyears away get degraded by an obnoxious bitch. Am I right?"

"I...I...I..." Jilani stuttered.

"Yeah. That's what I thought. I think that you should get lost," Jane snarled.

Jilani gazed openmouthed at the SPARTAN, who was continuing to glare daggers at her. Silently, she reached to the side and deactivated her news droid before slowly turning around and walking away. "No, Garrus and I are NOT a couple," Jane hissed under her breath "why do people keep saying that?"

"May I make an inquiry?" Atom asked.'

"Sure, what is it?"

"I have not known you very long, but I must say that your treatment of that reporter does not match with the personality that you established past actions. Why is that?"

Jane shrugged. "It's true that I like to be calm and rational most of the time but sometimes...well what can I say?" She flashed a small grin, "Sometimes it's just fun to be renegade."

Author's Note: With the end of this story coming up I think that I should do something special, especially considering that you guys are so awesome. That's why tomorrow at 5:00 PM EST, I will be hosting custom games on Halo Reach, open party. My gamertag is macdonald210, bring your favorite custom games and maps and we'll have a grand old time...no seriously, unless you want to be bored out of your mind it will be in your best interest to bring some maps and games that are actually good, mine are horrible. It would be helpful if you listed your gamertags so that I know who I'm talking to when we do this. Hoping to see you soon.


	107. New Dawn

Chapter 106

New Dawn

Author's Note: Well the custom games were fairly interesting, it was nice to finally talk to some of my fans personally. I don't think that this story is going to last for more than three chapters, there really isn't much more to write about, so, let's wrap this puppy up.

XXXXX

The Illusive Man raised a cigarette to his lips and gently took a puff. He was sitting in a chair at the heart of Cerberus' secret station. After sending Kai Leng on his mission to recover Miranda, he had ordered that station moved on the off chance that he would escape the Normandy and try to hunt him down. The chances of him finding the station even if it had stayed still were next to zero, but the Illusive Man had not survived as long as he had taking chances. He was looking out at another dying star, this one a bright shade of blue. It had strained his eyes until his cybernetics had adjusted to it and he found it less pleasant to look at then the one at his old hiding spot, but he made do with what he had.

He heard the sound of mechanical gears shifting and looked over his shoulder to see the door opening, Miranda stepping out. "Ah, Miss Lawson," he said, turning back to look at the datapad in his hand, "I'm glad that you could make it here. I trust that you are well? You were very badly injuries the last time that I saw you."

"Thank you for your concern sir, but I am fine. That was almost a year ago."

"Not all injuries are broken bones and ruptured organs Miss Lawson. Some run a bit...deeper." As he spoke, his fingers absentmindedly traced his icy blue eyes, the sensory organs not feeling the contact.

"You...you wanted to speak to me sir?"

"Yes I did. The Galactic War all but destroyed the Blood Pack, either from heavy casualties or members deserting when it was announced that the Confederacy had no intentions of creating a new strain of the Genophage. With their long time nemesis gone, the Blue Suns and Eclipse are making territory grabs. They've managed to get their hands of Empire technology that they scavenged from old Blood Pack bases, or that they bought from Metal Fist."

"Metal Fist? I thought that the Empire was gone."

"You've been out of the loop for some time. Most of the Empire is gone, but a couple dozen Metal Fist ships managed to escape and are hiding out in the Terminus Systems. One major problem with vessels that use Covenant design is that they are very high maintenance and without a government to support them, they will have to make frequent raids to maintain their ships. I suspect that they won't last more than five years."

"Now, as I was saying, with the Blood Pack gone, the Blue Suns and Eclipse are making power grabs, fighting each other over territory that is now open. Recently the fighting has moved to the boarder colonies of the Terminus. We have many uncover operatives and hidden bases in the area and the last thing that we need is well equipped trigger happy mercenaries distributing our operations in the crossfire. We've managed to gather intelligence on the head of the Blue Suns, Vido Santiago, and where he is hiding. I want you to take a team of commandos and eliminate Santiago. With him gone, the Blue Suns will panic and withdraw to their inner territory, which the Eclipse will see as an act of weakness, resulting them in attacking there, drawing them away from our position."

"Sir, how were you able to discover Santiago's location? Our best men have spent years trying to track him down."

"It seems that we were looking in the wrong places. A freelance mercenary that was once a member of the Blue Suns used a couple contacts of his to pinpoint his exact location. We simply had to say that we intended to kill him and he was more than willing to part with the information. All that he asked in return is that we give him Vido's head. Be sure to have one of your men recover it. I'll forward all of the information that I was able to gather to your omni-tool. Do you understand Miss Lawson?"

"Yes sir. But...have you seen the news about the Normandy?"

"Indeed I have," he said, pressing a button at the bottom of the datapad that he was holding, causing the wall of text to be replaced with a news article. "It's finally been repaired and is making a victory lap to celebrate the end of the war."

"Yes, but the ship's course has been released to the public, we don't even need to try to find out where it's going."

The Illusive Man spun in his chair to look at Miranda, looking slightly confused. "I am not sure what point you are trying to make Miss Lawson."

"This is the perfect chance to attack the Normandy. If you can just give me a handful of men, I can-"

"Attack? I...Miss Lawson, exactly why should we attack the Normandy? It is because of that ship that not only where the Reapers defeated, but Humanity now posses a handful of Forerunner ships. Admittedly the UNSC is working with other races to tap into the power of those ships, but due to the DNA locks on them, they will always provide more to us than to other species. The way I see it, destroying a ship that has done that much would be doing Humanity a great disservice."

"With all due respect sir, the crew of the Normandy has humiliated Cerberus. They brushed off our assault like it was nothing. To the galaxy at large, we appear weak for our abysmal failure there, we need to make up for it if we-"

The Illusive Man put his hand up. "Ah...now I understand. You are upset about the mission to capture Frost."

"I...yes, I am," Miranda admitted, "but now we have a fresh opening to get her and-"

"Lawson, that is enough. I can understand that you feel that you need to make up for the attack on the Normandy failing. It is an admirable trait, but an necessary one."

"I-"

"Let me finish." It was not a harsh order, it was a gentle request. "With the formation of the Confederacy, there has been a massive amount of information being traded between it and the rest of the Alliance. While doing so, I learned of the existence of a very peculiar creature." As he spoke, he pressed a button on the armrest of his chair and a hologram appeared between him and Miranda. It was a sickly shade of yellow and was of a man-sized creature with bladed arms, folded wings and red tentacles where its face should be.

Miranda had been trained to conceal her emotions, but even her eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the hologram. "What...what is-"

"It is a Flood, to be specific, a creature called the Acolyte. From what I was able to learn, it is the second in control of the Flood. But what truly disturbs me is unlike the rest of the Flood, the Acolyte has an independent consciousness," he said, pressing another button and causing the hologram to disappear. "The entire basis of our plan to control the Flood was to override the hive mind created by the Gravemind, but with the Acolyte present, another dimension is added. Not very much is known about it, for all we know it posses the ability to override the Gravemind's commands if it becomes compromised, such is the point of a second in command."

"Sir, are you saying-"

"Yes," he sighed, looking very tired, "I have decided to abandon all research on the Flood. All specimens that we posses have been destroyed. I believed that controlling it was possible, but it is clear that the Flood is more complex and adaptable than any of us could possibly know. It is possible that they would even be able to adapt to a cure designed to repel them."

"What is more, recently Elizabeth Conner has resurfaced. Apparently she spent the majority of the Galactic War with the Marauders and is even now a close friend of Marton, one of the new Jiralhanae leaders. Attacking her, or her former lover, could incite the rage of the Jiralhanae and destroy the fragile peace that now exists. Humanity stands little to gain and much to lose from breaking that peace."

"And at the end of the day that's what Cerberus stands for, ensuring the strength and safety of all Humans." He gently took a puff on his cigarette. "The way I see it, Humanity is both strong and safe at the moment."

"But sir I-"

"Miranda," the Illusive Man said, using the operative's first name. "I understand that you push yourself and do not tolerate failure. I also understand that you are ashamed at yourself for failing to capture Frost, but understand this. You are without a doubt the best operative that I have had the pleasure of working with. That little incident barely even qualifies as a blemish on an otherwise perfect record. The mission that I am sending you on at this very moment will cost Cerberus dozens of operatives and billions of credits if it is not successful, I decided to give it to you." A small smile crossed his face. "Don't be so hard on yourself Miranda, you're the best that we have."

Miranda gave a nervous smile. "Thank you sir, I will get right on that. Also sir, what are the chances of us facing causalities?"

"Unfortunately high. Your suggestion to use clones was a brilliant idea. It took care of a labor shortage that Cerberus had been suffering from since it's beginning."

"Well with all due respect sir, our frontline grunts get mowed down rather easily. How else we were supposed to keep getting men if they weren't coming off of an assembly line.

The Illusive Man gave a small chuckle. "I suppose so. Well Lawson, I'm counting on you. I'd say good luck, but then again you don't really need it."

"That's incredibly cliche," Miranda said, smiling widely.

"Then get to work Lawson," he said, a grin spreading across his face.

"Yes sir."

XXXXX

Elizabeth inhaled deeply before letting the breath go, her finger tensing around her rifle. She was lying in a prone position in a barely standing building, one side of it had completely collapsed into a pile of rubble. She was aiming her rifle out of a small hole in the building, her eye glued to the scope as she patiently waited for her target to appear.

She saw a shadow dart across the ground in front of her and she slowly adjusted her rifle, following the figure. "Careful," she whispered to herself, lining up her crosshairs with the creature, "careful...and..." there was a loud crack as she pulled the trigger and a shot flew across the field, smashing into the figure. A loud howl was heard as the figure fell to the ground, motionless.

Grinning, Elizabeth got to her feet and slid her rifle onto her back before making her way out of the destroyed building. She walked towards her target, stopping just in front of it. A dead Varren lay at her feet, blood pooling around it. "Damn, that's a big one," she remarked, grabbing it and throwing it over her shoulders, glad that she had managed to get her hands on a Victory class combat suit. "This should feed some hungry Krogan...maybe two or three." Shaking her head, she continued to walk towards her destination.

After around ten minutes, she smiled as the Urdnot camp finally came into sight. Elizabeth gave a grunt and tossed the dead Varen onto a pile of others that was amassing just outside the camp grounds, around a dozen Krogan standing guard around it. "Jesus, took you long enough. Thought that you got your time of the month out there or something."

Elizabeth fought back the urge to let out an audible sigh as she turned to face Jack. As she did, she did a double take. Jack had drastically altered her wardrobe. She was wearing what could only be described as a biker jacket and long baggy pants. She was also wearing...it was hard to describe them but they appear to be white strips that while they did reveal a fair amount of skin it did admittedly do a better job of covering up her chest than that strip of leather she used to wear. Her hair...Hell she actually had hair now, was what Elizabeth would describe as the bastard child of a mohawk and a ponytail. Also was her chest bigger?...nah, that was probably just a trick of the light.

"Haven't seen you in awhile," Jack said, hopping off of the pile of rubble that she had been lying on.

"Well yeah, you kinda disappeared a couple of days after we took out the Collector base. Where did you even go?"

"Well, I didn't feel like hanging around with a bunch of monkeys for the rest of my life, so I tried to get back to the old grind. Marton stopped me though, something about how since he had been letting me stay on his ship it'd be his responsibility if I quote on quote "committed small scale genocide". Damn ape overreacts, I wasn't going to kill anyone...that would be missed."

"So what happened?"

"He said that he wouldn't let me go and than he would hunt me down if I escaped unless I...went legit." A look covered Jack's face that was a cross between embarrassment and murderous rage. "He talked to some UNSC boys. He...got me a job."

"What was it?"

Jack looked at Elizabeth hesitantly, as if not sure if she wanted to reveal her new position. "If I tell you, will you promise not to laugh?"

"If I do, you can punch me in the gut."

Jack raised an eyebrow in an interested manner. "I like the way that you think. Ok I'm going to be a...be a...be a" she bit her lip as she attempted to form the words, looking as if it was taking her a great physical effort. "I'm gonna be a fucking teacher all right? I'm gonna be teaching little shits how to control their biotics."

"...Why would I laugh about that?"

"Oh come on girl scout, even you can't be that stupid. Me? A teacher? Me? I'd be surprised if I managed to get through a single semester with half of the little brats still alive."

"I'm not saying that it's going to be easy but there's some potential to be had here. You're arguable the most powerful Human biotic alive and biotic implants are getting more and more advanced, which means that kids are going to get more and more powerful biotics. It would make sense to have someone as powerful as you teach them how to keep their powers in check."

"I think you're missing my main problem. I don't play well with children, I don't play well with anyone. Oh I can't just see it now 'mommy what does little fucking shit mean? And why am I one of them?'" she said in a mock high pitched voice. "It's going to be messy."

"First of all, you're going to be teaching teenagers, not kindergardeners. They'll be swearing just as much as you do, if not even more. Also, you don't need to completely stop, just keep it under control." She grinned, "Besides, it might actually be good for discipline."

"Hm, when you put it that way it sounds half entertaining. So what have you been up to girl scout?"

"I've mainly been sticking around with Marton and the others, pretty much doing everything that I can to help when I can. All morning I've been shooting as many Varren as I can, there's going to be a massive feast later today."

"I know, that's why I'm here. Monkey boy actually invited me to it. What's it about again? I stopped paying attention after he told me that there would be food."

"The Confederacy is launching a massive project to rebuild the ecosystem and infrastructure of Tuchanka," Elizabeth said, pointing up as she did. Dozens of Confederacy ships were visible above them, waves upon waves of dropships pouring out of their sides. A couple of the ships were floating just above the planet's surface, using their gravity lifts to unload massive amounts of supplies.

"I've been here a couple of times before, it's not a bad place to hide out, most people don't dare go to a planet where literally everything that moves wants to eat you. Cleaning this place up isn't going to be easy, it's going to take years."

"Marton did say that it was going to take a decade or two, but since Krogan can live to be a thousand that's small potatoes to them."

"Salarian or Krogan, a year is still a year, in other words it's pretty fucking long. Marton's going to have to really butter up these guys if he wants them to sit still for that long." She glanced at Elizabeth. "So quick question, what are you going to do now that the war is over?"

"I think I'm going to be sticking around the Confederacy for awhile," Elizabeth admitted. "I've grown kind of fond of them."

"Hanging around with the gorillas huh?" Jack said snidely, "well, your choice."

"What are Humans doing here?" Both of them turned to see a Krogan with a black crest approaching them, looking angry. "It wasn't bad enough that Wrex is letting Jiralhanae running around Tuchanka with those insects and birds of theirs, but now he's letting Humans running around too?"

"I'm sorry, you are?" Elizabeth asked, glaring at the Krogan, her hand ready to reach for her rifle.

"Urdnot Wreav, rightful owner to the position of Chief, Wrex honestly thinks that he can just come back after all these years and declare himself Chief."

"Last time I checked, everyone was following his orders and not yours so...yeah."

Wreav growled. "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, people die on Tuchanka every day, it'd be a shame if you were to be one of them."

"See that would be intimidating if you were...well intimidating," Jack said, looking a little bored as she began to walk towards Wreav

Wreav's eyes widened in anger. "Are you mocking me?"

"Oh no no nonono...pft, yeah," and without another word, the convict began to glow as she smashed her forehead into Wreav's face. The Krogan let out a cry of pain as he stumbled back and fell to the ground.

"Hah!" Both women looked up to see Wrex approaching them, Marton and a Krogan and a thick blue cloak not far behind. "Thought that the idiot might give you some trouble, seems like you can handle yourself though. Wreav, why don't you actually make yourself yourself useful, go fix a truck or something."

"If he did that he'd probably just make things worse. Let him stick to shooting Varren, it's all he's good at, even if he doesn't know how to tell the difference between the mouth and the ass," the Krogan in the robe said, glaring at Wreav.

Angrily, Wreav got to his feet and marched up to the robbed Krogan, who didn't even blink as he approached. "Watch your tongue woman, Wrex may put up with you but I won't, learn your place if you want to-" apparently the woman did not care for what Wreav was saying, for before he could even finish his sentence she had brought her forehead smashing down on his face. This time, Wreav fell to the ground like a rock, out cold.

"Is he going to be ok?" Elizabeth asked, looking down at the unconscious warrior.

"Hm? He'll be fine. His skull is so thick that it would take a Thresher Maw to crack it," the Krogan said dismissively.

"Even when he was with the Coalition he couldn't rise up that high." Wrex let out a laugh, "and I thought that he would be Chief, turns out that he was still nothing more than a low down grunt."

"I am Urdnot Bakara by the way. Shaman of Clan Urdnot."

"With the Genophage gone we really don't need Shaman to go to the same extremes that they used to. Still, as spiritual leaders go they're damn invaluable, every last one of them. Still, Bakara puts all of the rest to shame."

"I know what you want from me Wrex," Bakara said, looking at the other Krogan, "but it will take a little more than flattery to acquire it."

Wrex shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying." Marton threw back his head and roared with laughter. "Anyway, we were just coming along to see how the food collection was coming along," he said, glancing at the pile of dead Varren. "If we're having a feast to celebrate the beginning of the construction of the first modern city on Tuchanka, we're gonna need as much food as we can get."

"I do seem to recall that Adolas and Tesueg taking down a Thresher Maw, that should provide more than enough food for even the most massive of feasts," Marton pointed out.

"Thresher Maw meat is not the most appetizing of foods," Bakara said, "they spend most of their lives underground and as a result any meat that they produce is rough and tasteless. We prefer only to use it to prevent starvation."

"Besides, they brought it down with a Scarab, which is cheating!" Wrex shouted, "I didn't need anything but the gun in my hand to bring down a Thresher Maw."

"Always going on about taking down a Thresher Maw on foot," Bakara groaned, "yes, you've told everyone a thousand times, we get the idea."

"Are you implying something?"

"If by something you mean that you have a bit of an ego, than yes."

"Why you-"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as Wrex and Bakara continued to bicker. 'Aw well, they'll probably make a good couple anyway.'

XXXXX

"I can't help but wonder exactly who came up with this idea," Shala'Raan said as she turned her head to glance at Jane. " I have no issues with celebrating, especially considering how brutal this war is but...a fifty colony victory cruise? That's just...silly."

Jane gave a small grin. The two of them were standing on a rocky hill on the Quarian homeworld Rannoch. As a celebration for the Galactic War being over, she had been ordered to take what was more or less a victory lap around the UNSC territory along with the rest of her crew. Rannoch had been one of the stops, hundreds of thousands of Quarians had already returned to the planet and were recolonizing it with assistance from the Geth. Shala and Jane had been ordered to check up on the local settlers to see how they were coping and to make sure that they were getting along with the Geth. They had spent the last six hours doing just that. "So Admiral, how does it feel to be on your homeworld for the first time?"

"I'd be lying if I said that I felt like anything except a giddy young girl on her pilgrimage seeing a world outside of the fleet for the first time," Shala admitted, a wide smile on her face. They were overlooking a massive field from the hill that they were on. Already plows were travailing up and down the field, preparing it for seeding.

"You do know that if we had not come here during this little cruise, I would have pulled rank to make sure that Tali didn't come, but I'm not cruel enough to deny her a chance to see the origins of our race."

"Any particular reason why?"

"She's in her final trimester!" Shala practically shouted, "she could give birth any day now!"

"On average though, chances are the kid won't be born for another month. Besides, I have her slatted to a support role, she's only doing work in the engines, very light work. If by some miracle we actually are attacked by surviving Metal Fist operatives or something, she'll be well out of harms way." Jane grinned, "last time I checked she was actually going a little crazy having to slow herself down. She's not the type of person to sit around twiddling her thumbs."

"No she isn't," Shala admitted, "that's why I didn't want her coming, I'm worried that she's going to do something stupid."

"Ah, her husband is keeping a close eye on her. If push comes to shove he can always hit her with a Singularity, it'll completely freeze her but not harm her at all."

"Oh he better not," Shala said darkly, "he may be a decent man but that doesn't mean that I won't hesitate to hunt him down if he intentionally hurts Tali. He knows it too."

"Kind of makes me wonder why you were invited to the wedding."

"Oh, I don't hate him," the Admiral remedied, "in fact I find him to be quite likable. We simply have an understanding is all."

Jane chuckled. "Well, just be careful. I know you care about Tali, but I care about her too, in fact I care about Taylor too, along with everyone else under my command. They're the closest thing that I've had to a family in a long time, and anyone who messes with them is going to find out what happens when you piss me off."

"Tali told me what you did to the woman that held your yeoman hostage. It was brutal but I have nothing but respect for what you did. She threatened your crew and you defended them." She looked at Jane, a warm expression on her face, "you would have made a good Migrant Fleet Captain."

"Don't think I would've, I'm terrible at feeding people bullshit stories and pretending like I'm going something when I'm really not. I'm not a very good politician is what I'm trying to say."

Shala chuckled, "Oh you and your iron wit. I suppose you must have picked that up from Vakarian."

"Comparing my sense of humor to Garrus'! Wow...talk about below the belt." Jane was about to continue when her COM unit beeped. "Yes?" she asked cheerfully. A few seconds passed as the person on the other end continued to talk. "Chakwas, Chakwas slow down I can't understand what you're trying to say...WHAT! When did this...AN HOUR AGO! Is Taylor there?...good, she'd murder him if he wasn't. All right we'll be there, I...Chakwas, anything else can wait until I get there." Jane lowered her and and turned to face the Warthog that she and Shala had taken to get there.

"Where are you going?"

"We...we need to get back to the ship," Jane said hesitantly.

"Why? What's happening...oh Keelah is Tali...is she?" Jane bit her lip and slowly nodded. For a second, Shala was silent. And then, she exploded. "She started giving birth AN HOUR AGO AND THEY ONLY TOLD ME NOW!" she shrieked, causing Jane to recoil. She tore past Jane and within seconds she was in the drivers seat of the Warthog. "Get in!" she shouted at Jane, who hastily scrambled into the passenger's seat as the Warthog took off, heading in the direction where the Normandy had landed.

"I can't believe this!" Shala growled as she pressed down on the accelerator, causing the engine of the jeep to roar as it sped up, "I was worried that this might happen, and now it IS happening, and instead of giving birth in a high budget hospital, Tali is giving birth in the medical bay of a frigate, which only has the most basic necessities!"

"The Normandy's med bay is pretty well equipped actually," Jane said, her voice oddly quiet. "We have more funding than most starships, not to mention Chakwas is one of the best doctors that I've ever met." As she spoke, Shala swerved violently and narrowly avoided crashing into a tree before spinning the wheel again and continuing to head towards their destination. Um...could you slow down a little?"

Shala either didn't hear Jane or ignored her as she floored the accelerator, neatly swerving to avoid smashing into a boulder. "I told everyone that this would happen, even Tali, but did they listen to me. Noooooooo, I'll be fine auntie, I know what I'm getting myself into auntie, you can't protect me forever auntie. How could I let her do this?"

"Uh...Admiral?" Jane said nervously, "I would appreciate it if you slowed down a little- oh God!" she shouted as the jeep ran over a particularly rocky patch of earth, causing the vehicle to bounce violently. "Oh please don't let it end like this," Jane whispered, tightly gripping the sides of her seat as Shala nearly ran over a Geth platform that was doing local recon of soil samples. The synthetic only looked up once as the Warthog tore by before looking back down at the ground and taking another sample.

"You're gonna kill someone!" Jane shouted at the enraged Admiral.

"It was a Geth, even if I did destroy its body, the programs in it would've been safely recovered!" Shala snapped. The vehicle continued to speed forward, the Normandy coming into view as it did.

"Ok, ok we're almost there, you can ease up on the acceleration now Ad-oh CHRIST!" Jane shouted as the Warthog shot off of a small hill, actually remaining airborne for a couple of seconds before landing on the ground. "Son of a bitch," she whispered as Shala neared the stealth frigate, swerving the vehicle violently and parallel parking it a few feet away from the hull."

Jane slumped into her chair, panting heavily as Shala jumped out and sped into the Normandy. "Oh…what the Hell?" Jane said softly, gingerly getting out of the jeep, her legs feeling slightly weak. "And people say that my driving is bad."

Shala stormed through the hallways of the Normandy, heading towards the medical bay. "I honestly cannot believe that I let this happen," she hissed as she approached the medical bay, "how could I be so-"

"Keep your voice down!" said a voice in what could only be described as a loud whisper. Shala turned her head as she was just outside of the med bay and saw a good portion of the Normandy crew standing there, staring at her crossly. "What are you doing thundering down here like an elephant?" Crystal questioned, "she finally went to sleep, you'll wake her up again if you keep this up."

"I apologize for being slightly loud but I am in a fairly stressful situation with my niece giving birth, so I hope that you can forgive me for making a little…wait…what?"

"Wait, what did Chakwas tell you?" Crystal asked, sounding confused.

"Nothing directly, just that Tali had started giving birth an hour ago."

"No…no she didn't," Crystal said, sounding slightly uncomfortable all of a sudden. Tali gave birth an hour ago It started a couple of hours before. We...well it was kind of hectic, everyone was trying to help and afterwards she started crying and everyone was trying to calm her down...sorry, it only occurred to us after everything calmed down that we should tell you and Jane. Besides...you were kind of busy with everything."

Falling silent, Shala gently approached the door to the med bay and opened the door. Dr. Chakwas was standing next to a bed that Tali was lying in, reading a report off of an omni-tool. Taylor was sitting on the edge of the bed that was right next to hers, wearing a bright smile and tears streaming down his face.

Tali looked exhausted. Her hair was matted, there were shadows under her eyes and it looked as if it was a chore for her to simply stay awake. But despite all of that, her lips were curled into a small smile. She was holding a small bundle of purple cloth in her arms.

"Is...is that..." Shala stuttered, feeling as if her voice would abandon her at any second. Tali nodded weakly.

"It's a girl," she whispered, gently moving the cloth that was wrapping the newborn infant. There was a small patch of purple hair already protruding out of the sleeping baby's head. She was a little on the small side and a few stains of blood were visible on her head, but otherwise she seemed to be in perfect health.

"What...what's her name?"

"Nasya'Zorah Vas Winters," Tali said softly. "Would you like to hold her?" Shala nodded dumbly as the infant was gently passed into her hands. As she did so, Nasya was stirred from her sleep. Her eyes opened, blinking rapidly in an attempt to adjust to the light of the room.

"Why...why isn't she crying?" Shala asked, "I've delivered more than a fair share of children and they always cry.

"Trust me Admiral, she had a fair amount of crying going on," Chakwas said, rubbing her ear gently. As she spoke, a speck of dust floated through the air and found its way up Nasya's nose. Almost instantly, the newborn's nose wrinkled and let out a sneeze. As she did, a faint purple aura appeared around her, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

Spotting this, Taylor gave a weak chuckle. "Hey, that's all I wanted her to get from me."

Shala smiled as she gently handed Nasya back to Tali. "She's a beautiful child. You're one very lucky mother."

"I know," Tali said lovingly, looking at her daughter, "I know."

"Hey, maybe somewhere down the line we can have another," Taylor said softly, leaning in to look at Nasya.

"What? Screw around with more ancient alien technology so I can carry another baby around in my stomach for ten months and then go through the agony of birth again? Yeah, I don't think so, if you want another one, we're adopting."

Taylor laughed weakly, "Whatever you say dear."

Nasya looked up at the two of them with confused eyes, desperately attempting to understand what was going on. "Hello Nasya," Tali whispered warmly, "we're your parents."

Author's Note: I totally did not reference Team Four Star's Hellsing Abridged in the middle section, no sir I have standards. Well, focusing on the cooling down parts, focusing on heartwarming moments with a little bit of humor mixed in. The thing about this story is that I wrote most of it before ME3 came out, so I couldn't write in most of the characters introduced there. Still, I'd thought that I slip in a little bit of Eve, a freaking awesome character. You know, I would've made it so that there was more of Mordin in this story if I had known what would happen to him in ME3...let's change the subject I don't want to talk about that game too much. Well, I think that the next chapter may or may not be the last one for this story. I dunno, we'll see when we get there.


	108. Epilogue

Chapter 107

Epilogue

Author's Note: Well...this is it, the last chapter of Mass Effect New Origins. A couple of people had problems with the Cerberus part of the last chapter (well one guy liked it and I'm glad he did but let's face it not everyone looks at something from the same way). The reason I wrote that scene the way that I did was...ARTISTIC INTEGRITY!...nah I'm just kidding. 1. I felt guilty about the cruel treatment that I had been giving Miranda through the story and wanted to show her in a positive light 2. I wanted to tie up loose ends about Cerberus, why they're not going after the Normandy and the status of their Flood project and 3. I really couldn't think of a way to deal with Cerberus so I decided to make it so that they were Karma Houdinis, because let's face it every single last bad guy getting hunted down in a couple of chapters would've been silly. Well, I hoped that cleared things up, now, let's close the book.

21 years later

"Wow." Nasya'Zorah felt her jaw drop. She was sitting on a metal beam that was extending across the Presidium, looking down at the sparkling clear lakes and lanes of speeding cars below them. "D...Dad took you up here?" she asked, turning to the right to look at her mother.

Tali gave a warm smile. "Yes he did, and you wouldn't believe how nervous he was. I swear, the way the talked you'd think that I would kick him off of the ledge if he so much as said a single word wrong."

"I'm right here you know," Taylor said grudgingly, looking from where he sat on the other side of Nasya.

"Oh, good to know. Just so you know, I'm not going to freak out and castrate you for looking at other women, I'm pretty sure that you were nervous about that too."

"Shut up," Taylor said, his face turning red as their daughter stifled a laugh. For the most part she looked like Tali, with none of her father especially considering that Taylor's DNA had been scrambled beyond recognition. Her hair had been the same shade of purple as Tali's had been, but she had chosen to dye it black, mainly to match her clothes. At 21 years old, she was around the same height as her parents, though her father still had an inch or two on her.

Taylor rolled his eyes as Nasya continued to laugh. "Oh laugh it up. Anyway, I think that we need to get going anyway, everyone's probably waiting for us."

"Little sensitive are we?" his wife said playfully as the three of them got to their feet.

"Ah, quit it already. I brought you back up here again didn't I?"

"After two decades," Tali replied, a smirk on her face.

"It didn't seem to be much of an issue when you asked me to do it," Taylor replied, a smile playing around his own face. "Now come on, we're gonna be late."

Nasya took one last look at the view below her before climbing into the air car that her family had rented for the day and taking off, heading for the Purgatory bar. Nasya glanced out of the window as they flew through the Citadel. Everywhere, banners were being hung up, music was being played, and holographic displays were showing the symbols of galactic governments.

Nasya couldn't say that she was surprised, after all it was the 21st anniversary of the end of the Galactic War. Both of her parents had told her stories about the war, having fought in it. She couldn't help but feel a small tingle of pride towards both of them. Neither of them had told her personally, but Iasa had told her how her parents had managed to kill one of the most sadistic and notorious Jiralhanae of the war, Sukron.

"Hey Mom? Dad?" she said uncertainly.

"Yes sweetie?" Tali asked, both of them craning their necks to look at her as Taylor set the car down outside of the bar.

"How come no one really appreciates what you guys did?"

Both Taylor and Tali blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?" Taylor asked.

"Auntie Iasa told me what you did on Illos. If Sukron had gotten away she said that he could've killed hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions of people. Why don't people know what you did? Why don't people do what any of you guys did? Everyone knows about Master Chief and the Arbiter and what they did but no one knows what you did."

Both Taylor and Tali smiled slightly. Their daughter was still young, having only been legally an adult for a few years. As a result, she still came across the occasional thing in her life that simply baffled her. "Honey, the thing is, your Dad and managed to ask a couple of favors from friends we have. What happened on that planet is considered top secret."

"I...but...why?" Nasya asked, looking hopelessly confused.

"What you need to understand is that your mother and I completely blundered our way through that fight. We weren't better than him, we didn't outsmart him. We both used weapons that we had barely even had for a day or two in a fight where he was completely dominating us for the first half of it, and even after we made a comeback he nearly won."

"Still, you two deserve some credit, I mean, how many other people do stuff like that?"

"Do you know Auntie Jane Nasya?" Taylor asked. The young Quarian woman nodded. "She's been around for a long time and she's seen a lot of things. She gave your mother and I some very good advice. Fame isn't everything that it's cracked up to be all the time. We had a couple of run ins with nosey and rude reporters and your aunt told us that if word got out about what we did we would have to deal with poeple like that all the time. Some people don't mind being famous or dealing with reporters but Nasya...how do I put this?"

"Your father and I don't want those kinds of things," Tali finished. "We don't care about everyone in a star system knowing our names, and even if we did the sheer amount of idiocy that we would have to put up with would outweigh any pleasure that we would get from it. We just wanted to live peaceful, normal lives. Besides," she said, smiling slightly, "we got our own reward, you."

Nasya blushed deeply as she nervously rubbed the back of her neck. "Come on, I'm not a little kid anymore."

"Of course not, you're here to have your first drink aren't you?" Taylor asked, smiling widely as he opened the door to the car.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Nasya replied, sounding a little bit giddy.

"Well then come on, this is a late birthday present after all." Without another word, all three Winters exited the car and entered the bar. "Though I can't help but think that we could've chosen a place that was a little bit classier than this," he whispered to Tali.

"She wanted it to be the place that we celebrated at after the war," Tali replied, shrugging slightly.

Nasya blinked as her eyes were flooded with the overwhelming amount of light originating from every single corner of the club. She gave a slight gulp as they continued forward and everything seemed to pass like a blur. Then next thing that she knew, she was sitting at a table with a glass of blue liquid in front of her while both of her parents stood a few feet away, greeting Rebecca and Liara.

"Hey kiddo, how are you hanging up?" Nasya looked up and smiled as Jane sat down in the seat next to her, putting her booted feet up on the table as she did.

"Hi Auntie." Nasya said, "I'm ok, I just," she paused as she took a sip of her drink, causing her to start gagging and coughing violently almost at once. "Keelah!" she shouted, catching her breath looking at the shot glass in her hand, "what is this stuff?"

"That's...not very strong. It's Turian brandy, and it looks like it's been watered down a little."

"Oh...son of a bitch," Nasya sighed, putting the glass down on the table. "And I was looking forward to this so much, I guess I'm just not a drinker." That particular comment prompted a chuckle from Jane.

"Don't be in too much of a hurry to grow up Nasya, there's a special kind of freedom that comes with being young that you never get back once you lose it."

"It's not like I turn into a total stick in the mud," the young Quarian said defensively, "look at this." She extended her right hand across the table, showing the back of it to older woman. Jane's features softened and she gave a small smile as she saw the tattoo imprinted on the back of her hand. The symbol of Nobel Team.

"Mom and Dad let me get it a couple of months ago on my birthday," she explained, pulling her hand back.

"Any particular reason why?"

"Well, Mom and Dad have it, you have it, everyone else in my crazy extended family has it, so I thought 'why not?'"

"Heh, next thing that I know you're going to be cruising across the stars, blasting evil overlords in the face like your folks."

"I...I don't think so," Naysa said. "I already talked this over with Mom and Dad. I'm...not joining the military."

Jane cocked her head slightly. "Any reason why?"

"It's just...it kinda scares me," Naysa admitted, "I just don't want to do anything like that, I just want a quiet life where I can practice my painting. People talk about hopping around from planet to planet like it's the greatest thing in the galaxy, but if you do that, everything is a blur. Sure it can be fun if you like that sort of thing, but you never...you never get the time to slow down and appreciate what you have." She gave a nervous laugh. "That's the funny thing about all that glamorized science fiction stuff, it looks cool from a distance, but once you get up close it's not that different from what you left behind."

"You've certainly got an interesting way of looking at things, I have to say I respect that." She reached across and patted Naysa on the shoulder. "Do what you want to do with your life and don't let other people decide it for you. Taylor and Tali won't stop you from following your dream and that's because they're good parents." She gave a sly wink, "Having a day job to fall back onto is a good backup plan though."

Nasya laughed as she instinctively reached forward and took another sip from her drink, prompting another fit of coughing and spluttering. "Damn it, what's wrong with me?" she managed to splutter out. After a few seconds of gasping deeply, she turned to look at Jane. "Thanks though Auntie, I would've thought that most people would've expected me to be like my parents and grandparents."

"Don't worry about it, family looks out for each other," Jane said smily brightly "and your parents, everyone else that served with me on the Normandy? They're the best family that I could've asked for. I owe them more than I think they'll ever understand." Nasya couldn't help but blink at she looked at Jane. Was it her or were her eyes twinkling slightly?

"Nice to see you again Nasya, you too Jane, has Tali taught her to take apart a car and put it back together in five minutes or as she disowned her." Nasya grinned slightly as she turned to look and talk with her Uncle Garrus. Her life was weird sometimes, but she couldn't ask for anything better.

The End

Author's Note: It's kind of short...but then again it's an epilogue, it's supposed to be. Also I considered writing more about the other characters, but then I realized that earlier chapters had already done a pretty good job of tying up loose ends with everyone else and writing more would just be dragging this thing on. I'm happy with ending it like this and I hope that you are too. To be frank I'm just out of ideas for this story, it's 450,000 words long, and I've got nothing else. I hope that you've enjoyed the ride. Also I hate to do this to do, but I have one last rant.

I dug up an old video by Spoony a couple of days ago, there's no exact date but I think it's a month or two old. It was about the Mass Effect 3 ending was actually good and how everyone who doesn't like it and supports retake ME3 is an entitled whiner, and frankly throughout the entire video I just wanted to smack the guy. His bloody arrogance about how he's "right" and we're "wrong" (by the way, those were words that he used himself, I'm not putting words in his mouth) about the ME3 ending just drove me up the wall. But that's not the point, his attitude royally pissed me off. I'll ignore the fact that he criticized people for getting so worked up over fiction, when this is the guy that watched Twilight, got drunk, saying that he only kept booze for when he PHYSICALLY needed a drink and made an hour and a half long video bitching about it, I'll ignore that little display of hypocrisy now.

He pretty much trolled his entire fanbase, telling them to grow up and that they were cry babies (more or less) because they (SHOCKINGLY) got upset when he flat out insulted them (WHICH HE ADMITTED THAT HE DID) He more or less said "Oh this is the real world, guys do this all the time, grow up" To which I say, NO WE DON'T! I'm I guy and besides from playful ribbing with a very close IRL I repeat IN REAL LIFE friend I find habits like that to be disgusting. This is the same friend that I talked to about deep personal problems, so he's a special case. Also I just love that "All guys do this" comment, that's right ladies, men have no individuality, we're all the same, just like black people...I'm being sarcastic just to be clear, I have nothing against black people.

This is the point that I'm trying to make, I found this video to be disgusting? Why is that? BECAUSE I HAVE THE BEST DAMN FAN BASE ON THE INTERNET AND I CAN'T EVEN FATHOM SUBJECTING THEME TO SUCH CRUEL TREATMENT! Seriously, you guys have no freaking idea how blessed I am to have you as my readers. Whenever I had to rant, whenever I was down in the dumps and feeling insecure, whenever I screwed up in my writing and I needed someone to correct, you guys where there. You were behind me every step of the way, you're what pushed me to become the author that I am now. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't be half of the writer that I am now, you pushed me to do my best, challenged me when I messed up, encouraged me when I did well, and I have grown from it. If I were to treat you a quarter as bad as this guy treated his fanbase, I would be called things like "asshole, prick, bastard" and all other kind of foul things, and you know what? I WOULD DESERVE IT!

You people deserve better than that, you people deserve to be treated with respect, respect that I desperately try to give you. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail, but you people don't deserved to be chastised and trolled by me because your opinion is different from mine. For Christ's sake that friend I mentioned earlier? He's a Liberal Jew and I'm a moderate Conservative Christian and I couldn't ask for a better friend. If you really have to attack people and call them morons for their beliefs and opinions it's a sign of being 1. An asshole and you do it for your own sick sick SICK pleasure or 2. You're emotionally insecure and you attack other people to make them feel bad so that you feel better about yourself. And as for being an asshole and saying "that's normal grow up" I would like to quote the Arbiter from the machinima Arby 'n the Chief. "Your bleak outlook on life is poisonous. Maybe the world is a big sinking ship, but we can't accept that as an inevitability and use it as an excuse to act like shitheads. We have to be the change we seek, we have to build something better for ourselves" In other words, wallowing in self pity, being an asshole and saying "that's just the way things are" is just a freaking weak excuse to act like a jerk to satisfy your insecure ego. There's no good excuse for it! Also building something better for ourselves, that is why I apologized a couple of chapters ago, I wanted to be better for you guys, even if you think that it was going to far. If it seems like I'm not making much of the concrete point and that I'm going in circles...it's because I am so let me make a quick summary.

First thing's first though, before you feel the urge to flame me, I have nothing against Spoony, I read that there was a lot of open hostility between him and his fans before he made that video so odds are he doesn't make a habit out of this...maybe. My anger is more directed at this type of behavior rather than him doing it personally. He may be like that all the time, he may not be, I don't follow the guy that much so I'm gonna keep my mouth shut and let you draw your own conclusions about the guy.

That's not the point that I'm trying to make though. You people are what made this journey worthwhile, you're better than I deserve and you deserve better than me. It's been one Hell of a journey that we've all been on together, it's had its ups and downs but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Now that this story is finished I'm going to take everything that I've learned and do my very best to make From the Ashes as good as I can. I'm starting college coming September, but I'll make time to write for you guys. Thank you, thank you for everything.

Sincerely

David Lawrence MacDonald III

AKA

Erttheking

...yes that's my real name.

P.S. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it but a little while back they announced that Toonami is coming back. I admit to not watching it THAT much and I mostly found it after it was canceled...but...!


	109. IMPORTANT NOTICE

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Author's Note: Apparently there's a bit of a mess going on on this website involving stories being permanently deleted because they were mass flagged by a trollish watchdog group. Please read the following petition.

XXXXX

PLEASE copy & Sign this petition, and no worries, this is only a temporary chapter.

THANK YOU

Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.

Myself, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that I believe violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

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